Near-IR Observations of the Young Star [BHB2007]-1: A Substellar Companion Opening the Gap in the Disk

Abstract The presence of planets or substellar objects still embedded in their native protoplanetary disks is indirectly suggested by disk substructures like gaps, cavities, and spirals. However, these companions are rarely detected. We present Very Large Telescope/NACO high-contrast images the J , H K S bands young star [BHB2007]-1 probing inclined scattered light revealing probable a companion. point source detected band spatial correspondence with complementary Array observations. This object constrained to have mass range 37–47 M Jup located at 50 au from central star, inside 70 au-large cavity recently imaged Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter (ALMA), that absent our NACO data (down 20 au). compatible upper end derived size ALMA cavity. NIR brightness highly asymmetric around minor axis, southern side 5.5 times brighter than northern side. constant amount asymmetry across all wavelengths suggests it due shadow cast misaligned inner disk. massive companion we detect could, principle, explain possible misalignment, as well different sizes inferred confirmation characterization entrusted future