Evolution of the HD163296 Jet Axis

HD 163296 is a Herbig Ae star which drives a bipolar knotty jet with a total length of ~6000 au. Strong evidence exists that the disk of HD 163296 harbors planets which could affect the morphology of the jet, and ‘wiggling’ models have been proposed as a method to infer the presence of companions in other stars. Using the VLT/MUSE spectrograph, we investigate the morphology and proper motions of the HD 163296 jet with the aim of searching for evidence of its planetary system. In particular, we analyze the jet width and jet axis position with distance from the star and compare to ‘wiggling’ models to explore the possibility of orbital motion or precession in the jet axis. We conclude that there is no signature of this wiggle in the jet, and our results allow us to constrain the parameters of possible companions and further assess the robustness of the wiggling jet model as a method for detecting companions.