Testing Magnetospheric Accretion as an Hα Emission Mechanism of Embedded Giant Planets: The Case Study for the Disk Exhibiting Meridional Flow Around HD 163296

Abstract

Recent high-sensitivity observations reveal that accreting giant planets embedded in their parental circumstellar disks can emit H α at their final formation stages. While the origin of this emission is not yet determined, magnetospheric accretion is currently the most plausible hypothesis. In order to test this hypothesis further, we develop a simplified but physics-based model and apply it to our observations taken toward HD 163296 with Subaru/SCExAO+VAMPIRES. We specify under which conditions embedded giant planets can undergo magnetospheric accretion and emit hydrogen lines. We find that when the stellar accretion rates are high, magnetospheric accretion becomes energetic enough to self-regulate the resulting emission. On the other hand, when massive planets are embedded in disks with low accretion rates, earlier formation histories determine whether magnetospheric accretion occurs. We explore two different origins for the hydrogen emission lines (magnetospheric accretion flow heated by accretion-related processes versus planetary surfaces via accretion shock). The corresponding relationships between the accretion and line luminosities dictate that the emission from accretion flow achieves higher line flux than that from accretion shock, and the flux decreases with increasing wavelengths (i.e., from H α to Pa β and up to Br γ ). Our observations do not detect any point-like source emitting H α , and they are used to derive the 5 σ detection limit. The observations are therefore not sensitive enough, and a reliable examination of our model becomes possible when the observational sensitivity is improved by a factor of 10 or more. Multi-band observations increase the possibility of efficiently detecting embedded giant planets and carefully determining the origin of the hydrogen emission lines.

Keywords

• Planet formation
• Extrasolar gaseous giant planets
• Protoplanetary disks
• Planetary magnetospheres
• H alpha photometry