Related papers: Molecular Line Emission from Gravitationally Unsta…
The gas surface density profile of protoplanetary disks is one of the most fundamental physical properties to understand planet formation. However, it is challenging to determine the surface density profile observationally, because the…
Gas mass remains one of the most difficult protoplanetary disk properties to constrain. With much of the protoplanetary disk too cold for the main gas constituent, H2, to emit, alternative tracers such as dust, CO, or the H2 isotopolog HD…
The chemical properties of protoplanetary disks are especially sensitive to their ionization environment. Sources of molecular gas ionization include cosmic rays, stellar X-rays and short-lived radionuclides, each of which varies with…
Gas kinematics are an important part of the planet formation process. Turbulence influences planetesimal growth and migration from the scale of sub-micron dust grains through gas-giant planets. Radio observations of resolved molecular line…
Protoplanetary gas disks are likely to experience gravitational instabilites (GI's) during some phase of their evolution. Density perturbations in an unstable disk grow on a dynamic time scale into spiral arms that produce efficient outward…
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of molecular line emission from d216-0939, one of the largest and most massive protoplanetary disks in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). We model the spectrally…
We report single-dish multi-transition measurements of the 12^CO, HCN, and HCO^+ molecular line emission as well as HNC J=1-0 and HNCO in the two ultraluminous infra-red galaxies Arp220 and NGC6240. Using this new molecular line inventory,…
Phases of gravitational instability are expected in the early phases of disk evolution, when the disk mass is still a substantial fraction of the mass of the star. Disk fragmentation into sub-stellar objects could occur in the cold exterior…
The cold outer regions of protoplanetary disks are expected to contain a midplane-centered layer where gas-phase CO molecules freeze out and their overall abundance is low. The layer then manifests itself as a void in the channel maps of CO…
Detecting planet signatures in protoplanetary disks is fundamental to understanding how and where planets form. In this work, we report dust and gas observational hints of planet formation in the disk around 2MASS-J16120668-301027, as part…
Massive young stellar object (MYSOs) form during the collapse of high-mass pre-stellar cores, where infalling molecular material is accreted through a centrifugally-balanced accretion disc that is subject to efficient gravitational…
New HCN, HNC, and HCO+ measurements of 46 normal galaxies in transitions up to J=4-3 are included in a multitransition database covering HCN and HCO+ (130 galaxies) and HNC (94 galaxies). The near-linear luminosity relations are dominated…
Both core accretion and disk instability appear to be required as formation mechanisms in order to explain the entire range of giant planets found in extrasolar planetary systems. Disk instability is based on the formation of clumps in a…
Gaseous giant planet formation is thought to occur in the first few million years following stellar birth. Models predict that giant planet formation carves a deep gap in the dust component (shallower in the gas). Infrared observations of…
We examine changes in the molecular abundances resulting from increased heating due to a self-luminous planetary companion embedded within a narrow circumstellar disk gap. Using 3D models that include stellar and planetary irradiation, we…
Planet formation is a hugely dynamic process requiring the transport, concentration and assimilation of gas and dust to form the first planetesimals and cores. With access to extremely high spatial and spectral resolution observations at…
Doppler surveys have shown that more massive stars have significantly higher frequencies of giant planets inside $\sim$ 3 AU than lower mass stars, consistent with giant planet formation by core accretion. Direct imaging searches have begun…
Searches for young gas giant planets at wide separations have so far focused on techniques appropriate for compact (Jupiter sized) planets. Here we point out that protoplanets born through Gravitational Instability (GI) may remain in an…
Circumstellar disks are considered to be the birthplace of planets. Specific structures like spiral arms, gaps, and cavities are characteristic indicators of planet-disk interaction. Investigating these structures can provide insights into…
Potential signatures of proto-planets embedded in their natal protoplanetary disk are radial gaps or cavities in the continuum emission in the IR-mm wavelength range. ALMA observations are now probing spatially resolved rotational line…