Related papers: Disk masses around solar-mass stars are underestim…
CO is the most widely used gas tracer of protoplanetary disks. Its abundance is usually assumed to be an interstellar ratio throughout the warm molecular layer of the disk. But recent observations of low CO gas abundance in many…
The gas mass of protoplanetary disks, and the gas-to-dust ratio, are two key elements driving the evolution of these disks and the formation of planetary system. We explore here to what extent CO (or its isotopologues) can be used as a…
One of the methods for deriving disk masses relies on direct observations of the gas, whose bulk mass is in the outer cold ($T\lesssim30$K) regions. This zone can be well traced by rotational lines of less abundant CO isotopologues, that…
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…
Despite intensive studies of protoplanetary disks, there is still no reliable way to determine their total mass and their surface density distribution, quantities that are crucial for describing both the structure and the evolution of disks…
Gas mass is a fundamental quantity of protoplanetary disks that directly relates to their ability to form planets. Because we are unable to observe the bulk H$_2$ content of disks directly, we rely on indirect tracers to provide…
Protoplanetary disk mass is a key parameter controlling the process of planetary system formation. CO molecular emission is often used as a tracer of gas mass in the disk. In this study we consider the ability of CO to trace the gas mass…
At the moment, one of the main ways to infer the disk mass is to use a combination of CO isotopologue line observations. A number of theoretical studies have concluded that CO must be a reliable gas tracer as its relative abundance depends…
CO is commonly used as a tracer of the total gas mass in both the interstellar medium and in protoplanetary disks. Recently there has been much debate about the utility of CO as a mass tracer in disks. Observations of CO in protoplanetary…
CO has long been thought to be the best tracer to measure gas masses as it is readily detected at (sub)mm wavelengths in many disks. Inferred gas masses from CO in recent ALMA observations of large samples of disks seem inconsistent with…
The disks that surround young stars are mostly composed of molecular gas, which is harder to detect and interpret than the accompanying dust. Disk mass measurements have therefore relied on large and uncertain extrapolations from the dust…
In this article we review the methods used to determine the gas and dust masses of protoplanetary disks, with an emphasis on the lesser characterized total gas mass. Our review encompasses all the indirect tracers and the methodology that…
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…
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…
The gas near the midplanes of planet-forming protostellar disks remains largely unprobed by observations due to the high optical depth of commonly observed molecules such as CO and H$_2$O. However, rotational emission lines from rare…
CO is one of the most abundant molecules in protoplanetary disks, and optically thin emission from its isotopologues has been detected in many of them. However, several past works have argued that reproducing the relatively low emission of…
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 mass of a protoplanetary disk limits the formation and future growth of any planet. Masses of protoplanetary disks are usually calculated from measurements of the dust continuum emission by assuming an interstellar gas-to-dust ratio. To…
Empirical constraints of fundamental properties of protoplanetary disks are essential for understanding planet formation and planetary properties (1,2). Carbon monoxide (CO) gas is often used to constrain disk properties (3). However,…
Many astrochemical models of observed CO isotopologue line emission, earlier considered a good proxy measure of H$_2$ and hence disk gas mass, favor large deviations in the carbon and oxygen gas phase abundances and argue that severe gas…