A Circumplanetary Disk around PDS70c

• Published in: Astrophysical journal. Letters Vol. 916; no. 1; p. L2
• Main Authors: Benisty, Myriam, Bae, Jaehan, Facchini, Stefano, Keppler, Miriam, Teague, Richard, Isella, Andrea, Kurtovic, Nicolas T., Pérez, Laura M., Sierra, Anibal, Andrews, Sean M., Carpenter, John, Czekala, Ian, Dominik, Carsten, Henning, Thomas, Menard, Francois, Pinilla, Paola, Zurlo, Alice
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Austin The American Astronomical Society 01.07.2021; IOP Publishing; Bristol : IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Accretion disks; Angular resolution; Continuum radiation; Dust; Emissions; H alpha line; Infrared imaging; Protoplanetary disks; Protoplanets; Radio telescopes; Sciences of the Universe; Surface brightness; Wavelengths; Protoplanetary disks; 1300; Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac0f83
• ISSN: 2041-8205

Abstract PDS 70 is a unique system in which two protoplanets, PDS 70 b and c, have been discovered within the dust-depleted cavity of their disk, at ∼22 and 34 au, respectively, by direct imaging at infrared wavelengths. Subsequent detection of the planets in the H α line indicates that they are still accreting material through circumplanetary disks. In this Letter, we present new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the dust continuum emission at 855 μ m at high angular resolution (∼20 mas, 2.3 au) that aim to resolve the circumplanetary disks and constrain their dust masses. Our observations confirm the presence of a compact source of emission co-located with PDS 70 c, spatially separated from the circumstellar disk and less extended than ∼1.2 au in radius, a value close to the expected truncation radius of the circumplanetary disk at a third of the Hill radius. The emission around PDS 70 c has a peak intensity of ∼86 ± 16 μ Jy beam −1 , which corresponds to a dust mass of ∼0.031 M ⊕ or ∼0.007 M ⊕ , assuming that it is only constituted of 1 μ m or 1 mm sized grains, respectively. We also detect extended, low surface brightness continuum emission within the cavity near PDS 70 b. We observe an optically thin inner disk within 18 au of the star with an emission that could result from small micron-sized grains transported from the outer disk through the orbits of b and c. In addition, we find that the outer disk resolves into a narrow and bright ring with a faint inner shoulder.