Article Dans Une Revue Nature Année : 2024

Gravitational instability in a planet-forming disk

Jessica Speedie
  • Fonction : Auteur
Ruobing Dong
  • Fonction : Auteur
Cassandra Hall
  • Fonction : Auteur
Cristiano Longarini
  • Fonction : Auteur
Teresa Paneque-Carreño
  • Fonction : Auteur
Giuseppe Lodato
  • Fonction : Auteur
Ya-Wen Tang
  • Fonction : Auteur
Richard Teague
  • Fonction : Auteur
Jun Hashimoto
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

The canonical theory for planet formation in circumstellar disks proposes that planets are grown from initially much smaller seeds1–5. The long-considered alternative theory proposes that giant protoplanets can be formed directly from collapsing fragments of vast spiral arms6–11 induced by gravitational instability12–14—if the disk is gravitationally unstable. For this to be possible, the disk must be massive compared with the central star: a disk-to-star mass ratio of 1:10 is widely held as the rough threshold for triggering gravitational instability, inciting substantial non-Keplerian dynamics and generating prominent spiral arms15–18. Although estimating disk masses has historically been challenging19–21, the motion of the gas can reveal the presence of gravitational instability through its effect on the disk-velocity structure22–24. Here we present kinematic evidence of gravitational instability in the disk around AB Aurigae, using deep observations of 13CO and C18O line emission with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The observed kinematic signals strongly resemble predictions from simulations and analytic modelling. From quantitative comparisons, we infer a disk mass of up to a third of the stellar mass enclosed within 1″ to 5″ on the sky.

Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
s41586-024-07877-0-1.pdf (88.39 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte
Licence

Dates et versions

insu-04838849 , version 1 (08-10-2025)

Licence

Identifiants

Citer

Jessica Speedie, Ruobing Dong, Cassandra Hall, Cristiano Longarini, Benedetta Veronesi, et al.. Gravitational instability in a planet-forming disk. Nature, 2024, 633, pp.58-62. ⟨10.1038/s41586-024-07877-0⟩. ⟨insu-04838849⟩
147 Consultations
18 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

  • More