ArXiv · 2026
We report new ALMA Band 7 high-resolution (∼0.05^('')) continuum and ¹²CO (J=3--2) observations of the disk around the young low-mass star Sz 76. Visibility-plane modeling reveals a previously undetected, faint outer dust ring centered at ∼45 au surrounding the compact central disk. Including this low-surface-brightness feature increases the characteristic dust radius from R_(dust,68) ≈ 7 au to 41 au. Combined with an outer gas extent of R_(CO,68) ≈ 77 au, the resulting gas-to-dust size ratio decreases from an extreme value of ∼11 to ∼2, placing Sz 76 in line with typical protoplanetary disks and contradicting a scenario of unimpeded inward radial drift. These results demonstrate that spatial filtering or limited surface-brightness sensitivity can severely underestimate disk sizes, highlighting the necessity of multi-scale observations to properly identify dust traps and accurately constrain disk evolution.
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