WL 17: A Young Embedded Transition Disk

Patrick D. Sheehan, Josh A. Eisner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the highest spatial resolution ALMA observations to date of the Class I protostar WL 17 in the ρ Ophiuchus L1688 molecular cloud complex, which show that it has a 12 au hole in the center of its disk. We consider whether WL 17 is actually a Class II disk being extincted by foreground material, but find that such models do not provide a good fit to the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) and also require such high extinction that it would presumably arise from dense material close to the source, such as a remnant envelope. Self-consistent models of a disk embedded in a rotating collapsing envelope can nicely reproduce both the ALMA 3 mm observations and the broadband SED of WL 17. This suggests that WL 17 is a disk in the early stages of its formation, and yet even at this young age the inner disk has been depleted. Although there are multiple pathways for such a hole to be created in a disk, if this hole was produced by the formation of planets it could place constraints on the timescale for the growth of planets in protoplanetary disks.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberL12
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume840
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 10 2017

Keywords

  • protoplanetary disks
  • stars: individual (WL 17)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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