Janus is a 6th Year PhD student working with his advisor, Dr. Jeffrey Fung, in Astrophysics, specifically on observing planet-formation. Check out his paper here and press release here.
“Theory pertaining to the interconnectivity of forming planets and protoplanetary disks has little observational backing as very few planets have been observed while still embedded in their natal disks. This limitation has been alleviated with this high-resolution spectroscopic study of the T Tauri star CI Tau which has a previously detected companion, CI Tau b, residing within the inner disk. We collected multi-epoch spectroscopic data of the 12 CO ro-vibrational emissions spanning nine consecutive nights in order to identify disk features that have been imprinted by the planet. The emission line profiles reveal that the disk can be compartmentalized into two components spanning orbital radii 0.05–0.13 au and 0.15–1.5 au. This alludes to the companion being located at an orbital distance of around 0.14 au. Also, both disk components have eccentricities of about 0.05 and arguments of periapsis that are oppositely aligned. Having the established information of the planet’s orbital parameters and now being equipped with data of the host disk gives insight that can inform theories pertaining to planet-disk interactions.”
The average 12CO emission line profile of CI Tau (right) originating from the inner protoplanetary disk (Kozdon+23). The purple lines are there to illustrate the relative location of the emission on an image of the star (left; Clarke+18). The line profile could not be satisfactorily described by a circular disk but, instead, required two slightly eccentric and oppositely oriented rings.