Multi-wavelength Constraints on Dust Dynamics and Size Evolution in Protoplanetary Disk Rings. II. Observational Implications

arXiv:2609.16556 · astro-ph.EP · Submitted 2026-09-15 · Read on arXiv

astro-ph.EP

Submitted: 2026-09-15

Updated: 2026-09-15

Comments: 18 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

Code: https://github.com/SScoorge/dring

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: Spatially resolved dust rings in protoplanetary disks are widely used to infer disk and dust physics from multi-wavelength continuum observations.

Terminology

Abstract

Spatially resolved dust rings in protoplanetary disks are widely used to infer disk and dust physics from multi-wavelength continuum observations. Their interpretation, however, often neglects grain growth and the evolution of the size distribution, limiting the connection between observed ring profiles and dust-evolution parameters. Building on a physical dust-ring model that includes coagulation and fragmentation, we develop a Bayesian inference framework that jointly incorporates radiative transfer and finite angular resolution. When applied to two rings in HD 163296 and two in LkCa 15, our framework yields gas-dependent estimates of the key dust-evolution parameters such as turbulence strength α and the fragmentation velocity v frag in a self-consistent way. Most rings admit both a low- α, low- v frag branch with small grains, and a higher- α, higher- v frag branch with larger grains. Typical low- α branches have α about10-5 -- 10-4 and fragmentation velocities of order cm s-1 level, whereas the higher- α branches reach α about10-3 -- 10-2 and fragmentation velocities of a few to 20 m s-1. The observed broad and wavelength-dependent profiles near the ring peaks can be reproduced by intrinsically narrow dust rings. This new framework offers a more direct route from multi-wavelength continuum data to the microphysics of dust growth and trapping---a connection that can be robustly tested with future high-resolution observations at longer wavelengths.

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