2015ApJ...803L..10R

We report the presence of scattered light from dust grains located in the giant planet formation region of the circumbinary disk orbiting the ∼20 Myr old close (∼0.045 AU separation) binary system V4046 Sgr AB based on observations with the new Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument. These GPI images probe to within ∼7 AU of the central binary with a linear spatial resolution of ∼3 AU, and are therefore capable of revealing the dust disk structure within a region corresponding to the giant planets in our solar system. GPI imaging reveals a relatively narrow (FWHM ∼ 10 AU) ring of polarized near-infrared flux whose brightness peaks at ∼14 AU. This ∼14 AU radius ring is surrounded by a fainter outer halo of scattered light extending to ∼45 AU, which coincides with previously detected millimeter-wave thermal dust emission. The presence of small grains that efficiently scatter starlight well inside the millimeter-wavelength disk cavity supports current models of planet formation which suggest that planet-disk interactions can generate pressure traps that impose strong radial variations in the particle size distribution throughout the disk.