Signatures of planet formation in gravitationally unstable disks

In this Letter, we calculate simulated scattered light images of a circumstellar disk in which a planet is forming by gravitational instability. The simulated images bear no correlation to the vertically integrated surface density of the disk, but rather trace the density structure in the tenuous upper layers of the disk. Although the density at high altitudes does not bear a direct relation to activity at the midplane, the very existence of structure at high altitudes along with high time variability is an indicator of gravitational instability within the disk. The timescale for variations is much shorter than the orbital period of the planet, which facilitates observation of the phenomenon. Scattered light images may not necessarily be able to tell us where exactly a planet might be forming in a disk but can still be a useful probe of active planet formation within a circumstellar disk. Although these phenomena are unlikely to be observable by current telescopes, future large telescopes, such as the Giant Magellan Telescope, may be able to detect them.