Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS): a circumplanetary disk candidate in molecular-line emission in the AS 209 Disk

Jaehan Bae*, Richard Teague, Sean M. Andrews, Myriam Benisty, Stefano Facchini, Maria Galloway-Sprietsma, Ryan A. Loomis, Yuri Aikawa, Felipe Alarcón, Edwin Bergin, Jennifer B. Bergner, Alice S. Booth, Gianni Cataldi, L. Ilsedore Cleeves, Ian Czekala, Viviana V. Guzmán, Jane Huang, John D. Ilee, Nicolas T. Kurtovic, Charles J. LawRomane Le Gal, Yao Liu, Feng Long, François Ménard, Karin I. Öberg, Laura M. Pérez, Chunhua Qi, Kamber R. Schwarz, Anibal Sierra, Catherine Walsh, David J. Wilner, Ke Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We report the discovery of a circumplanetary disk (CPD) candidate embedded in the circumstellar disk of the T Tauri star AS 209 at a radial distance of about 200 au (on-sky separation of 1.″4 from the star at a position angle of 161°), isolated via 13CO J = 2-1 emission. This is the first instance of CPD detection via gaseous emission capable of tracing the overall CPD mass. The CPD is spatially unresolved with a 117 × 82 mas beam and manifests as a point source in 13CO, indicating that its diameter is ≲14 au. The CPD is embedded within an annular gap in the circumstellar disk previously identified using 12CO and near-infrared scattered-light observations and is associated with localized velocity perturbations in 12CO. The coincidence of these features suggests that they have a common origin: an embedded giant planet. We use the 13CO intensity to constrain the CPD gas temperature and mass. We find that the CPD temperature is ≳35 K, higher than the circumstellar disk temperature at the radial location of the CPD, 22 K, suggesting that heating sources localized to the CPD must be present. The CPD gas mass is ≳0.095 M Jup ≃ 30 M ⊕ adopting a standard 13CO abundance. From the nondetection of millimeter continuum emission at the location of the CPD (3σ flux density ≲26.4 μJy), we infer that the CPD dust mass is ≲0.027 M ⊕ ≃ 2.2 lunar masses, indicating a low dust-to-gas mass ratio of ≲9 × 10-4. We discuss the formation mechanism of the CPD-hosting giant planet on a wide orbit in the framework of gravitational instability and pebble accretion.
Original languageEnglish
Article number934
Number of pages17
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume934
Issue number2
Early online date27 Jul 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2022

Keywords

  • Protoplanetary disks
  • Planet formation
  • Radio interferometry
  • Millimeter astronomy
  • Submillimeter astronomy
  • Exoplanet formation

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