Hiding in the Shadows: Searching for Planets in Pre-transitional and Transitional Disks
Abstract
Transitional and pre-transitional disks can be explained by a number of mechanisms. This work aims to find a single observationally detectable marker that would imply a planetary origin for the gap and, therefore, indirectly indicate the presence of a young planet. N-body simulations were conducted to investigate the effect of an embedded planet of one Jupiter mass on the production of instantaneous collisional dust derived from a background planetesimal disk. Our new model allows us to predict the dust distribution and resulting observable markers with greater accuracy than previous works. Dynamical influences from a planet on a circular orbit are shown to enhance dust production in the disk interior and exterior to the planet orbit, while removing planetesimals from the orbit itself, creating a clearly defined gap. In the case of an eccentric planet, the gap opened by the planet is not as clear as the circular case, but there is a detectable asymmetry in the dust disk.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1088/2041-8205/777/2/L31
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1309.6480
- Bibcode:
- 2013ApJ...777L..31D
- Keywords:
-
- planet-disk interactions;
- protoplanetary disks;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted to ApJL 25th September 2013. 4 figures, 1 table