Dynamical Analysis of the HD 169142 Planet-Forming Disk: Twelve Years of High-Contrast Polarimetry
Miles Lucas, Michael Bottom, Ruobing Dong, Myriam Benisty, Mario Flock, Maria Vincent, Jonathan Williams, Kyohoon Ahn, Thayne Currie, Vincent Deo, Olivier Guyon, Tomoyuki Kudo, Lucinda Lilley, Julien Lozi, Maxwell Millar-Blanchaer, Barnaby Norris, Sebastián Pérez, Boris Safonov, Peter Tuthill, Taichi Uyama, Sébastien Vievard, Manxuan Zhang
Published: 2025/9/18
Abstract
We present a dynamical analysis of the HD 169142 planet-forming disk based on high-contrast polarimetric imaging over a twelve-year observational period, offering insights into its disk evolution and planet-disk interactions. This study explores the evolution of scattered-light features and their relationship with millimeter continuum emission. Archival visible-to-near-infrared scattered-light observations from NACO, SPHERE, and GPI combined with new observations from SCExAO reveal persistent non-axisymmetric structures in both the inner and outer rings of the disk. Through Keplerian image transformations and phase cross-correlation techniques, we show that the azimuthal brightness variations in the inner ring follow the local Keplerian velocity, suggesting these are intrinsic disk features rather than planet-induced spirals or shadows. The motion of the outer ring is weakly detected, requiring a longer observational baseline for further confirmation. Comparing scattered-light features with ALMA 1.3 mm-continuum data, we find that the scattered light traces the edges of dust structures in the inner ring, indicating complex interactions and a leaky dust trap around the water-ice snowline. These findings highlight the capability of long-term monitoring of circumstellar disks to distinguish planetary influences from Keplerian disk dynamics.