TY - JOUR
T1 - Resolving the HD 100546 protoplanetary system with the Gemini Planet Imager
T2 - Evidence for multiple forming, accreting planets
AU - Currie, Thayne
AU - Cloutier, Ryan
AU - Brittain, Sean
AU - Grady, Carol
AU - Burrows, Adam S.
AU - Muto, Takayuki
AU - Kenyon, Scott J.
AU - Kuchner, Marc J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - We report Gemini Planet Imager H-band high-contrast imaging/integral field spectroscopy and polarimetry of the HD 100546, a 10 Myr old early-type star recently confirmed to host a thermal infrared (IR) bright (super-)Jovian protoplanet at wide separation, HD 100546 b. We resolve the inner disk cavity in polarized light, recover the thermal IR-bright arm, and identify one additional spiral arm. We easily recover HD 100546 b and show that much of its emission plausibly originates from an unresolved point source. The point-source component of HD 100546 b has extremely red IR colors compared to field brown dwarfs, qualitatively similar to young cloudy super-Jovian planets; however, these colors may instead indicate that HD 100546 b is still accreting material from a circumplanetary disk. Additionally, we identify a second point-source-like peak at rproj ∼ 14 AU, located just interior to or at the inner disk wall consistent with being a <10-20 MJ candidate second protoplanet - "HD 100546 c" - and lying within a weakly polarized region of the disk but along an extension of the thermal IR-bright spiral arm. Alternatively, it is equally plausible that this feature is a weakly polarized but locally bright region of the inner disk wall. Astrometric monitoring of this feature over the next 2 years and emission line measurements could confirm its status as a protoplanet, rotating disk hot spot that is possibly a signpost of a protoplanet, or a stationary emission source from within the disk.
AB - We report Gemini Planet Imager H-band high-contrast imaging/integral field spectroscopy and polarimetry of the HD 100546, a 10 Myr old early-type star recently confirmed to host a thermal infrared (IR) bright (super-)Jovian protoplanet at wide separation, HD 100546 b. We resolve the inner disk cavity in polarized light, recover the thermal IR-bright arm, and identify one additional spiral arm. We easily recover HD 100546 b and show that much of its emission plausibly originates from an unresolved point source. The point-source component of HD 100546 b has extremely red IR colors compared to field brown dwarfs, qualitatively similar to young cloudy super-Jovian planets; however, these colors may instead indicate that HD 100546 b is still accreting material from a circumplanetary disk. Additionally, we identify a second point-source-like peak at rproj ∼ 14 AU, located just interior to or at the inner disk wall consistent with being a <10-20 MJ candidate second protoplanet - "HD 100546 c" - and lying within a weakly polarized region of the disk but along an extension of the thermal IR-bright spiral arm. Alternatively, it is equally plausible that this feature is a weakly polarized but locally bright region of the inner disk wall. Astrometric monitoring of this feature over the next 2 years and emission line measurements could confirm its status as a protoplanet, rotating disk hot spot that is possibly a signpost of a protoplanet, or a stationary emission source from within the disk.
KW - planetary systems
KW - stars: early-type
KW - stars: individual (HD 100546)
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U2 - 10.1088/2041-8205/814/2/L27
DO - 10.1088/2041-8205/814/2/L27
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84949221580
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 814
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 2
M1 - L27
ER -