SIERRA , Anibal

The physical origin of the large cavities observed in transition disks is to date still unclear. Different physical mechanisms (e.g., a companion, dead zones, enhanced grain growth) produce disk cavities of different depth, and the expected spatial distribution of gas and solids in each mechanism is not the same. In this work, we analyze the...

Rings and gaps are among the most widely observed forms of substructure in protoplanetary disks. A gap–ring pair may be formed when a planet carves a gap in the disk, which produces a local pressure maximum following the gap that traps inwardly drifting dust grains and appears as a bright ring owing to the enhanced dust density. A dust-trapping...