Related papers: Carbon isotope fractionation in protoplanetary dis…
Probing the gas and dust in proto-planetary disks is central for understanding the process of planet formation. In disks surrounding solar type protostars, the bulk of the disk mass resides in the outer midplane, which is cold ($\leq$20 K),…
The nucleosynthetic heterogeneity between different asteroids and planets is well established. These isotopic variations manifest themselves at the part per millions level or larger, in isotopes that were synthesised in various stellar…
The molecular composition inside the dust sublimation zones of protoplanetary disks is mostly unknown but important to understanding terrestrial planet formation. A few molecules have been observed from this region, specifically CO, H2O, OH…
The fractionation of nitrogen (N) in star-forming regions is a poorly understood process. To put more stringent observational constraints on the N-fractionation, we have observed with the IRAM-30m telescope a large sample of 66 cores in…
Based on the interstellar CO/H2 ratio, carbon monoxide-based censuses of protoplanetary disks in Lupus, sigma Orionis, and Chamaeleon I found no disks more massive than the minimum-mass solar nebula, which is inconsistent with the existence…
The spatial distribution of gas and solids in protoplanetary disks determines the composition and formation efficiency of planetary systems. A number of disks show starkly different distributions for the gas and small grains compared to…
The chemical reservoir within protoplanetary disks has a direct impact on planetary compositions and the potential for life. A long-lived carbon-and nitrogen-rich chemistry at cold temperatures (<=50K) is observed within cold and evolved…
Protoplanetary disks are composed primarily of gas (99% of the mass). Nevertheless, relatively few observational constraints exist for the gas in disks. In this review, I discuss several observational diagnostics in the UV, optical,…
We report on the results of the first 3D SPH simulation of massive, gravitationally unstable protoplanetary disks with radiative transfer. We adopt a flux-limited diffusion scheme justified by the high opacity of most of the disk. The…
[Abridged] Chemical evolution in the protoplanetary disk midplane can modify the composition of ices and gases. We have investigated if and how chemical evolution affects the abundances and distributions of key volatile species in the…
The composition of a protoplanetary disk is set by a combination of interstellar inheritance and gas and grain surface chemical reactions within the disk. The survival of inherited molecules, as well as the disk in situ chemistry depends on…
Cool a piece of the Sun to 1000 K at one millibar pressure to yield a mineral assemblage consistent with those found in the most primitive meteorites. This is an equilibrium or fractional condensation experiment simulated by calculations…
Carbon monoxide (CO) is the most commonly used tracer of molecular gas in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks. CO can be used to constrain the excitation and structure of the circumstellar environment. Absorption line spectroscopy…
Over the last few years, the chemistry of molecules other than CO in the planet-forming zones of disks is starting to be explored with Spitzer and high-resolution ground-based data. However, these studies have focused only on a few simple…
Measurements of the gas mass are necessary to determine the planet formation potential of protoplanetary disks. Observations of rare CO isotopologues are typically used to determine disk gas masses; however, if the line emission is…
The gas-solid budget of carbon in protoplanetary disks is related to the composition of the cores and atmospheres of the planets forming in them. The key gas-phase carbon carriers CO, C$^{0}$ and C$^{+}$ can now be observed in disks. The…
We investigate the evolution of grains composed of an ice shell surrounding an olivine core as they pass through a spiral shock in a protoplanetary disk. We use published three-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of massive…
The initial stellar carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio can have a large impact on the resulting condensed species present in the protoplanetary disk and, hence, the composition of the bodies and planets that form. The observed C/O ratios of stars…
Our goal is to take an inventory of complex molecules in three well-known high-mass protostars for which disks or toroids have been claimed and to study the similarities and differences with a sample of massive YSOs without evidence of such…
Disks around young stars are the birthplaces of planets, and the spatial distribution of their gas and dust masses is critical for understanding where and what types of planets can form. We present self-consistent thermochemical disk models…