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Katie L. Milsom

Publications and source records attributed to Katie L. Milsom.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Shadows cast by precessing annuli as evidence for an inclined planet in HD 139614

We analyse scattered-light images at multiple epochs of the protoplanetary disc HD139614 taken with GPI and SPHERE instruments. We show that the azimuthal distribution of the surface brightness of the inner bright ring ($13-21$au) varies with time (likely caused by a structure in the inner-disc at $\sim1$au) and constrain the timescale of this variation to be $<11$months. We show that inner arc ($31-44$au) is likely a spiral and tightly wound, measuring a pitch angle of $6.1\pm1.2^\circ$. Additionally, we construct a physical model to explain the broad shadow across $\sim2/3$ of the outer disc and the azimuthally asymmetric bright ring (which has a shadow not aligned with the broad shadow). We model the disc using 1D warp equations with a fast radiative transfer code to produce scattered-light images. We setup the disc as three annuli separated by gaps with an inclined perturbing planet between the inner two annuli. The planet causes the inner annuli to tilt and precess independently casting broad shadows across the outer (un-tilted) annulus. These shadows combine to produce a shadow across $\sim2/3$ of the outer disc and an asymmetric bright ring which matches the observations of HD139614. The precession of the annuli is periodic (so the model matches the observations multiple times) with long precession time-scales ($8.4\times10^3$ and $7.2\times10^4$years for the inner and middle annulus respectively) so the shadows are effectively static over accessible observational time-scales.

astro-ph.EP↗

Scattered light signatures of flyby-induced warps in protoplanetary discs

We explore the observational signatures of flybys in scattered light images of protostellar discs. The warps are modelled using 1D warp propagation theory coupled to a fast radiative transfer code that simulates the shadows induced. We consider two scenarios, namely a flyby in a plane orthogonal to, and at an angle with, the disc plane. In both models the outer disc becomes warped (leading to a broad shadow in the outer disc) and the warp wave propagates back and forth (causing the shadow to oscillate). We find that the inner disc, although tilted, is not warped and is therefore not shadowed. For a low viscosity disc ($α=10^{-4}$) the warp lasts for most of the disc's lifetime ($τ\sim 10^6\,$years), and for $50\%$ of the time the azimuthal variance of the surface brightness from the scattered light images, $σ^2$, is above $0.01$, meaning that the shadow in the disc is significant. We find that a significant fraction of discs in nearby star forming regions should have undergone a flyby sufficient to induce an observable warp, and that surveys of shadowed discs could provide a valuable probe of disc viscosity.

astro-ph.EP↗