Constraints on the Dust Size Distributions in the HD 163296 Disk from the Difference of the Apparent Dust Ring Widths between Two ALMA Bands

Abstract

The dust size in protoplanetary disks is a crucial parameter for understanding planet formation, while the observational constraints on dust size distribution have large uncertainties. In this study, we present a new method to constrain the dust size distribution from the dust spatial distribution, utilizing the fact that larger dust grains are more spatially localized. We analyze Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Band 6 (1.25 mm) and Band 4 (2.14 mm) high-resolution images and constrain the dust size distribution in the two rings of the HD 163296 disk. We find that the outer ring at 100 au appears narrower at longer wavelengths, while the inner ring at 67 au appears to have similar widths across the two wavelengths. We model dust rings trapped at gas pressure maxima, where the dust grains follow a power-law size distribution, and the dust grains of a specific size follow a Gaussian spatial distribution, with the width depending on the grain size. By comparing the observations with the models, we constrain the maximum dust size ${a}_{\max }$ and the exponent of the dust size distribution p . We constrain $0.9\ \mathrm{mm}\lt {a}_{\max }\lt 5\ \mathrm{mm}$ and p < 3.3 in the inner ring, and ${a}_{\max }\gt 3\,\times \,{10}^{1}\ \mathrm{mm}$ and 3.4 < p < 3.7 in the outer ring. The larger maximum dust size in the outer ring implies a spatial dependency in dust growth, potentially influencing the formation location of the planetesimals. We further discuss the turbulence strength α derived from the constrained dust spatial distribution, assuming equilibrium between turbulent diffusion and the accumulation of dust grains.

Keywords

• Protoplanetary disks
• Planet formation
• Submillimeter astronomy
• Dust continuum emission
• Dust physics