Resolved gas cavities in transitional disks inferred from CO isotopologs with ALMA

Abstract

Context. Transitional disks around young stars with large dust cavities are promising candidates to look for recently formed, embedded planets. Models of planet-disk interaction predict that young planets clear a gap in the gas while trapping dust at larger radii. Other physical mechanisms might also be responsible for cavities. Previous observations have revealed that gas is still present inside these cavities, but the spatial distribution of this gas remains uncertain.