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High gas-to-dust size ratio indicating efficient radial drift in the mm-faint CX Tauri disk

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Facchini, S 
Dishoeck, EF van 
Manara, CF 
Maud, L 

Abstract

The large majority of protoplanetary disks have very compact (≲15AU) continuum emission at mm wavelengths. However, high angular resolution observations that resolve these small disks are still lacking, due to their intrinsically fainter emission compared with large bright disks. In this letter, we present 1.3mm ALMA data of the faint (∼10mJy) disk orbiting the TTauri star CX Tau at a resolution of ∼40mas, ∼5AU in diameter. The mm-dust disk is compact, with a 68% enclosing flux radius of 14AU, and the intensity profile exhibits a sharp drop between 10-20AU, and a shallow tail between 20-40AU. No clear signatures of substructure in the dust continuum are observed, down to the same sensitivity level of the DSHARP large program. However, the angular resolution does not allow to detect substructures at a scale of the disk aspect ratio in the inner regions. The radial intensity profile resembles well the inner regions of more extended disks imaged at the same resolution in DSHARP, but with no rings present in the outer disk. No inner cavity is detected, even though the disk has been classified as a transition disk from the spectral energy distribution in the near infrared. The emission of 12CO is much more extended, with a 68% enclosing flux radius of 75AU. The large difference of the mm dust and gas extents (>5) strongly points to the occurrence of radial drift, and matches well the predictions of theoretical models.

Description

Keywords

protoplanetary disks, submillimeter: planetary systems, stars: individual: CX Tauri

Journal Title

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1432-0746
1432-0746

Volume Title

Publisher

EDP Sciences
Sponsorship
European Research Council (341137)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (823823)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/N000927/1)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/S000623/1)