Hiding in the Shadows: Searching for Planets in Pre–transitional and Transitional Disks

Jack Dobinson, Zoe M. Leinhardt, Sarah E. Dodson-Robinson, Nick A. Teanby (Submitted on 25 Sep 2013)

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 work. 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 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.

Comments: 4 figures, 1 table

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Cite as: arXiv:1309.6480 [astro-ph.EP]

(or arXiv:1309.6480v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version) Submission history From: Jack Dobinson Mr [v1] Wed, 25 Sep 2013 12:25:13 GMT (11922kb)