Disk Evolution Study Through Imaging of Nearby Young Stars (DESTINYS): Evidence of planet–disk interaction in the 2MASSJ16120668-3010270 system^★

¹ School of Natural Sciences, Center for Astronomy, University of Galway, Galway H91 CF50, Ireland
² Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
³ Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice cedex 4, France
⁴ Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique (IPAG), 38000 Grenoble, France
⁵ School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton Vic 3800, Australia
⁶ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
⁷ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
⁸ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
⁹ Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
¹⁰ University Observatory, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 Munich, Germany
¹¹ Exzellenzcluster ORIGINS, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
¹² Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
¹³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria, 16, Milano, 20133, Italy
¹⁴ INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125, Firenze, Italy
¹⁵ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
¹⁶ European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 19001, Santiago, Chile
¹⁷ Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 538 W. 120th Street, Pupin Hall, New York, NY, USA
¹⁸ Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, CNRS, UCBL, ENS Lyon, UMR 5574, 69230 Saint-Genis-Laval, France
¹⁹ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
²⁰ Hamburger Sternwarte, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
²¹ Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
²² Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales, Av. Ejército Libertador 441, Santiago, Chile
²³ Millennium Nucleus on Young Exoplanets and their Moons (YEMS), Chile

^★★ Corresponding author: christian.ginski@universityofgalway.ie

Received: 24 July 2024
Accepted: 7 May 2025

Abstract

Context. The multitude of different architectures found for evolved exoplanet systems are in all likelihood set during the initial planet-formation phase in the circumstellar disk. To understand this process, we have to study the earliest phases of planet formation.

Aims. Complex sub-structures, believed to be driven by embedded planets, have been detected in a significant portion of the disks observed at high angular resolution. We aim to extend the sample of such disks to low stellar masses and to connect the disk morphology to the expected proto-planet properties.

Methods. In this study, we used VLT/SPHERE to obtain resolved images on the scale of ∼10 au of the circumstellar disk in the 2MASSJ16120668-3010270 system in polarized scattered light. We searched for the thermal radiation of recently formed gas giants embedded in the disk. Additionally, we used VLT/XSHOOTER to obtain the stellar properties in the system.

Results. We resolve the disk in the 2MASSJ16120668-3010270 system for the first time in scattered near-infrared light and reveal an exceptionally structured disk. We find an inner disk (reaching out to 40 au) with two spiral arms, separated by a gap from an outer ring extending to 115 au. By comparison with our own model and hydrodynamic models from the literature, we find that these structures are consistent with the presence of an embedded gas giant with a mass range between 0.1 M_Jup and 5 M_Jup depending on the employed model and their underlying assumptions. Our SPHERE observations find a tentative candidate point source within the disk gap, the brightness of which would be consistent with this mass range if it indeed traces thermal emission by an embedded planet. This interpretation is somewhat strengthened by the proximity of this signal to compact millimeter continuum emission in the disk gap, which may trace circumplanetary material. It is, however, unclear if this tentative companion candidate could be responsible for the observed disk gap size, given its close proximity to the inner disk. Generally, our VLT/SPHERE observations set an upper limit of ∼5 M_Jup in the disk gap (∼0.2”−0.5”), consistently with our modeling results. The 2MASSJ16120668-3010270 system is one of only a few systems that shows this exceptional morphology of spiral arms located inside a scattered light gap and ring. We speculate that this may have to do with a higher disk viscosity compared with other systems such as PDS 70. If planets in the disk are confirmed, 2MASSJ16120668-3010270 will become a prime laboratory for the study of planet-disk interaction.