Circumplanetary Disk Research Articles

Deep Paβ Imaging of the Candidate Accreting Protoplanet AB Aur b

Giant planets grow by accreting gas through circumplanetary disks, but little is known about the timescale and mechanisms involved in the planet-assembly process because few accreting protoplanets have been discovered. Recent visible and infrared imaging revealed a potential accreting protoplanet within the transition disk around the young intermediate-mass Herbig Ae star, AB Aurigae (AB Aur). Additional imaging in Hα probed for accretion and found agreement between the line-to-continuum flux ratio of the star and companion, raising the possibility that the emission source could be a compact disk feature seen in scattered starlight. We present new deep Keck/NIRC2 high-contrast imaging of AB Aur to characterize emission in Paβ, another accretion tracer less subject to extinction. Our narrow band observations reach a 5σ contrast of 9.6 mag at 0.″6, but we do not detect significant emission at the expected location of the companion, nor from other any other source in the system. Our upper limit on Paβ emission suggests that if AB Aur b is a protoplanet, it is not heavily accreting or accretion is stochastic and was weak during the observations.

Formation and structure of circumplanetary disks and envelopes during the late stages of giant planet formation

Giant planets are expected to form within circumstellar disks, which shape their formation history and the local environment. Here, we consider the formation and structure of circumplanetary disks that arise during the late stages of giant planet formation. During this phase, when most of the final mass is accumulated, incoming material enters the Hill sphere and falls toward the planet. In the absence of torques, the falling parcels of gas conserve their specific angular momentum and collect into a circumplanetary disk. Generalizing previous work, we consider a range of possible geometries for the flow entering the sphere of influence of the planet. Specifically, we consider five geometric patterns for the inward flow, ranging from concentration toward the rotational poles of the system to isotropic flow to concentration along the equatorial plane. For each case, we derive analytic descriptions for the density field of the infall region, the disk surface density in the absence of viscosity, and steady-state solutions for viscous disks. These results, in turn, specify the luminosity contributions of the planet, the circumplanetary disk, and the envelope. These power sources, in conjunction with the surrounding material, collectively determine the observational appearance of the forming planet. We conclude with an approximate determination of these radiative signatures.

Spectroastrometric Survey of Protoplanetary Disks with Inner Dust Cavities

We present high-resolution spectra and spectroastrometric (SA) measurements of fundamental rovibrational CO emission from nine nearby (≲300 pc) protoplanetary disks where large inner dust cavities have been observed. The emission-line profiles and SA signals are fit with a slab disk model that allows the eccentricity of the disk and intensity of the emission to vary as power laws. Six of the sources are well fit with our model, and three of these sources show asymmetric line profiles that can be fit by adopting a nonzero eccentricity. The three other sources have components in either their line profile or SA signal that are not captured by our disk model. Two of these sources (V892 Tau and CQ Tau) have multi-epoch observations that reveal significant variability. CQ Tau and AB Aur have CO line profiles with centrally peaked components that are similar to line profiles which have been interpreted as evidence of molecular gas arising from a wide-angle disk wind. Alternatively, emission from a circumplanetary disk could also account for this component. The interpretations of these results can be clarified in the future with additional epochs that will test the variability timescale of these SA signals. We discuss the utility of using high-resolution spectroscopy for probing the dynamics of gas in the disk and the scenarios that can give rise to profiles that are not fit with a simple disk model.

Ring Gap Structure around Class I Protostar WL 17

WL 17 is a Class I object and was considered to have a ring–hole structure. We analyzed the structure around WL 17 to investigate the detailed properties of this object. We used Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array archival data, which have a higher angular resolution than previous observations. We investigated the WL 17 system with the 1.3 mm dust continuum and 12CO and C18O (J = 2–1) line emissions. The dust continuum emission showed a clear ring structure with inner and outer edges of ∼11 and ∼21 au, respectively. In addition, we detected an inner disk of <5 au radius enclosing the central star within the ring, the first observation of this structure. Thus, WL 17 has a ring–gap structure, not a ring–hole structure. We did not detect any marked emission in either the gap or inner disk, indicating that there is no sign of a planet, circumplanetary disk, or binary companion. We identified the source of both blueshifted and redshifted outflows based on the 12CO emission, which is clearly associated with the disk around WL 17. The outflow mass ejection rate is ∼3.6 × 10−7 M ⊙ yr−1 and the dynamical timescale is as short as ∼104 yr. The C18O emission showed that an inhomogeneous infalling envelope, which can induce episodic mass accretion, is distributed in the region within ∼1000 au from the central protostar. With these new findings, we can constrain the scenarios of planet formation and dust growth in the accretion phase of star formation.

A Systematic Survey of Moon-forming Giant Impacts. I. Nonrotating Bodies

In the leading theory of lunar formation, known as the giant impact hypothesis, a collision between two planet-size objects resulted in a young Earth surrounded by a circumplanetary debris disk from which the Moon later accreted. The range of giant impacts that could conceivably explain the Earth–Moon system is limited by the set of known physical and geochemical constraints. However, while several distinct Moon-forming impact scenarios have been proposed—from small, high-velocity impactors to low-velocity mergers between equal-mass objects—none of these scenarios have been successful at explaining the full set of known constraints, especially without invoking controversial post-impact processes. In order to bridge the gap between previous studies and provide a consistent survey of the Moon-forming impact parameter space, we present a systematic study of simulations of potential Moon-forming impacts. In the first paper of this series, we focus on pairwise impacts between nonrotating bodies. Notably, we show that such collisions require a minimum initial angular momentum budget of approximately 2 J EM in order to generate a sufficiently massive protolunar disk. We also show that low-velocity impacts (v ∞ ≲ 0.5 v esc) with high impactor-to-target mass ratios (γ → 1) are preferred to explain the Earth–Moon isotopic similarities. In a follow-up paper, we consider impacts between rotating bodies at various mutual orientations.

3D global simulations of accretion onto gap-opening planets: implications for circumplanetary disc structures and accretion rates

ABSTRACT We perform a series of 3D simulations to study the accretion of giant planet embedded in protoplanetary discs (PPDs) over gap-opening time-scales. We find that the accretion mass flux mainly comes from the intermediate latitude above the disc mid-plane. The circumplanetary disc (CPD) for a super-thermal planet is rotation-supported up to ∼20–30 per cent of the planet Hill radius. While both mass inflow and outflow exists in the CPD mid-plane, the overall trend is an outflow that forms a meridional circulation with high-latitude inflows. We confirm the absence of accretion outburst from disc eccentricity excited by massive planets in our 3D simulations, contrary to the consensus of previous 2D simulations. This suggests the necessity of 3D simulations of accretion even for super-Jupiters. The accretion rates of planets measured in a steady state can be decomposed into the ‘geometric’ and ‘density depletion’ factors. Through an extensive parameter survey, we identify a power-law scaling for the geometric factor $\propto q_{\rm th}^{2/3}$ for super-thermal planets (qth being the thermal mass ratio), which transform to $\propto q_{\rm th}^{2}$ for less massive cases. The density depletion factor is limited by the disc accretion rate for mildly super-thermal planets and by gap-opening for highly super-thermal ones. Moderate planetary eccentricities can enhance the accretion rates by a factor of 2–3 by making the gap shallower, but it does not impact the flow geometry. We have applied our simulations results to accreting protoplanet system PDS 70 and can satisfactorily explain the accretion rate and CPD size in observations.

Tidal Truncation of Circumplanetary Disks Fails above a Critical Disk Aspect Ratio

We use numerical simulations of circumplanetary disks to determine the boundary between disks that are radially truncated by the tidal potential and those where gas escapes the Hill sphere. We consider a model problem, in which a coplanar circumplanetary disk is resupplied with gas at an injection radius smaller than the Hill radius. We evolve the disk using the Phantom smoothed particle hydrodynamics code until a steady state is reached. We find that the most significant dependence of the truncation boundary is on the disk aspect ratio H/R. Circumplanetary disks are efficiently truncated for H/R ≲ 0.2. For H/R ≃ 0.3, up to about half of the injected mass, depending on the injection radius, flows outward through the decretion disk and escapes. As expected from analytic arguments, the conditions (H/R and Shakura–Sunyaev α) required for tidal truncation are independent of planet mass. A simulation with larger α = 0.1 shows stronger outflow than one with α = 0.01, but the dependence on transport efficiency is less important than variations of H/R. Our results suggest two distinct classes of circumplanetary disks: tidally truncated thin disks with dust-poor outer regions, and thicker actively decreting disks with enhanced dust-to-gas ratios. Applying our results to the PDS 70 c system, we predict a largely truncated circumplanetary disk, but it is possible that enough mass escapes to support an outward flow of dust that could explain the observed disk size.

The Planetary Accretion Shock. III. Smoothing-free 2.5D Simulations and Calculation of Hα Emission

Surveys have looked for Hα emission from accreting gas giants but found very few objects. Analyses of the detections and nondetections have assumed that the entire gas flow feeding the planet is in radial freefall. However, hydrodynamical simulations suggest that this is far from reality. We calculate the Hα emission from multidimensional accretion onto a gas giant, following the gas flow from Hill sphere scales down to the circumplanetary disk (CPD) and the planetary surface. We perform azimuthally symmetric radiation hydrodynamics simulations around the planet and use modern tabulated gas and dust opacities. Crucially, contrasting with most previous simulations, we do not smooth the gravitational potential but do follow the flow down to the planetary surface, where grid cells are 0.01 Jupiter radii small. We find that roughly only 1% of the net gas inflow into the Hill sphere directly reaches the planet. As expected for ballistic infall trajectories, most of the gas falls at too large a distance on the CPD to generate Hα. Including radiation transport removes the high-velocity subsurface flow previously seen in hydrodynamics-only simulations, so that only the free planet surface and the inner regions of the CPD emit substantial Hα. Unless magnetospheric accretion, which we neglect here, additionally produces Hα, the corresponding Hα production efficiency is much smaller than usually assumed, which needs to be taken into account when analyzing (non)detection statistics.

The Disc Miner

Detecting planets in the early stages of formation is key to reconstructing the history and diversity of fully developed planetary systems. The aim of this work is to identify potential signatures from planet-disc interaction in the circumstellar discs around MWC 480, HD 163296, AS 209, IM Lup, and GM Aur, through the study of molecular lines observed as part of the ALMA large program MAPS. Extended and localised perturbations in velocity, line width, and intensity have been analysed jointly using the DISCMINER modelling framework, in three bright CO isotopologues, 12CO, 13CO, and C18O J = 2−1, to provide a comprehensive summary of the kinematic and column density substructures that planets might be actively sculpting in these discs. We find convincing evidence for the presence of four giant planets located at wide orbits in three of the discs in the sample: two around HD 163296, one in MWC 480, and one in AS 209. One of the planet candidates in HD 163296, P94, previously associated with velocity signatures detected in lower velocity resolution 12CO data, is confirmed and linked to localised velocity and line width perturbations in 13CO and C18O too. We highlight that line widths are also powerful tracers of planet-forming sites as they are sensitive to turbulent motions triggered by planet-disc interactions. In MWC 480, we identified non-axisymmetric line width enhancements around the radial separation of candidate planet-driven buoyancy spirals, which we used to narrow the location of the possible planet to an orbital radius of R = 245 au and PA = 193°, at a projected distance of 1.33″ from the star. In the disc of AS 209, we found excess 12CO line widths centred at R = 210 au, PA = 151°, at a projected distance of 1.44″, spanning around the immediate vicinity of a circumplanetary disc candidate proposed previously, which further supports its presence. We report no clear localised or extended kinematic signatures in the discs of IM Lup or GM Aur that could be associated with the presence of planets or gravitational instabilities. On the other hand, we demonstrate that pressure minima exhibit line width minima counterparts in optically thick emission, making them robust tracers of gaps in the gas surface density when analysed together with azimuthal velocity flows. Finally, we show that nine out of eleven millimetre dust continuum rings in the sample are co-located with pressure bumps traced by kinematic modulations, indicating that aerodynamic confinement via pressure traps is a common mechanism for the formation of dust substructures in these discs. Overall, our analysis reveals that all discs in the sample present a remarkable level of substructure in all the line profile observables considered, regardless of the CO isotopologue. However, the magnitude and morphology of the substructures vary between discs and tracers, indicating that the kinematics and thermodynamic properties are likely shaped by different physical mechanisms in each object. We propose that the main kinematic signatures identified in the discs of MWC 480, HD 163296, and AS 209 have a planetary origin, although they do not always manifest as highly localised perturbations, while the discs of IM Lup and GM Aur do not yield clear signatures pointing to the presence of massive planets. Our simultaneous analysis of multiple tracers and observables aims to lay the groundwork for robust studies of molecular line properties focused on the search for young planets in discs.

Circumplanetary disk ices

Context. The subsurface oceans of icy satellites are among the most compelling among the potentially habitable environments in our Solar System. The question of whether a liquid subsurface layer can be maintained over geological timescales depends on its chemical composition. The composition of icy satellites is linked to that of the circumplanetary disk (CPD) in which they form. The CPD accretes material from the surrounding circumstellar disk in the vicinity of the planet, however, the degree of chemical inheritance is unclear. Aims. We aim to investigate the composition of ices in chemically reset or inherited circumplanetary disks to inform interior modeling and the interpretation of in situ measurements of icy solar system satellites, with an emphasis on the Galilean moon system. Methods. We used the radiation-thermochemical code ProDiMo to produce circumplanetary disk models and then extract the ice composition from time-dependent chemistry, incorporating gas-phase and grain-surface reactions. Results. The initial sublimation of ices during accretion may result in a CO2 -rich ice composition due to efficient OH formation at high gas densities. In the case of a Jovian CPD, the sublimation of accreted ices results in a CO2 iceline between the present-day orbits of Ganymede and Callisto. Sublimated ammonia ice is destroyed by background radiation while drifting towards the CPD midplane. Liberated nitrogen becomes locked in N2 due to efficient self-shielding, leaving ices depleted of ammonia. A significant ammonia ice component remains only when ices are inherited from the circumstellar disk. Conclusions. The observed composition of the Galilean moons is consistent with the sublimation of ices during accretion onto the CPD. In this scenario, the Galilean moon ices are nitrogen-poor and CO2 on Callisto is endogenous and primordial. The ice composition is significantly altered after an initial reset of accreted circumstellar ice. The chemical history of the Galilean moons stands in contrast to the Saturnian system, where the composition of the moons corresponds more closely with the directly inherited circumstellar disk material.

Kinematics signature of a giant planet in the disk of AS 209

Observations of dust in protoplanetary disks with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) are revealing the existence of substructures such as rings, gaps, and cavities. This morphology is expected to be the outcome of dynamical interaction between the disks and (embedded) planets. However, other mechanisms are able to produce similar dust substructures. A solution to discriminate the gap formation mechanism is to look at the perturbation induced by the planet on the gas surface density and/or the kinematics. In the case of the disk around AS 209, a prominent gap has been reported in the surface density of CO atr ~100 au. A further gas gap was identified atr~ 200 au. Recently, a localized velocity perturbation was reported in the12COJ= 2−1 emission along with a clump in13COJ= 2−1 at nearly 200 au and this was interpreted as a gaseous circumplanetary disk. In this paper, we report a new analysis of ALMA archival observations of12CO and13COJ= 2−1 in AS 209. We detected a clear kinematics perturbation (kink) in multiple channels and over a wide azimuth range in both datasets. We compared the observed perturbation with a semianalytic model of velocity perturbations due to planet-disk interaction. Based on our analysis, the observed kink is not consistent with a planet at 200 au, as this would require a low gas-disk scale height (&lt;0.05) in contradiction with the previous estimate (h/r ~0.118 atr= 100 au). When we fix the disk scale height to 0.118 (atr= 100 au), we find instead that a planet at 100 au induces a kinematics perturbation similar to the one observed. The kink amplitude in the various channels implies a planet mass of 3–5MJup. Thus, we conclude that a giant proto-planet orbiting atr~ 100 au is responsible for the large-scale kink as well as for the perturbed dust and gas surface density previously detected. The position angle of the planet is constrained to be between 60° and 100° (east of north). The 200 au gap visible in the12COJ= 2−1 moment zero map is likely due to density fluctuations induced by the spiral wake. Future observations using the high-contrast imaging technique in the near- and mid-infrared (e.g., with JWST and/or VLT/ERIS) are needed to confirm the presence and position of such a planet.

Confirmation and Keplerian motion of the gap-carving protoplanet HD 169142 b

ABSTRACT We present the re-detection of a compact source in the face-on protoplanetary disc surrounding HD 169142, using VLT/SPHERE data in YJH bands. The source is found at a separation of 0${_{.}^{\prime\prime}}$319 (∼37 au) from the star. Three lines of evidence argue in favour of the signal tracing a protoplanet: (i) it is found in the annular gap separating the two bright rings of the disc, as predicted by theory; (ii) it is moving at the expected Keplerian velocity for an object at ∼37 au in the 2015, 2017, and 2019 data sets; and (iii) we also detect a spiral-shaped signal whose morphology is consistent with the expected outer spiral wake triggered by a planet in the gap, based on dedicated hydrodynamical simulations of the system. The YJH colours we extracted for the object are consistent with tracing scattered starlight, suggesting that the protoplanet is enshrouded in a significant amount of dust, as expected for a circumplanetary disc or envelope surrounding a gap-clearing Jovian-mass protoplanet.

Boundary Layers of Circumplanetary Disks around Spinning Planets. I. Effects of Rossby Waves

Gas giant planets are believed to accrete from their circumplanetary disks (CPDs). The CPDs usually involve accretion through the boundary layer (BL) in the vicinity of planets. Prior studies have concentrated on the BL of nonspinning planets. We investigate the influence of planetary spin on the wave behaviors within the BL. The rotation profile in such BLs would show a sharp transition from the rigid rotation to the Keplerian rotation. We examine the angular momentum transport in these BLs in terms of linear perturbation analysis. We find that the global inertia-acoustic mode associated with spinning planets would give rise to the inflow of angular momentum and the accretion of gas. In this work, we identify a new kind of global mode, namely the Rossby mode. The Rossby mode can lead to the outflow of angular momentum and the decretion of gas from a spinning planet. The Rossby mode provides a negative feedback that regulates the planetary spin and mass. We compare the growth rate of the two modes as a function of the width of BL, the Mach number, and the spin rate of planets. Our results reveal the underlying hydrodynamic mechanism of terminal spins and asymptotic mass of the giant planets.

Detecting Exomoons from Radial Velocity Measurements of Self-luminous Planets: Application to Observations of HR 7672 B and Future Prospects

The detection of satellites around extrasolar planets, so called exomoons, remains a largely unexplored territory. In this work, we study the potential of detecting these elusive objects from radial velocity monitoring of self-luminous, directly imaged planets. This technique is now possible thanks to the development of dedicated instruments combining the power of high-resolution spectroscopy and high-contrast imaging. First, we demonstrate a sensitivity to satellites with a mass ratio of 1%–4% at separations similar to the Galilean moons from observations of a brown-dwarf companion (HR 7672 B; K mag = 13; 0.″7 separation) with the Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer (R ∼ 35,000 in the K band) at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Current instrumentation is therefore already sensitive to large unresolved satellites that could be forming from gravitational instability akin to binary star formation. Using end-to-end simulations, we then estimate that future instruments such as the Multi-Object Diffraction-limited High-resolution Infrared Spectrograph, planned for the Thirty Meter Telescope, should be sensitive to satellites with mass ratios of ∼10−4. Such small moons would likely form in a circumplanetary disk similar to the Jovian satellites in the solar system. Looking for the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect could also be an interesting pathway to detecting the smallest moons on short orbital periods. Future exomoon discoveries will allow precise mass measurements of the substellar companions that they orbit and provide key insight into the formation of exoplanets. They would also help constrain the population of habitable Earth-sized moons orbiting gas giants in the habitable zone of their stars.

Observing circumplanetary disks with METIS

Context. Gaining a full understanding of the planet and moon formation process calls for observations that probe the circumplanetary environment of accreting giant planets. The mid-infrared ELT imager and spectrograph (METIS) will provide a unique capability to detect warm-gas emission lines from circumplanetary disks. Aims. We aim to demonstrate the capability of the METIS instrument on the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) to detect circumplanetary disks (CPDs) with fundamental v = 1−0 transitions of 12CO from 4.5 to 5 μm. Methods. We considered the case of the well-studied HD 100546 pre-transitional disk to inform our disk modeling approach. We used the radiation-thermochemical disk modeling code ProDiMo to produce synthetic spectral channel maps. The observational simulator SimMETIS was employed to produce realistic data products with the integral field spectroscopic (IFU) mode. Results. The detectability of the CPD depends strongly on the level of external irradiation and the physical extent of the disk, favoring massive (~10 MJ) planets and spatially extended disks, with radii approaching the planetary Hill radius. The majority of 12CO line emission originates from the outer disk surface and, thus, the CO line profiles are centrally peaked. The planetary luminosity does not contribute significantly to exciting disk gas line emission. If CPDs are dust-depleted, the 12CO line emission is enhanced as external radiation can penetrate deeper into the line emitting region. Conclusions. UV-bright star systems with pre-transitional disks are ideal candidates to search for CO-emitting CPDs with ELT/METIS. METIS will be able to detect a variety of circumplanetary disks via their fundamental 12CO ro-vibrational line emission in only 60 s of total detector integration time.

Early Stages of Galilean Moon Formation in a Water-depleted Environment

A key feature of the Galilean satellite system is its monotonic decrease in bulk density with growing distance from Jupiter, indicating an ice mass fraction that is zero in the innermost moon Io and about half in the outer moons Ganymede and Callisto. Jupiter-formation models, and perhaps the Juno spacecraft water measurements, are consistent with the possibility that the Jovian system may have formed, at least partly, from ice-poor material. And yet, models of the formation of the Galilean satellites usually assume abundant water ice in the system. Here, we investigate the possibility that the Jovian circumplanetary disk was populated with ice-depleted chondritic minerals, including phyllosilicates. We show that the dehydration of such particles and the outward diffusion of the released water vapor allow condensation of significant amounts of ice in the formation region of Ganymede and Callisto in the Jovian circumplanetary disk. Our model predicts that Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto should have accreted little, if any, volatiles other than water ice, in contrast to the comet-like composition of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. This mechanism allows for the presence of ice-rich moons in water-depleted formation environments around exoplanets as well.

Size-selective accretion of dust on to CPDs: low CPD masses and filtration of larger grains

ABSTRACT The major satellites of Jupiter and Saturn are believed to have formed in circumplanetary discs (CPDs), which orbit forming giant protoplanets. Gas and dust in CPDs have different distributions and affect each other by drag, which varies with grain size. Yet simulations of multiple dust grain sizes with separate dynamics have not been done before. We seek to assess how much dust of each grain size there is in CPDs. We run multifluid 3D hydrodynamical simulations including gas and four discrete grain sizes of dust from 1 μm to 1 mm, representing a continuous distribution. We consider a 1MJup protoplanet embedded in a protoplanetary disc around a 1 M⊙ star. Our results show a truncated MRN (Mathis-Rumpl-Nordsieck) distribution at smaller grain sizes, which starts to tail off by a = 100 μm and is near zero at 1 mm. Large dust grains, which hold most of the dust mass, have very inefficient accretion to the CPD, due to dust filtration. Therefore, CPDs’ dust masses must be small, with mass ratio ∼ a few × 10−6 to the protoplanet. These masses and the corresponding millimetre opacities are in line with CPD fluxes observed to date.

Resolved near-UV hydrogen emission lines at 40-Myr super-Jovian protoplanet Delorme 1 (AB)b

Context. Accretion at planetary-mass companions (PMCs) suggests the presence of a protoplanetary disc in the system, likely accompanied by a circumplanetary disc. High-resolution spectroscopy of accreting PMCs is very difficult due to their proximity to bright host stars. For well-separated companions, however, such spectra are feasible and they are unique windows into accretion. Aims. We have followed up on our observations of the 40-Myr, and still accreting, circumbinary PMC Delorme 1 (AB)b. We used high-resolution spectroscopy to characterise the accretion process further by accessing the wealth of emission lines in the near-UV. Methods. We have used the UVES spectrograph on the ESO VLT/UT2 to obtain Rλ ≈ 50 000 spectroscopy, at 3300–4520 Å, of Delorme 1 (AB)b. After separating the emission of the companion from that of the M5 low-mass binary, we performed a detailed emission-line analysis, which included planetary accretion shock modelling. Results. We reaffirm ongoing accretion in Delorme 1 (AB)b and report the first detections in a (super-Jovian) protoplanet of resolved hydrogen line emission in the near-UV (Hγ, Hδ, Hϵ, H8, and H9). We tentatively detect H11, H12, He I, and Ca II H/K. The analysis strongly favours a planetary accretion shock with a line-luminosity-based accretion rate of Ṁ = 2 × 10−8 MJ yr−1. The lines are asymmetric and are well described by sums of narrow and broad components with different velocity shifts. The overall line shapes are best explained by a pre-shock velocity of v0 = 170 ± 30 km s−1, implying a planetary mass of MP = 13 ± 5 MJ, and number densities of n0 ≳ 1013 cm−3 or n0 ∼ 1011 cm−3. The higher density implies a small line-emitting area of ∼1% relative to the planetary surface. This favours magnetospheric accretion, a case potentially strengthened by the presence of blueshifted emission in the line profiles. Conclusions. High-resolution spectroscopy offers the opportunity to resolve line profiles, which are crucial for studying the accretion process in depth. The super-Jovian protoplanet Delorme 1 (AB)b is still accreting at ∼40 Myr. Thus, Delorme 1 belongs to the growing family of ‘Peter Pan disc’ systems with (a) protoplanetary and/or circumplanetary disc(s) far beyond the typically assumed disc lifetimes. Further observations of this benchmark companion and its presumed disc(s) will help answer key questions about the accretion geometry in PMCs.

Searching for Hα-emitting sources in the gaps of five transitional disks

Context. (Pre-)Transitional disks show gaps and cavities that can be related to ongoing planet formation. According to theory, young embedded planets can accrete material from the circumplanetary and circumstellar disks and can be detected using accretion tracers, such as the Hα emission line. Aims. We aim to detect accreting protoplanets within the cavities of five (pre-)transitional disks through adaptive-optics(AO)-assisted spectral angular differential imaging in the optical regime. Methods. We performed simultaneous AO observations in the Hα line and the adjacent continuum using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) with the Zurich Imaging Polarimeter (ZIMPOL) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). We combined spectral and angular differential imaging techniques to increase the contrast in the innermost regions close to the star and search for the signature of young accreting protoplanets. Results. The reduced images show no clear Hα point source around any of the targets. We report the presence of faint Hα emission around TW Hya and HD163296: while the former is most probably an artifact related to a spike, the nature of the latter remains unclear. The spectral and angular differential images yield contrasts of 6–8 magnitudes at ~100 mas from the central stars, except in the case of LkCa15, with values of ~3 mag. We used the contrast curves to estimate average upper limits to the Hα line luminosity of LHα ~ 5 × 10-6 L⊙ at separations ≥200 mas for TW Hya, RXJ1615, and T Cha, while for HD163296 and LkCa15 we derive values of ~3 × 10−5 L⊙. We estimated upper limits to the accretion luminosity of potential protoplanets, obtaining that planetary models provide an average value of Lacc ~ 10−4 L⊙ at 200 mas, which is about two orders of magnitude higher than the Lacc estimated from the extrapolation of the LHα - Lacc stellar relationship. Conclusions. When considering all the objects observed with SPHERE/ZIMPOL in the Hα line, 5 in this work and 13 from the literature, we can explain the lack of protoplanet detections by a combination of factors, such as a majority of low-mass, low-accreting planets; potential episodic accretion; significant extinction from the circumstellar and circumplanetary disks; and the fact that the contrast is less favorable at separations of smaller than 100 mas, where giant planets are more likely to form.

Effective dust growth in laminar circumplanetary discs with magnetic wind-driven accretion

ABSTRACT It has been considered that large satellites around gas planets form in situ circumplanetary discs (CPDs). However, dust particles supplied into CPDs drift toward the central planets before they grow into satellitesimals, building blocks of the satellites. We investigate the dust growth in laminar CPDs with magnetic wind-driven accretion. In such laminar discs, dust particles can settle on to the mid-plane and grow large by mutual collision more efficient than in classical turbulent CPDs. First, we carry out 3D local MHD simulations of a CPD including all the non-ideal MHD effects (Ohmic resistivity, Hall effect, and ambipolar diffusion). We investigate if the disc accretion can be governed by magnetic wind-driven accretion and how laminar the disc can be, in a situation where the magnetic disc wind can be launched from the disc. Secondly, we model 1D steady CPDs consistent with the results of the MHD simulations and calculate the steady radial distributions of the dust profiles in the modelled discs, taking account of the collisional growth, radial drift, fragmentation, and vertical stirring by the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. We show that satellitesimals can form in such CPDs if the dust-to-gas mass ratio of the inflow to the discs is larger than 0.02, which is 50 times smaller than the critical value in turbulent CPDs. This condition can be satisfied when enough amount of dust piles up at the gas pressure bump created by the planets. This result shows that satellitesimals would form in laminar CPDs with magnetic wind-driven accretion.