Related papers: First detection of gas-phase ammonia in a planet-f…
The dominant form of nitrogen provided to most solar system bodies is currently unknown, though available measurements show that the detected nitrogen in solar system rocks and ices is depleted with respect to solar abundances and the…
We report the detection of the ground state rotational emission of ammonia, ortho-NH$_3$ $(J_K=1_0\rightarrow0_0)$ in a gravitationally lensed, intrinsically hyperluminous, star-bursting galaxy at $z=2.6$. The integrated line profile is…
The first detection of gas-phase methanol in a protoplanetary disk (TW Hya) is presented. In addition to being one of the largest molecules detected in disks to date, methanol is also the first disk organic molecule with an unambiguous ice…
We present an observational reconstruction of the radial water vapor content near the surface of the TW Hya transitional protoplanetary disk, and report the first localization of the snow line during this phase of disk evolution. The…
Methanol (CH$_{3}$OH) ice is abundant in space and is a key feedstock for seeding chemical complexity in interstellar and circumstellar environments. Despite its ubiquity, gas-phase methanol has only been detected in one disk around a…
The physical and chemical conditions in young protoplanetary disks set the boundary conditions for planet formation. Although the dust in disks is relatively easily detected as a far-IR photometric ``excess'' over the expected photospheric…
Physical processes that redistribute or remove angular momentum from protoplanetary disks can drive mass accretion onto the star and affect the outcome of planet formation. Despite ubiquitous evidence that protoplanetary disks are engaged…
The gas-phase chemistry of water in protoplanetary disks is analyzed with a model based on X-ray heating and ionization of the disk atmosphere. Several uncertain processes appear to play critical roles in generating the column densities of…
The dominant reservoirs of elemental nitrogen in protoplanetary disks have not yet been observationally identified. Likely candidates are HCN, NH$_3$ and N$_2$. The relative abundances of these carriers determine the composition of…
We present new constraints on gas-phase C, N, and O abundances in the molecular layer of the IM Lup protoplanetary disk. Building on previous physical and chemical modeling of this disk, we use new ALMA observations of C$_2$H to constrain…
Recent observations of the ground state transition of HDO at 464 GHz towards the protoplanetary disk of DM Tau have detected the presence of water vapor in the regions just above the outer disk midplane (Ceccarelli et al 2005). In the…
The initial mass distribution in the solar nebula is a critical input to planet formation models that seek to reproduce today's Solar System. Traditionally, constraints on the gas mass distribution are derived from observations of the dust…
We re-examine the constraints provided by Herschel Space Observatory data regarding cold water emission from protoplanetary disks. Previous disk models that were used to interpret observed water emission concluded that oxygen (O/H) is…
[Abridged] Planet formation is expected to be enhanced around snowlines in protoplanetary disks, in particular around the water snowline. However, the close proximity of the water snowline to the host star and water in the Earth's…
Observations conducted using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array on the protoplanetary disk around TW Hya show the nitrogen fractionation of HCN molecules in HC$^{14}$N/HC$^{15}$N $\sim$120 at a radius of $\sim$20 AU. In this…
During the million years of evolution, gas dust and ice in protoplanetary disks can be chemically reprocessed. There are evidences that the gas-phase carbon and oxygen abundances are sub-solar in disks belonging to nearby star forming…
Ice-coated dust grains provide the main reservoir of volatiles that play an important role in planet formation processes and may become incorporated into planetary atmospheres. However, due to observational challenges, the ice abundance…
Probing the gas and dust in proto-planetary disks is central for understanding the process of planet formation. In disks surrounding solar type protostars, the bulk of the disk mass resides in the outer midplane, which is cold ($\leq$20 K),…
Gas-phase methanol was recently detected in a protoplanetary disk for the first time with ALMA. The peak abundance and distribution of methanol observed in TW Hya differed from that predicted by chemical models. Here, the chemistry of…
CO is thought to be the main reservoir of volatile carbon in protoplanetary disks, and thus the primary initial source of carbon in the atmospheres of forming giant planets. However, recent observations of protoplanetary disks point towards…