Possible molecular spiral arms in the protoplanetary disk of AB aurigae

Abstract

The circumstellar dust disk of the Herbig Ae star AB Aur has been found to exhibit complex spiral-like structures in the near-IR image obtained with the Subaru Telescope. We present maps of the disk in both 12CO (3-2) and dust continuum at 345 GHz with the Submillimeter Array at an angular resolution of 1″.0 × 0″.7 (144 × 100 AU). The continuum emission traces a dust disk with a central depression and a maximum overall dimension of 450 AU (FWHM). This dust disk exhibits several distinct peaks that appear to coincide with bright features in the near-IR image, in particular the brightest inner spiral arm. The CO emission traces a rotating gas disk of size 530 × 330 AU with a deprojected maximum velocity of 2.8 km s -1 at 450 AU. In contrast with the dust disk, the gas disk exhibits an intensity peak at the stellar position. Furthermore, the CO emission in several velocity channels traces the innermost spiral arm seen in the near-IR. We compare the observed spatial-kinematic structure of the CO emission to a simple model of a disk in Keplerian rotation and find that only the emission tracing the main spiral arm clearly lies outside the confines of our model. This emission has a net outward radial motion compared with the radial velocity predicted by the model at the location of the main spiral arms. The disk of AB Aur is therefore quite different from the Keplerian disks seen around many Herbig Ae stars. The spiral-like structures of the disk with non-Keplerian motions we revealed in 12CO (3-2), together with the central depression of the dust disk, could be explained to be driven by the possible existence of a giant planet forming in the disk. © 2006. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.