Takayuki Muto

Direct Imaging of Fine Structures in Giant Planet Forming Regions of the Protoplanetary Disk around AB Aurigae

We report high-resolution 1.6 μm polarized intensity (PI) images of the circumstellar disk around the Herbig Ae star AB Aur at a radial distance of 22 AU (015) up to 554 AU (385), which have been obtained by the high-contrast instrument HiCIAO with the dual-beam polarimetry. We revealed complicated and asymmetrical structures in the inner part (140 AU) of the disk while confirming the previously reported outer (r 200 AU) spiral structure. We have imaged a double ring structure at ~40 and ~100 AU and a ring-like gap between the two. We found a significant discrepancy of inclination angles between two rings, which may indicate that the disk of AB Aur is warped. Furthermore, we found seven dips (the typical size is ~45 AU or less) within two rings, as well as three prominent PI peaks at ~40 AU. The observed structures, including a bumpy double ring, a ring-like gap, and a warped disk in the innermost regions, provide essential information for understanding the formation mechanism of recently detected wide-orbit (r > 20 AU) planets.

PROTOPLANETARY DISK WINDS VIA MAGNETOROTATIONAL INSTABILITY: FORMATION OF AN INNER HOLE AND A CRUCIAL ASSIST FOR PLANET FORMATION

By constructing a global model based on three-dimensional local magnetohydrodynamical simulations, we show that the disk wind driven by magnetorotational instability (MRI) plays a significant role in the dispersal of the gas component of protoplanetary disks. Because the mass loss timescale of the MRI-driven disk winds is proportional to the local Keplerian rotation period, a gas disk dynamically evaporates from the inner region, possibly creating a gradually expanding inner hole, while a sizable amount of the gas remains in the outer region. The disk wind is highly time dependent with a quasi-periodicity of several times the Keplerian rotation period at each radius, which will be observed as the time variability of protostar-protoplanetary disk systems. These features persistently hold even if a dead zone exists because the disk winds are driven from the surface regions where ionizing cosmic rays and high energy photons can penetrate. Moreover, the predicted inside-out clearing significantly suppresses the infall of boulders to a central star and the type I migration of proto-planets, which are favorable for the formation and survival of planets.

The Missing Cavities in the SEEDS Polarized Scattered Light Images of Transitional Protoplanetary Disks: A Generic Disk Model

Transitional circumstellar disks around young stellar objects have a distinctive infrared deficit around 10 μm in their spectral energy distributions, recently measured by the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS), suggesting dust depletion in the inner regions. These disks have been confirmed to have giant central cavities by imaging of the submillimeter continuum emission using the Submillimeter Array (SMA). However, the polarized near-infrared scattered light images for most objects in a systematic IRS/SMA cross sample, obtained by HiCIAO on the Subaru telescope, show no evidence for the cavity, in clear contrast with SMA and Spitzer observations. Radiative transfer modeling indicates that many of these scattered light images are consistent with a smooth spatial distribution for μm-sized grains, with little discontinuity in the surface density of the μm-sized grains at the cavity edge. Here we present a generic disk model that can simultaneously account for the general features in IRS, SMA, and Subaru observations. Particularly, the scattered light images for this model are computed, which agree with the general trend seen in Subaru data. Decoupling between the spatial distributions of the μm-sized dust and mm-sized dust inside the cavity is suggested by the model, which, if confirmed, necessitates a mechanism, such as dust filtration, for differentiating the small and big dust in the cavity clearing process. Our model also suggests an inwardly increasing gas-to-dust ratio in the inner disk, and different spatial distributions for the small dust inside and outside the cavity, echoing the predictions in grain coagulation and growth models.

Subaru imaging of asymmetric features in a transitional disk in upper Scorpius

We report high-resolution (0.07 arcsec) near-infrared polarized intensity images of the circumstellar disk around the star 2MASS J16042165-2130284 obtained with HiCIAO mounted on the Subaru 8.2 m telescope. We present our

Local Enhancement of the Surface Density in the Protoplanetary Ring Surrounding HD 142527

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MILLIMETER-WAVE POLARIZATION OF PROTOPLANETARY DISKS DUE TO DUST SCATTERING

-band data, which clearly exhibits a resolved, face-on disk with a large inner hole for the first time at infrared wavelengths. We detect the centrosymmetric polarization pattern in the circumstellar material as has been observed in other disks. Elliptical fitting gives the semimajor axis, semiminor axis, and position angle (P.A.) of the disk as 63 AU, 62 AU, and -14

ALMA OBSERVATIONS OF A GAP AND A RING IN THE PROTOPLANETARY DISK AROUND TW HYA

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THE STRUCTURE OF PRE-TRANSITIONAL PROTOPLANETARY DISKS. I. RADIATIVE TRANSFER MODELING OF THE DISK+CAVITY IN THE PDS 70 SYSTEM

, respectively. The disk is asymmetric, with one dip located at P.A.s of

Radial transport of large-scale magnetic fields in accretion disks. I. Steady solutions and an upper limit on the vertical field strength

\sim85^{\circ}

MASS ESTIMATES OF A GIANT PLANET IN A PROTOPLANETARY DISK FROM THE GAP STRUCTURES

. Our observed disk size agrees well with a previous study of dust and CO emission at submillimeter wavelength with Submillimeter Array. Hence, the near-infrared light is interpreted as scattered light reflected from the inner edge of the disk. Our observations also detect an elongated arc (50 AU) extending over the disk inner hole. It emanates at the inner edge of the western side of the disk, extending inward first, then curving to the northeast. We discuss the possibility that the inner hole, the dip, and the arc that we have observed may be related to the existence of unseen bodies within the disk.