Related papers: The TW Hya Rosetta Stone Project IV: A hydrocarbon…
Here we aim to explore the origin of the strong C2H lines to reimagine the chemistry of protoplanetary disks. There are a few key aspects that drive our analysis. First, C2H is detected in young and old systems, hinting at a long-lived…
The young and nearby star \beta\ Pictoris (\beta\ Pic) is surrounded by a debris disk composed of dust and gas known to host a myriad evaporating exocomets, planetesimals and at least one planet. At an edge-on inclination, as seen from…
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…
Absorption lines from water, methane and carbon monoxide are detected in the atmosphere of exoplanet HR8799b. A medium-resolution spectrum presented here shows well-resolved and easily identified spectral features from all three molecules…
Volatile molecules are critical to terrestrial planetary habitability, yet difficult to observe directly where planets form at the midplanes of protoplanetary disks. It is unclear whether the inner 1 AU of disks are volatile-poor or if this…
Transmission spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is revealing growing chemical complexity in giant exoplanet atmospheres. Of particular interest is sulfur, which had essentially no observational constraints before JWST.…
Small organic molecules, such as C2H, HCN, and H2CO, are tracers of the C, N, and O budget in protoplanetary disks. We present high angular resolution (10-50 au) observations of C2H, HCN, and H2CO lines in five protoplanetary disks from the…
We have conducted the first comprehensive mm-wave molecular emission line surveys of the evolved circumstellar disks orbiting the nearby T Tauri stars TW Hya and V4046 Sgr AB. Both disks are known to retain significant residual gaseous…
Atmospheric abundances are thought to constrain the planet formation pathway, because different species evaporate at different temperatures leaving distinct signatures in the accreted atmosphere. The planetary C/O ratio is thought to…
Elemental abundances, particularly the C/O ratio, are seen as a way to connect the composition of planetary atmospheres with planet formation scenario and the disc chemical environment. We model the chemical composition of gas and ices in a…
We present Herschel PACS spectroscopy of the [OI] 63 micron gas-line for three circumstellar disk systems showing signs of significant disk evolution and/or planet formation: HR 8799, HD 377 and RX J1852.3-3700. [OI] is undetected toward HR…
The elemental composition of the gas and dust in a protoplanetary disk influences the compositions of the planets that form in it. We use the Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS) data to constrain the elemental composition of…
We present Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) adaptive optics near-infrared images of the giant planet-forming regions of the protoplanetary disk orbiting the nearby (D = 54 pc), pre-main sequence (classical T Tauri) star TW Hydrae. The GPI images,…
Grain growth in planet-forming disks is the first step toward the formation of planets. The growth of grains and their inward drift leaves a distinct imprint on the dust surface-density distribution and the resulting surface-brightness…
Gas-giant exoplanets are test cases for theories of planet formation as their atmospheres are proposed to carry signatures of their formation within the protoplanetary disk. The metallicity and C/O are key diagnostics, allowing to…
We have used the Submillimeter Array to image, at ~1" resolution, C2H(3-2) emission from the molecule-rich circumstellar disks orbiting the nearby, classical T Tauri star systems TW Hya and V4046 Sgr. The SMA imaging reveals that the C2H…
Context. Protoplanetary disks are the birthplace of planets. As such, they set the initial chemical abundances available for planetary atmosphere formation. Thus, studying elemental abundances, molecular compositions, and abundance ratios…
We present ISO-SWS observations of H2 pure-rotational line emission from the disks around low and intermediate mass pre-main-sequence stars as well as from young stars thought to be surrounded by debris disks. We detect `warm' (T ~ 100-200…
The distributions and abundances of molecules in protoplanetary disks are powerful tracers of the physical and chemical disk structures. The abundance ratios of HCN and its isomer HNC are known to be sensitive to gas temperature. Their line…
Observations of small extrasolar planets with a wide range of densities imply a variety of planetary compositions and structures. Currently, the only technique to measure the bulk composition of extrasolar planetary systems is the analysis…