Radiative Transfer Modeling of Thermal Emission and Scattered Light in Protoplanetary Disks

We present a radiative transfer study of rings, gaps, and cavities around protoplanetary disks as potential locations for protoplanets. We aim to better understand these regions’ temperature and density distributions. Our study uses archival thermal emission and polarized scattered light data. The two wavelengths yield a more complete picture of the extended structure from the disk’s midplane to its surface. Our modeling returns masses for the rings in the well-studied disk HD 163296 comparable to existing estimates. We then apply the modeling procedures to the disk around DoAr 44, which has a more complex ring geometry. We consider possible properties of planets that may be in these disks but remain undetected thus far.