Modeling the scattered light disk images for proplanetary disks
Ruobing Dong, Princeton University
Advisor: Lee
Hartmann, U. Michigan and Takayuki Muto, Tokyo
Institute of Technology.
Abstract: Using Whitney's Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, we simulate the near
IR scattered light images in both intensity and polarized intensity for a
series of axisymmetric protoplanetary disk models. By measuring the
properties of the images, we study the detectability of both the disks and
the features of giant planet formation at early stage (i.e. gaps opened by
the planets) in real observations, and the connection between the detected
disk structure and the intrinsic properties of the system. We use real
point spread functions of Subaru telescope to convolve the images, in
order to synthesize realistic images with the smallest spatial resolution
and inner working angle which ground based instruments can provide at
present. In the models without gaps, the effects of the disk depletion
factor, mass, and flareness on the images are investigated, while for the
models with a gap, we focus on the dependence of the detectability of the
gap on the gap position, width, and depletion factor. Qualitatively, the
more massive and more flared the disk is, the brighter the disk is. The
gap is only visible when the disk is visible, and the deeper and wider the
gap is, the larger the contrast level of the gap is.
PDF Presentation
Project report