Using planet migration and dust drift to weigh protoplanetary discs

ALMA has spatially resolved over 200 annular structures in protoplanetary discs, many of which are suggestive of the presence of planets. Constraining the mass of these putative planets is quite degenerate for it depends on the disc physical properties, and for simplicity a steady-state is often assumed whereby the planet position is kept fixed and there is a constant source of dust at the outer edge of the disc. Here, we argue against this approach by demonstrating how the planet and dust dynamics can lift degeneracies of such steady-state models. We take main disc parameters from the well-known protoplanetary disc HD 163296 with a suspected planet at R approximate to 86 au as an example. By running gas and dust hydrodynamical simulations post-processed with dust radiative transfer calculations, we first find steady-state disc and planet parameters that reproduce ALMA continuum observations fairly well. For the same disc mass, but now allowing the planet to migrate in the simulation, we find that the planet undergoes runaway migration and reaches the inner disc in similar to 0.2 Myr. Further, decreasing the disc mass slows down planet migration, but it then also increases the dust's radial drift, thereby depleting the disc dust faster. We find that the opposing constraints of planet migration and dust drift require the disc mass to be at most 0.025 M-circle dot, must less massive than previously estimated, and for the dust to be porous rather than compact. We propose that similar analysis should be extended to other sources with suspected planetary companions.

Automated summary

ALMA has observed over 200 annular structures in protoplanetary discs, indicating the possible presence of planets. Determining the mass of these hypothetical planets is challenging due to the degeneracy caused by disc physical properties. In this study, we argue against the assumption of a steady-state model by showing how the dynamics of the planet and dust can break the degeneracies. By conducting hydrodynamical simulations and dust radiative transfer calculations, we found that allowing the planet to migrate in the simulation leads to runaway migration and depletion of the disc dust.