Transition Disks – Grain Growth, Planets, or Photoevaporation?

¹ University Observatory Munich, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 München, Germany
² Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
³ Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Universität Heidelberg, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
⁴ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
⁵ Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) UMR 5274, Grenoble, F-38041, France

^a e-mail: til.birnstiel@lmu.de

Abstract

In the past years, many transition disks have been detected via SED modeling or imaging. The disks feature dust cavities in their inner regions with sizes ranging from a few to more than 70 AU. The origin of those structures, however, remains mysterious. We will present how our recent simulation results, which include gap opening by a giant planet and effects of dust evolution, could explain these structures.