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arxiv: 1605.00289 · v2 · pith:X4CMCW2Tnew · submitted 2016-05-01 · 🌌 astro-ph.SR

A Gap with a Deficit of Large Grains in the protoplanetary disk around TW Hya

classification 🌌 astro-ph.SR
keywords diskaroundbetadeficitdustgapsgrainsindex
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We report $\sim$3 au resolution imaging observations of the protoplanetary disk around TW Hya at 145 and 233 GHz with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. Our observations revealed two deep gaps ($\sim$25--50 \%) at 22 and 37~au and shallower gaps (a few \%) at 6, 28, and 44~au, as recently reported by Andrews et al. (2016). The central hole with a radius of $\sim3$~au was also marginally resolved. The most remarkable finding is that the spectral index $\alpha (R)$ between bands 4 and 6 peaks at the 22~au gap. The derived power-law index of the dust opacity $\beta (R)$ is $\sim1.7$ at the 22~au gap and decreases toward the disk center to $\sim0$. The most prominent gap at 22~au could be caused by the gravitational interaction between the disk and an unseen planet with a mass of $\lesssim$1.5 $M_\mathrm{Neptune}$ although other origins may be possible. The planet-induced gap is supported by the fact that $\beta (R)$ is enhanced at the 22~au gap, indicating a deficit of $\sim$mm-sized grains within the gap due to dust filtration by a planet.

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