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| Paper: |
Quantifying the Gas Inside Dust Cavities in Transitional Disks: Implications for Young Planets |
| Volume: |
499, Revolution in Astronomy with ALMA: The Third Year |
| Page: |
281 |
| Authors: |
van Dishoeck, E. F.; van der Marel, N.; Bruderer, S.; Pinilla, P. |
| Abstract: |
ALMA observations of a small sample of transitional disks with large dust cavities observed in Cycle 0 and 1 are summarized. The gas and dust surface density structures are inferred from the continuum and 12CO, 13CO and C18O line data using the DALI physical-chemical code. Thanks to its ability to self-shield, CO can survive inside dust cavities in spite of being exposed to intense UV radiation and can thus be used as a probe of the gas structure. Modeling of the existing data shows that gas is present inside the dust cavities in all cases, but at a reduced level compared with the gas surface density profile of the outer disk. The gas density decrease inside the dust cavity radius by factors of up to 104 suggests clearing by one or more planetary-mass companions. The accompanying pressure bumps naturally lead to trapping of the mm-sized dust grains observed in the ALMA images. |
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