Variable illumination in the PDS 66 protoplanetary disk

Polarimeters have resolved dozens of protoplanetary disks in polarized intensities. Disks that exhibit variable illuminations in the outer regions provide new means of investigating the innermost regions and give valuable insight on physical processes inherent in terrestrial planet formation. The PDS 66 has a close to face-on view of its disk which inhabits ring- and gab-like structures. In this research, we further investigated these tructures by using SPHERE/IRDIS polarimetric differential imaging in H- and J band to obtain the Stokes Q, U, and I image. We linked earlier found rotational timescale of roughly 22 years to a Jupiter mass-like planet in the inner disk, but we need new observations to exclude timescales shorter than our two year baseline. In addition, we probed the dust content by fitting an adjusted Henyey-Greenstein model to the scattering phase function and found a difference in g values and polarization fractions at 90 scattering angles for the north and south side...Show morePolarimeters have resolved dozens of protoplanetary disks in polarized intensities. Disks that exhibit variable illuminations in the outer regions provide new means of investigating the innermost regions and give valuable insight on physical processes inherent in terrestrial planet formation. The PDS 66 has a close to face-on view of its disk which inhabits ring- and gab-like structures. In this research, we further investigated these tructures by using SPHERE/IRDIS polarimetric differential imaging in H- and J band to obtain the Stokes Q, U, and I image. We linked earlier found rotational timescale of roughly 22 years to a Jupiter mass-like planet in the inner disk, but we need new observations to exclude timescales shorter than our two year baseline. In addition, we probed the dust content by fitting an adjusted Henyey-Greenstein model to the scattering phase function and found a difference in g values and polarization fractions at 90 scattering angles for the north and south side of the disk at gnorth = 0.22, pnorth = 16.33, gsouth = 0.15, and psouth = 13.49. These results, in combination with an enhanced surface brightness of 30% in the north relative to the south side of the disk at scattering angles of 90, suggest an asymmetric particle distribution throughout the disk. We further confirmed literature results on the inclination and position angle of the outer ring and found a stello-centric offset of 49.8 mas, which contradicts expectations in previous literatureShow less

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Variable illumination in the PDS 66 protoplanetary disk