Mapping the WISPIT2 Planet-Hosting Cavity at Sub-Hill-Radius scales

@misc{benisty2026mapping,
  title = {{Mapping the WISPIT2 Planet-Hosting Cavity at Sub-Hill-Radius scales}},
  author = {Myriam Benisty and Stefano Facchini and Richard Teague and Francesco Zagaria and Pietro Curone and Viviana Pezzotta and Jaehan Bae and Gabriele Cugno and Daniel J. Price},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.04946},
  eprint = {2609.04946},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04946},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Mapping the WISPIT2 Planet-Hosting Cavity at Sub-Hill-Radius scales
AU  - Myriam Benisty
AU  - Stefano Facchini
AU  - Richard Teague
AU  - Francesco Zagaria
AU  - Pietro Curone
AU  - Viviana Pezzotta
AU  - Jaehan Bae
AU  - Gabriele Cugno
AU  - Daniel J. Price
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04946
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04946
AB  - We present new deep, very high angular resolution observations of the sub-mm continuum (19x13 mas) and 12CO (67x52 mas) emission from the disk surrounding the planet host WISPIT2. Our analysis reveals a clear gas gap carved by WISPIT 2b and an empty cavity within the orbit of WISPIT 2c. We also find a gaseous and optically thin dusty ring located between the orbits of the two planets. Channel maps show a pronounced change in the emission surface height of the disk, which transitions from flat within the cavity to strongly flared beyond the orbit of planet b, producing clear breaks in the velocity channels. A pronounced thunderbolt-shaped feature, identified as a kinematic planetary signature (KPS), is detected at the location of WISPIT 2b, in agreement with predictions from planet-disk interaction simulations. This constitutes the first system with a confirmed kinematic signature associated with a directly imaged planet. By mirroring opposite velocity-channel maps about the systemic velocity, we further investigate the KPS and identify spatially resolved excess emission in the vicinity of WISPIT 2b. We find that this emission is resolved across the full Hill sphere of the planet, significantly exceeding the expected extent of a circumplanetary disk. We therefore suggest that the observed emission arises from a combination of processes, including prominent planet-driven spiral wakes, localized heating induced by the planet and a circumplanetary disk. Although higher spectral resolution is required to disentangle these contributions, our observations demonstrate the potential to directly characterize the birth environment of forming massive planets at scales down to sub-Hill radius.
ER  -