A major asymmetric ice trap in a planet-forming disk: II. prominent SO and SO2 pointing to C/O < 1

Gas-phase sulphur bearing volatiles appear to be severely depleted in protoplanetary disks. The detection of CS and non-detections of SO and SO2 in many disks have shown that the gas in the warm molecular layer, where giant planets accrete their atmospheres, has a high C/O ratio. In this letter, we report the detection of SO and SO2 in the Oph-IRS 48 disk using ALMA. This is the first case of prominent SO2 emission detected from a protoplanetary disk. The molecular emissions of both molecules is spatially correlated with the asymmetric dust trap. We propose that this is due to the sublimation of ices at the edge of the dust cavity and that the bulk of the ice reservoir is coincident with the millimetre dust grains. Depending on the partition of elemental sulphur between refractory and volatile materials the observed molecules can account for 15-100% of the total sulphur budget in the disk. In strong contrast to previous results, we constrain the C/O ratio from the CS/SO ratio to be < 1 and potentially solar. This has important implications for the elemental composition of planets forming within the cavities of warm transition disks.Comment: Accepted to A&A Letters 7th June 202

Disentangling protoplanetary disk gas mass and carbon depletion through combined atomic and molecular tracers

The total disk gas mass and elemental C, N, O composition of protoplanetary disks are crucial ingredients for our understanding of planet formation. Measuring the gas mass is complicated, since H$_2$ cannot be detected in the cold bulk of the disk and the elemental abundances with respect to hydrogen are degenerate with gas mass in all disk models. We present new NOEMA observations of CO, $^{13}$CO, C$^{18}$O and optically thin C$^{17}$O $J$=2-1 lines, and use additional high angular resolution Atacama Large Millimeter Array millimeter continuum and CO data to construct a representative model of LkCa 15. The transitions that constrain the gas mass and carbon abundance most are C$^{17}$O 2-1, N${_2}$H$^+$ 3-2 and HD 1-0. Using these three molecules we find that the gas mass in the LkCa 15 disk is $M_\mathrm{g}=0.01 ^{+0.01}_{-0.004} M_{\odot}$, a factor of six lower than estimated before. The carbon abundance is C/H = ($3 \pm 1.5) \times10^{-5}$, implying a moderate depletion of elemental carbon by a factor of 3-9. All other analyzed transitions also agree with these numbers, within a modeling uncertainty of a factor of two. Using the resolved \ce{C2H} image we find a C/O ratio of $\sim$1, which is consistent with literature values of H$_2$O depletion in this disk. The lack of severe carbon depletion in the LkCa 15 disk is consistent with the young age of the disk, but contrasts with the higher depletions seen in older cold transition disks. Combining optically thin CO isotopologue lines with N$_2$H$^+$ is promising to break the degeneracy between gas mass and CO abundance. The moderate level of depletion for this source with a cold, but young disk, suggests that long carbon transformation timescales contribute to the evolutionary trend seen in the level of carbon depletion among disk populations, rather than evolving temperature effects and presence of dust traps alone.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Tracing snowlines and C/O ratio in a planet-hosting disk: ALMA molecular line observations towards the HD 169142 disk

Stars and planetary system

A Chemical Map of the Outbursting V883 Ori system: Vertical and Radial Structures

We present the first results of a pilot program to conduct an Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 6 (211-275 GHz) spectral line study of young stellar objects (YSO) that are undergoing rapid accretion episodes, i.e. FU Ori objects (FUors). Here, we report on molecular emission line observations of the FUor system, V883 Ori. In order to image the FUor object with full coverage from ~0.5 arcsec to the map size of ~30 arcsec, i.e. from disc to outflow scales, we combine the ALMA main array (the 12-m array) with the Atacama Compact Array (7-m array) and the total power (TP) array. We detect HCN, HCO$^{+}$, CH$_{3}$OH, SO, DCN, and H$_{2}$CO emissions with most of these lines displaying complex kinematics. From PV diagrams, the detected molecules HCN, HCO$^{+}$, CH$_{3}$OH, DCN, SO, and H$_{2}$CO probe a Keplerian rotating disc in a direction perpendicular to the large-scale outflow detected previously with the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO lines. Additionally, HCN and HCO$^{+}$ reveal kinematic signatures of infall motion. The north outflow is seen in HCO$^{+}$, H$_{2}$CO, and SO emissions. Interestingly, HCO$^{+}$ emission reveals a pronounced inner depression or "hole" with a size comparable to the radial extension estimated for the CH$_{3}$OH and 230 GHz continuum. The inner depression in the integrated HCO$^{+}$ intensity distribution of V883 Ori is most likely the result of optical depth effects, wherein the optically thick nature of the HCO$^{+}$ and continuum emission towards the innermost parts of V883 Ori can result in a continuum subtraction artifact in the final HCO$^{+}$ flux level

Constraining the gas mass of Herbig disks using CO isotopologues

The total disk mass sets the formation potential for exoplanets. Carbon-monoxide (CO) has been used as a gas mass tracer in T Tauri disks, but was found to be less abundant than expected due to freeze-out and chemical conversion of CO on the surfaces of cold dust grains. The disks around more massive intermediate mass pre-main sequence stars called Herbig disks are likely to be warmer, allowing for the possibility of using CO as a more effective total gas mass tracer. Using ALMA archival data and new NOEMA data of 12CO, 13CO, and C18O transitions of 35 Herbig disks within 450 pc, the masses are determined using the thermo-chemical code Dust And LInes (DALI). The majority of Herbig disks for which 13CO and C18O are detected are optically thick in both. Computing the gas mass using a simple optically thin relation between line flux and column density results in an underestimate of the gas mass of at least an order of magnitude compared to the masses obtained with DALI. The inferred gas masses with DALI are consistent with a gas-to-dust ratio of at least 100. These gas-to-dust ratios are two orders of magnitude higher compared to those found for T Tauri disks using similar techniques, even over multiple orders of magnitude in dust mass, illustrating the importance of chemical conversion of CO in colder T Tauri disks. Similar high gas-to-dust ratios are found for Herbig group I and II disks. Since group II disks have dust masses comparable to T Tauri disks, their higher CO gas masses illustrate the determining role of temperature. Compared to debris disks, Herbig disks have four orders of magnitude higher gas masses. At least one Herbig disk, HD 163296, has a detected molecular disk wind, but our investigation has not turned up other detections of the CO disk wind in spite of similar sensitivities.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. 25 pages, 19 figures, plus appendice

A major asymmetric ice trap in a planet-forming disk IV. Nitric oxide gas and a lack of CN tracing sublimating ices and a C/O ratio <1< 1

[Abridged] Most well-resolved disks observed with ALMA show signs of dust traps. These dust traps set the chemical composition of the planet forming material in these disks, as the dust grains with their icy mantles are trapped at specific radii and could deplete the gas and dust of volatiles at smaller radii. In this work we analyse the first detection of nitric oxide (NO) in a protoplanetary disk. We aim to constrain the nitrogen chemistry and the gas-phase C/O ratio in the highly asymmetric dust trap in the Oph-IRS 48 disk. We use ALMA observations of NO, CN, C$_2$H, and related molecules and model the effect of the dust trap on the physical and chemical structure using the thermochemical code DALI. Furthermore, we explore how ice sublimation contributes to the observed emission lines. NO is only observed at the location of the dust trap but CN and C$_2$H are not detected in the Oph-IRS 48 disk. This results in an CN/NO column density ratio of $< 0.05$ and thus a low C/O ratio at the location of the dust trap. The main gas-phase formation pathways to NO through OH and NH in the fiducial model predict NO emission that is an order of magnitude lower than is observed. The gaseous NO column density can be increased by factors ranging from 2.8 to 10 when the H$_2$O and NH$_3$ gas abundances are significantly boosted by ice sublimation. However, these models are inconsistent with the upper limits on the H$_2$O and OH column densities derived from observations. We propose that the NO emission in the Oph-IRS 48 disk is closely related to the nitrogen containing ices sublimating in the dust trap. The non-detection of CN constrains the C/O ratio both inside and outside the dust trap to be $< 1$ if all nitrogen initially starts as N$_2$ and $\leq 0.6$, consistent with the Solar value, if (part of) the nitrogen initially starts as N or NH$_3$.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

The young embedded disk L1527 IRS: constraints on the water snowline and cosmic-ray ionization rate from HCO+ observations

Stars and planetary system

Gas temperature structure across transition disk cavities

[Abridged] Most disks observed at high angular resolution show substructures. Knowledge about the gas surface density and temperature is essential to understand these. The aim of this work is to constrain the gas temperature and surface density in two transition disks: LkCa15 and HD 169142. We use new ALMA observations of the $^{13}$CO $J=6-5$ transition together with archival $J=2-1$ data of $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O to observationally constrain the gas temperature and surface density. Furthermore, we use the thermochemical code DALI to model the temperature and density structure of a typical transition disk. The $6-5/2-1$ line ratio in LkCa15 constrains the gas temperature in the emitting layers inside the dust cavity to be up to 65 K, warmer than in the outer disk at 20-30 K. For the HD 169142, the peak brightness temperature constrains the gas in the dust cavity of HD 169142 to be 170 K, whereas that in the outer disk is only 100 K. Models also show that a more luminous central star, a lower abundance of PAHs and the absence of a dusty inner disk increase the temperature of the emitting layers and hence the line ratio in the gas cavity. The gas column density in the LkCa15 dust cavity drops by a factor >2 compared to the outer disk, with an additional drop of an order of magnitude inside the gas cavity at 10 AU. In the case of HD 169142, the gas column density drops by a factor of 200$-$500 inside the gas cavity, which could be due to a massive companion of several M$_{\mathrm{J}}$. The broad dust-depleted gas region from 10-68 AU for LkCa15 may imply several lower mass planets. This work demonstrates that knowledge of the gas temperature is important to determine the gas surface density and thus whether planets, and if so what kind of planets, are the most likely carving the dust cavities.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and astrophysic

An ALMA Molecular Inventory of Warm Herbig Ae Disks. I. Molecular Rings, Asymmetries, and Complexity in the HD 100546 Disk

Observations of disks with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) allow us to map the chemical makeup of nearby protoplanetary disks with unprecedented spatial resolution and sensitivity. The typical outer Class II disk observed with ALMA is one with an elevated C/O ratio and a lack of oxygen-bearing complex organic molecules, but there are now some interesting exceptions: three transition disks around Herbig Ae stars all show oxygen-rich gas traced via the unique detections of the molecules SO and CH3OH. We present the first results of an ALMA line survey at ≈337–357 GHz of such disks and focus this paper on the first Herbig Ae disk to exhibit this chemical signature—HD 100546. In these data, we detect 19 different molecules including NO, SO2, and CH3OCHO (methyl formate). We also make the first tentative detections of H2 CO 13 and 34SO in protoplanetary disks. Multiple molecular species are detected in rings, which are, surprisingly, all peaking just beyond the underlying millimeter continuum ring at ≈200 au. This result demonstrates a clear connection between the large dust distribution and the chemistry in this flat disk. We discuss the physical and/or chemical origin of these substructures in relation to ongoing planet formation in the HD 100546 disk. We also investigate how similar and/or different this molecular makeup of this disk is to other chemically well-characterized Herbig Ae disks. The linerich data we present motivate the need for more ALMA line surveys to probe the observable chemistry in Herbig Ae systems, which offer unique insight into the composition of disks ices, including complex organic molecules