1 research outputs found
Imaging protoplanets: observing transition disks with non-redundant masking
Transition disks, protoplanetary disks with inner clearings, are promising
objects in which to directly image forming planets. The high contrast imaging
technique of non-redundant masking is well posed to detect planetary mass
companions at several to tens of AU in nearby transition disks. We present
non-redundant masking observations of the T Cha and LkCa 15 transition disks,
both of which host posited sub-stellar mass companions. However, due to a loss
of information intrinsic to the technique, observations of extended sources
(e.g. scattered light from disks) can be misinterpreted as moving companions.
We discuss tests to distinguish between these two scenarios, with applications
to the T Cha and LkCa 15 observations. We argue that a static,
forward-scattering disk can explain the T Cha data, while LkCa 15 is best
explained by multiple orbiting companions.Comment: SPIE conference proceedin