The Substructures in Disks Undergoing Vertical Shear Instability. II. Observational Predictions for the Dust Continuum

Abstract

High-angular resolution observations at submillimeter/millimeter wavelengths of disks surrounding young stars have shown that their morphology is made of azimuthally symmetric or point-symmetric substructures, in some cases with spiral arms or localized spur- or crescent-shaped features. The majority of theoretical studies with the aim of interpreting the observational results have focused on disk models with planets under the assumption that the disk substructures are due to disk–planet interaction. However, so far, only in very few cases have exoplanets been detected in these systems. Furthermore, some substructures are expected to appear before planets form, as they are necessary to drive the concentration of small solids which can lead to the formation of planetesimals. In this work we present observational predictions from high-resolution 3D radiative hydrodynamical models that follow the evolution of gas and solids in a prototoplanetary disk. We focus on substructures in the distribution of millimeter-sized and smaller solid particles produced by the vertical shear instability. We show that their characteristics are compatible with some of the shallow gaps detected in recent observations at sub-mm/mm wavelengths and present predictions for future observations with better sensitivity and angular resolution with ALMA and a Next Generation Very Large Array.