Context. Rotationally supported disks are critical in the star formation process. The questions of when they form and what factors influence or hinder their formation have been studied but are ...largely unanswered. Observations of early-stage YSOs are needed to probe disk formation. Aims. VLA1623 is a triple non-coeval protostellar system, with a weak magnetic field perpendicular to the outflow, whose Class 0 component, VLA1623A, shows a disk-like structure in continuum with signatures of rotation in line emission. We aim to determine whether this structure is in part or in whole a rotationally supported disk, i.e. a Keplerian disk, and what its characteristics are. Methods. ALMA Cycle 0 Early Science 1.3 mm continuum and C18O (2−1) observations in the extended configuration are presented here and used to perform an analysis of the disk-like structure using position–velocity (PV) diagrams and thin disk modeling with the addition of foreground absorption. Results. The PV diagrams of the C18O line emission suggest the presence of a rotationally supported component with a radius of at least 50 AU. Kinematical modeling of the line emission shows that the disk out to 180 AU is actually rotationally supported, with the rotation described well by Keplerian rotation out to at least 150 AU, and the central source mass is ~0.2 M⊙ for an inclination of 55°. Pure infall and conserved angular momentum rotation models are excluded. Conclusions. VLA1623A, a very young Class 0 source, presents a disk with an outer radius Rout = 180 AU with a Keplerian velocity structure out to at least 150 AU. The weak magnetic fields and recent fragmentation in this region of ρ Ophiuchus may have played a leading role in the formation of the disk.
Rings are the most frequently revealed substructure in Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) dust observations of protoplanetary disks, but their origin is still hotly debated. In this ...paper, we identify dust substructures in 12 disks and measure their properties to investigate how they form. This subsample of disks is selected from a high-resolution (∼0 12) ALMA 1.33 mm survey of 32 disks in the Taurus star-forming region, which was designed to cover a wide range of brightness and to be unbiased to previously known substructures. While axisymmetric rings and gaps are common within our sample, spiral patterns and high-contrast azimuthal asymmetries are not detected. Fits of disk models to the visibilities lead to estimates of the location and shape of gaps and rings, the flux in each disk component, and the size of the disk. The dust substructures occur across a wide range of stellar mass and disk brightness. Disks with multiple rings tend to be more massive and more extended. The correlation between gap locations and widths, the intensity contrast between rings and gaps, and the separations of rings and gaps could all be explained if most gaps are opened by low-mass planets (super-Earths and Neptunes) in the condition of low disk turbulence ( = 10−4). The gap locations are not well correlated with the expected locations of CO and N2 ice lines, so condensation fronts are unlikely to be a universal mechanism to create gaps and rings, though they may play a role in some cases.
We present a high-resolution (∼0 12, ∼16 au, mean sensitivity of 50 Jy beam−1 at 225 GHz) snapshot survey of 32 protoplanetary disks around young stars with spectral type earlier than M3 in the ...Taurus star-forming region using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. This sample includes most mid-infrared excess members that were not previously imaged at high spatial resolution, excluding close binaries and objects with high extinction, thereby providing a more representative look at disk properties at 1-2 Myr. Our 1.3 mm continuum maps reveal 12 disks with prominent dust gaps and rings, 2 of which are around primary stars in wide binaries, and 20 disks with no resolved features at the observed resolution (hereafter smooth disks), 8 of which are around the primary star in wide binaries. The smooth disks were classified based on their lack of resolved substructures, but their most prominent property is that they are all compact with small effective emission radii (Reff,95% 50 au). In contrast, all disks with Reff,95% of at least 55 au in our sample show detectable substructures. Nevertheless, their inner emission cores (inside the resolved gaps) have similar peak brightness, power-law profiles, and transition radii to the compact smooth disks, so the primary difference between these two categories is the lack of outer substructures in the latter. These compact disks may lose their outer disk through fast radial drift without dust trapping, or they might be born with small sizes. The compact dust disks, as well as the inner disk cores of extended ring disks, that look smooth at the current resolution will likely show small-scale or low-contrast substructures at higher resolution. The correlation between disk size and disk luminosity correlation demonstrates that some of the compact disks are optically thick at millimeter wavelengths.
Abstract
The size of a disk encodes important information about its evolution. Combining new Submillimeter Array observations with archival Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array data, we ...analyze millimeter continuum and CO emission line sizes for a sample of 44 protoplanetary disks around stars with masses of 0.15–2
M
⊙
in several nearby star-forming regions. Sizes measured from
12
CO line emission span from 50 to 1000 au. This range could be explained by viscous evolution models with different
α
values (mostly of 10
−4
–10
−3
) and/or a spread of initial conditions. The CO sizes for most disks are also consistent with MHD wind models that directly remove disk angular momentum, but very large initial disk sizes would be required to account for the very extended CO disks in the sample. As no CO size evolution is observed across stellar ages of 0.5–20 Myr in this sample, determining the dominant mechanism of disk evolution will require a more complete sample for both younger and more evolved systems. We find that the CO emission is universally more extended than the continuum emission by an average factor of 2.9 ± 1.2. The ratio of the CO to continuum sizes does not show any trend with stellar mass, millimeter continuum luminosity, or the properties of substructures. The GO Tau disk has the most extended CO emission in this sample, with an extreme CO-to-continuum size ratio of 7.6. Seven additional disks in the sample show high size ratios (≳4) that we interpret as clear signs of substantial radial drift.
A diverse array of science goals requires accurate flux calibration of observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA); however, this goal remains challenging due to the ...stochastic time-variability of the "grid" quasars ALMA uses for calibration. In this work, we use 343.5 GHz (Band 7) ALMA Atacama Compact Array observations of four bright and stable young stellar objects over seven epochs to independently assess the accuracy of the ALMA flux calibration and to refine the relative calibration across epochs. The use of these four extra calibrators allows us to achieve an unprecedented relative ALMA calibration accuracy of ∼3%. On the other hand, when the observatory calibrator catalog is not up to date, the Band 7 data calibrated by the ALMA pipeline may have a flux calibration poorer than the nominal 10%, which can be exacerbated by weather-related phase decorrelation when self-calibration of the science target is either not possible or not attempted. We also uncover a relative flux calibration uncertainty between spectral windows of 0.8%, implying that measuring spectral indices within a single ALMA band is likely highly uncertain. We thus recommend various methods for science goals requiring high flux accuracy and robust calibration, in particular, the observation of additional calibrators combined with a relative calibration strategy, and observation of solar system objects for high absolute accuracy.
Context. Organic molecules are important constituents of protoplanetary disks. Their ro-vibrational lines observed in the near- and mid-infrared are commonly detected toward T Tauri disks. These ...lines are the only way to probe the chemistry in the inner few au where terrestrial planets form. To understand this chemistry, accurate molecular abundances have to be determined. This is complicated by excitation effects that include radiative pumping. Most analyses so far have made the assumption of local thermal equilibrium (LTE), which may not be fulfilled because of the high gas densities required to collisionally thermalize the vibrational levels of the molecules. Aims. The non-LTE excitation effects of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) are studied to evaluate (i) how the abundance determination is affected by the LTE assumption; (ii) whether the ro-vibrational excitation is dominated by collisions or radiative pumping; and (iii) which regions of protoplanetary disks are traced by certain vibrational bands. Methods. Starting from estimates for the collisional rate coefficients of HCN, non-LTE slab models of the HCN emission were calculated to study the importance of different excitation mechanisms. Using a new radiative transfer model, the HCN emission from a full two-dimensional disk was then modeled to study the effect of the non-LTE excitation, together with the line formation. We ran models tailored to the T Tauri disk AS 205 (N) where HCN lines in both the 3 μm and 14 μm bands have been observed by VLT-CRIRES and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Results. Reproducing the observed 3 μm/14 μm flux ratios requires very high densities and kinetic temperatures (n> 1014 cm-3 and T> 750 K), if only collisional excitation is accounted for. Radiative pumping can, however, excite the lines easily out to considerable radii ~10 au. Consequently, abundances derived from LTE and non-LTE models do not differ by more than a factor of about 3. Models with both a strongly enhanced abundance within ~1 au (jump abundance) and constant abundance can reproduce the current observations, but future observations with the MIRI instrument on JWST and METIS on the E-ELT can easily distinguish between the scenarios and test chemical models. Depending on the scenario, ALMA can detect rotational lines within vibrationally excited levels. Conclusions. Pumping by the continuum radiation field can bring HCN close enough to the LTE so that no big deviations in derived abundances are introduced with the LTE assumption, but the line profiles are substantially altered. In non-LTE models, accounting for collisional and radiative excitation, the emitting region can be much larger than in LTE models. Because HCN can be radiatively pumped to considerable radii, deriving a small emitting region from observations can thus point to the chemical abundance structure (e.g., jump abundance). Owing to their level structure, CO2 and C2H2 are expected to act in a similar way, facilitating studies of the warm inner disk chemistry.
The chemical composition of gas and ice in disks around young stars sets the bulk composition of planets. In contrast to protoplanetary disks (Class II), young disks that are still embedded in their ...natal envelope (Class 0 and I) are predicted to be too warm for CO to freeze out, as has been confirmed observationally for L1527 IRS. To establish whether young disks are generally warmer than their more evolved counterparts, we observed five young (Class 0/I and I) disks in Taurus with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, targeting C17O 2 − 1, H2CO , HDO , and CH3OH 5K − 4K transitions at 0 48 × 0 31 resolution. The different freeze-out temperatures of these species allow us to derive a global temperature structure. C17O and H2CO are detected in all disks, with no signs of CO freeze-out in the inner ∼100 au and a CO abundance close to ∼10−4. The H2CO emission originates in the surface layers of the two edge-on disks, as witnessed by the especially beautiful V-shaped emission pattern in IRAS 04302+2247. HDO and CH3OH are not detected, with column density upper limits more than 100 times lower than for hot cores. Young disks are thus found to be warmer than more evolved protoplanetary disks around solar analogs, with no CO freeze-out (or only in the outermost part of 100 au disks) or processing. However, they are not as warm as hot cores or disks around outbursting sources and therefore do not have a large gas-phase reservoir of complex molecules.
We report new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 3 observations at 2.75 mm of the transition disk around SR 24S, with an angular resolution of ∼0 11 × 0 09 and a peak ...signal-to-noise ratio of ∼24. We detect an inner disk and a mostly symmetric ring-like structure that peaks at ∼0 32, which is ∼37 au at a distance of ∼114.4 pc. The full width at half maximum of this ring is ∼28 au. We analyze the observed structures by fitting the dust continuum visibilities using different models for the intensity profile, and compare with previous ALMA observations of the same disk at 0.45 and 1.30 mm. We qualitatively compare the results of these fits with theoretical predictions of different scenarios for the formation of a cavity or large gap. The comparison of the dust continuum structure between different ALMA bands indicates that photoevaporation and the dead zone can be excluded as leading mechanisms for the cavity formation in the SR 24S disk, leaving the planet scenario (single or multiple planets) as the most plausible mechanism. We compared the 2.75 mm emission with published (sub)centimeter data and find that the inner disk is likely tracing dust thermal emission. This implies that any companion in the system should allow dust to move inwards throughout the gap and replenish the inner disk. In the case of one single planet, this puts strong constraints on the mass of the potential planet inside the cavity and the disk viscosity of about 5 MJup and ∼ 10−4-10−3, respectively.
Complex organic molecules are ubiquitous companions of young low-mass protostars. Recent observations suggest that their emission stems, not only from the traditional hot corino, but also from offset ...positions. In this work, 2D physicochemical modelling of an envelope-cavity system is carried out. Wavelength-dependent radiative transfer calculations are performed and a comprehensive gas-grain chemical network is used to simulate the physical and chemical structure. The morphology of the system delineates three distinct regions: the cavity wall layer with time-dependent and species-variant enhancements; a torus rich in complex organic ices, but not reflected in gas-phase abundances and the remaining outer envelope abundant in simpler solid and gaseous molecules. Strongly irradiated regions, such as the cavity wall layer, are subject to frequent photodissociation in the solid phase. Subsequent recombination of the photoproducts leads to frequent reactive desorption, causing gas-phase enhancements of several orders of magnitude. This mechanism remains to be quantified with laboratory experiments. Direct photodesorption is found to be relatively inefficient. If radicals are not produced directly in the icy mantle, the formation of complex organics is impeded. For efficiency, a sufficient number of FUV photons needs to penetrate the envelope, and elevated cool dust temperatures need to enable grain-surface radical mobility. As a result, a high stellar luminosity and a sufficiently wide cavity favour chemical complexity. Furthermore within this paradigm, complex organics are demonstrated to have unique lifetimes and be grouped into early (formaldehyde, ketene, methanol, formic acid, methyl formate, acetic acid and glycolaldehyde) and late (acetaldehyde, dimethyl ether and ethanol) species.
We present new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations for three protoplanetary disks in Taurus at 2.9 mm and comparisons with previous 1.3 mm data both at an angular resolution of ...∼0 1 (15 au for the distance of Taurus). In the single-ring disk DS Tau, double-ring disk GO Tau, and multiring disk DL Tau, the same rings are detected at both wavelengths, with radial locations spanning from 50 to 120 au. To quantify the dust emission morphology, the observed visibilities are modeled with a parametric prescription for the radial intensity profile. The disk outer radii, taken as 95% of the total flux encircled in the model intensity profiles, are consistent at both wavelengths for the three disks. Dust evolution models show that dust trapping in local pressure maxima in the outer disk could explain the observed patterns. Dust rings are mostly unresolved. The marginally resolved ring in DS Tau shows a tentatively narrower ring at the longer wavelength, an observational feature expected from efficient dust trapping. The spectral index ( mm) increases outward and exhibits local minima that correspond to the peaks of dust rings, indicative of the changes in grain properties across the disks. The low optical depths (τ ∼ 0.1-0.2 at 2.9 mm and 0.2-0.4 at 1.3 mm) in the dust rings suggest that grains in the rings may have grown to millimeter sizes. The ubiquitous dust rings in protoplanetary disks modify the overall dynamics and evolution of dust grains, likely paving the way toward the new generation of planet formation.
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