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FRANKENSTEIN: protoplanetary disc brightness profile reconstruction at sub-beam resolution with a rapid Gaussian process

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Jennings, J 
Booth, RA 
Rosotti, GP 
Clarke, CJ 

Abstract

Interferometric observations of the mm dust distribution in protoplanetary discs are now showing a ubiquity of annular gap and ring substructures. Their identification and accurate characterization is critical to probing the physical processes responsible. We present Frankenstein (frank), an open source code that recovers axisymmetric disc structures at sub-beam resolution. By fitting the visibilities directly, the model reconstructs a disc's 1D radial brightness profile nonparametrically using a fast (<~1 min) Gaussian process. The code avoids limitations of current methods that obtain the radial brightness profile by either extracting it from the disc image via nonlinear deconvolution at the cost of reduced fit resolution, or by assumptions placed on the functional forms of disc structures to fit the visibilities parametrically. We use mock ALMA observations to quantify the method's intrinsic capability and its performance as a function of baseline-dependent signal-to-noise. Comparing the technique to profile extraction from a CLEAN image, we motivate how our fits accurately recover disc structures at a sub-beam resolution. Demonstrating the model's utility in fitting real high and moderate resolution observations, we conclude by proposing applications to address open questions on protoplanetary disc structure and processes.

Description

Keywords

methods: data analysis, techniques: interferometric, planets and satellites: detection, protoplanetary discs, submillimetre: general, submillimetre: planetary systems

Journal Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0035-8711
1365-2966

Volume Title

495

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)
Sponsorship
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/S000623/1)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (823823)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/N000927/1)