Discovery of a Disk Gap Candidate at 20 AU in TW Hydrae
Abstract
We present a new Subaru/HiCIAO high-contrast H-band polarized intensity (PI) image of a nearby transitional disk associated with TW Hydrae. The scattered light from the disk was detected from 0.2" to 1.5" (11 - 81 AU) and the PI image shows a clear axisymmetric depression in polarized intensity at ~ 0.4" (~ 20 AU) from the central star, similar to the ~ 80 AU gap previously reported from HST images. Azimuthal polarized intensity profile also shows the disk beyond 0.2" is almost axisymmetric. We discuss two possible scenarios explaining the origin of the polarized intensity depression: 1) a gap structure may exist at ~ 20 AU from the central star because of shallow slope seen in the polarized intensity profile, and 2) grain growth may be occurring in the inner region of the disk. Multi-band observations at NIR and millimeter/sub-millimeter wavelengths play a complementary role in investigating dust opacity and may help reveal the origin of the gap more precisely.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1503.01856,
title = {Discovery of a Disk Gap Candidate at 20 AU in TW Hydrae},
author = {E. Akiyama and T. Muto and N. Kusakabe and A. Kataoka and J. Hashimoto and T. Tsukagoshi and J. Kwon and T. Kudo and R. Kandori and C. A. Grady and M. Takami and M. Janson and M. Kuzuhara and T. Henning and M. L. Sitko and J. C. Carson S. Mayama and T. Currie and C. Thalmann and J. Wisniewski and M. Momose and N. Ohashi and L. Abe and W. Brandner and T. D. Brandt and S. Egner and M. Feldt and M. Goto and O. Guyon and Y. Hayano and M. Hayashi and S. Hayashi and K. W. Hodapp and M. Ishi and M. Iye and G. R. Knapp and T. Matsuo and M. W. McElwain and S. Miyama and J. -I. Morino and A. Moro-Martin and T. Nishimura and T. -S. Pyo and G. Serabyn and T. Suenaga and H. Suto and R. Suzuki and Y. H. Takahashi and N. Takato and H. Terada and D. Tomono and E. L. Turner and M. Watanabe and T. Yamada and H. Takami and T. Usuda and M. Tamura},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.01856},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
8 pages, 2 figures, ApJL accepted for publication