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 optically thick this will result in an underestimated disk mass. With ALMA we have detected the rarest stable CO isotopologue, 13C17O, in a protoplanetary disk for the first time. We compare our observations with the existing detections of 12CO, 13CO, C18O and C17O in the HD163296 disk. Radiative transfer modelling using a previously benchmarked model, and assuming interstellar isotopic abundances, significantly underestimates the integrated intensity of the 13C17O J=3-2 line. Reconciliation between the observations and the model requires a global increase in CO gas mass by a factor of 3.5. This is a factor of 2-6 larger than previous gas mass estimates using C18O. We find that C18O emission is optically thick within the CO snow line, while the 13C17O emission is optically thin and is thus a robust tracer of the bulk disk CO gas mass.
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 over a wide range of disk structural parameters and search for chemical species that could possibly be used as alternative mass tracers to CO. Specifically, we apply detailed astrochemical modeling to a large set of models of protoplanetary disks around low-mass stars, to select molecules with abundances correlated with the disk mass and being relatively insen…
Near-IR observations of protoplanetary disks provide information about the properties of the inner disk. High resolution spectra of abundant molecules such as CO can be used to determine the disk structure in the warm inner parts. The $v2/v1$ ro-vibrational ratio of $v_{1-0}$ and $v_{2-1}$ transitions has been recently observed to follow distinct trends with the CO emitting radius, in a sample of TTauri and Herbig disks; these trends have been empirically interpreted as due to inner disk depletion from gas and dust. In this work we use existing thermo-chemical disk models to explore the interp…
I describe new constraints on the lifetimes and morphologies of transitional protoplanetary disks from observations of 1--10 Myr old stars with the \textit{Spitzer Space Telescope}. New Spitzer results clearly show evidence for two kinds of transitional disks and thus two main disk evolutionary pathways: disks which form an inner hole/gap and clear from the inside out and disks that deplete more homologously. Analyzing the disk populations of 1--10 Myr old clusters such as Taurus, IC 348, NGC 2362, and $η$ Cha show that the mean transitional disk lifetime must be an appreciable fraction of the…
We use two-dimensional Fourier transformation to measure the pitch angle ($φ$) of the dominant spiral Fourier mode of well-defined spiral arms in 13 protoplanetary disks, making use of near-infrared scattered-light images of AB Aur, SAO 206462, MWC 758, V1247 Ori, HD 142527, DZ Cha, LkH$α$ 330, and HD 100453, and ALMA millimeter continuum images of Elias 2-27, IM Lup, AS 205, and HT Lup. We find that the measured pitch angle correlates strongly with disk mass ($M_{D}$), such that more massive protoplanetary disks have smaller pitch angles, following $|φ| = -(7.8\pm1.7)\log(M_{D}/M_{\odot})+(2.…
The investigation of polarized light of protoplanetary disks is key for constraining the dust properties, disk morphology and embedded magnetic fields. However, different polarization mechanisms and the diversity of dust grain shapes and compositions lead to ambiguities in the polarization pattern. The so-called "self-scattering" of thermal, re-emitted radiation in the infrared and mm/submm is discussed as a major polarization mechanism. If the net flux of the radiation field is in radial direction, it is commonly assumed that the polarization pattern produced by scattering in a protoplanetary…
It has recently been established that the evolution of protoplanetary disks is primarily driven by magnetized disk winds, requiring large-scale magnetic flux threading the disks. The size of such disks is expected to shrink in time, as opposed to the conventional scenario of viscous expansion. We present the first global 2D non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of protoplanetary disks that are truncated in the outer radius, aiming to understand the interaction of the disk with the interstellar environment, as well as global evolution of the disk and magnetic flux. We find that as the…
Ionization-recombination balance in dense interstellar and circumstellar environments is a key factor for a variety of important physical processes, such as chemical reactions, dust charging and coagulation, coupling of the gas with magnetic field and development of instabilities in protoplanetary disks. We determine a critical gas density above which the recombination of electrons and ions on the grain surface dominates over the gas-phase recombination. For this regime, we present a self-consistent analytical model which allows us to exactly calculate abundances of charged species in dusty ga…
We assess the ionising effect of low energy protostellar cosmic rays in protoplanetary disks around a young solar mass star for a wide range of disk parameters. We assume a source of low energy cosmic rays located close to the young star which travel diffusively through the protoplanetary disk. We use observationally inferred values from nearby star-forming regions for the total disk mass and the radial density profile. We investigate the influence of varying the disk mass within the observed scatter for a solar mass star. We find that for a large range of disk masses and density profiles that…
The volatile contents of protoplanetary disks both set the potential for planetary chemistry and provide valuable probes of defining disk system characteristics such as stellar mass, gas mass, ionization, and temperature structure. Current disk molecular inventories are fragmented, however, giving an incomplete picture: unbiased spectral line surveys are needed to assess the volatile content. We present here an overview of such a survey of the protoplanetary disks around the Herbig Ae star MWC 480 and the T Tauri star LkCa 15 in ALMA Band 7, spanning $\sim$36 GHz from 275--317 GHz and represen…
Context. Several sulfur-bearing molecules are observed in the interstellar medium and in comets, in strong contrast to protoplanetary disks where only CS, H$_2$CS and SO have been detected so far. Aims. We combine observations and chemical models to constrain the sulfur abundances and their sensitivity to physical and chemical conditions in the DM Tau protoplanetary disk. Methods. We obtained $0.5^{"}$ ALMA observations of DM Tau in Bands 4 and 6 in lines of CS, SO, SO$_2$, OCS, CCS, H$_2$CS and H$_2$S, achieving a $\sim 5$ mJy sensitivity. Using the non-LTE radiative transfer code RADEX and t…
Recent spatially-resolved observations of protoplanetary disks revealed a plethora of substructures, including concentric rings and gaps, inner cavities, misalignments, spiral arms, and azimuthal asymmetries. This is the major breakthrough in studies of protoplanetary disks since Protostars and Planets VI and is reshaping the field of planet formation. However, while the capability of imaging substructures in protoplanetary disks has been steadily improving, the origin of many substructures are still largely debated. The structured distributions of gas and solids in protoplanetary disks likely…
Recent observations show that the CO gas abundance, relative to H$_2$, in many 1-10 Myr old protoplanetary disks may be heavily depleted, by a factor of 10-100 compared to the canonical interstellar medium value of 10$^{-4}$. When and how this depletion happens can significantly affect compositions of planetesimals and atmospheres of giant planets. It is therefore important to constrain if the depletion occurs already at the earliest protostellar disk stage. Here we present spatially resolved observations of C$^{18}$O, C$^{17}$O, and $^{13}$C$^{18}$O $J$=2-1 lines in three protostellar disks. …
The similar orbital distances and detection rates of debris disks and the prominent rings observed in protoplanetary disks suggest a potential connection between these structures. We explore this connection with new calculations that follow the evolution of rings of pebbles and planetesimals as they grow into planets and generate dusty debris. Depending on the initial solid mass and planetesimal formation efficiency, the calculations predict diverse outcomes for the resulting planet masses and accompanying debris signature. When compared with debris disk incidence rates as a function of lumino…
This comprehensive review summarizes our current understanding of the evolution of gas, solids and molecular ices in protoplanetary disks. Key findings related to disk physics and chemistry, both observationally and theoretically, are highlighted. We discuss which molecular probes are used to derive gas temperature, density, ionization state, kinematics, deuterium fractionation, and study organic matter in protoplanetary disks.
Formation, evolution, and dispersal processes of protoplanetary disks are investigated and the disk lifetime is estimated. Gravitational collapse of a pre-stellar core forms both a central star and a protoplanetary disk. The central star grows by accretion from the disk, and irradiation by the central star heats up the disk and generates thermal wind, which results in the disk dispersal. We calculate the evolution of protoplanetary disks from their parent pre-stellar cores to dispersal of the disks. We find that the disk lifetimes of typical pre-stellar cores are around 2--4 million years (Myr…
We use resistive magnetohydrodynamical simulations with the nested grid technique to study the formation of protoplanetary disks around protostars from molecular cloud cores that provide the realistic environments for planet formation. We find that gaseous planetary-mass objects are formed in the early evolutionary phase by gravitational instability in regions that are decoupled from the magnetic field and surrounded by the injection points of the magnetohydrodynamical outflows during the formation phase of protoplanetary disks. Magnetic decoupling enables massive disks to form and these are s…
We conducted global hydrodynamic simulations of protoplanetary disk evolution with an adaptive Shakura-Sunyaev α prescription to represent the layered disk structure, and starting with the collapse phase of the molecular cloud. With the canonical values of model parameters, self-consistent dead zones formed at the scale of a few au. The instabilities associated with the dead zone and corresponding outbursts, similar to FUor eruptions, were also observed in the simulations.
We present a novel mechanism for the outward transport of crystalline dust particles: the outward radial drift of pebbles. The dust ring structure is frequently observed in protoplanetary disks. One of the plausible mechanisms of the formation of dust rings is the accumulation of pebbles around the pressure maximum, which is formed by the mass loss due to magnetically driven disk winds. In evolving protoplanetary disks due to magnetically driven disk winds, dust particles can migrate outwardly from the crystallization front to the pressure maximum by radial drift. We found that the outward rad…
Debris disks are classically considered to be gas-less systems, but recent (sub)millimeter observations have detected tens of those with rich gas content. The origin of the gas component remains unclear; namely, it can be protoplanetary remnants and/or secondary products deriving from large bodies. In order to be protoplanetary in origin, the gas component of the parental protoplanetary disk is required to survive for $\gtrsim10{\,\rm Myr}$. However, previous models predict $\lesssim 10{\,\rm Myr}$ lifetimes because of efficient photoevaporation at the late stage of disk evolution. In the pres…
Phyllosilicates are hydrous minerals formed by interaction between rock and liquid water and are commonly found in meteorites originating in the asteroid belt. Collisions between asteroids contribute to zodiacal dust, which therefore reasonably could include phyllosilicates. Collisions between planetesimals in protoplanetary disks may also produce dust containing phyllosilicates. These minerals possess characteristic emission features in the mid-infrared and could be detectable in extrasolar protoplanetary disks. Here we determine whether phyllosilicates in protoplanetary disks are detectable …
The assembly and architecture of planetary systems strongly depend on the physical processes governing the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary disks. Since Protostars and Planets VI, new observations and theoretical insights favor disk winds as being one of those key processes. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of recent observations probing outflowing gas launched over a range of disk radii for a wide range of evolutionary stages, enabling an empirical understanding of how winds evolve. In parallel, we review theoretical advancements in both magnetohydrodynamic and photoevapo…
Dust evolution in protoplanetary disks from small dust grains to pebbles is key to the planet formation process. The gas in protoplanetary disks should influence the vertical distribution of small dust grains ($\sim$1 $μm$) in the disk.Utilizing archival near-infrared polarized light and millimeter observations, we can measure the scale height and the flare parameter $β$ of the small dust grain scattering surface and $^{12}$CO gas emission surface for three protoplanetary disks IM Lup, HD 163296, and HD 97048 (CU Cha). For two systems, IM Lup and HD 163296, the $^{12}$CO gas and small dust gra…
(abridged) Magnetic fields are fundamental to the accretion dynamics of protoplanetary disks and they likely affect planet formation. Typical methods to study the magnetic field morphology observe the polarization of dust or spectral lines. However, it has recently become clear that dust-polarization in ALMA's spectral regime does not always faithfully trace the magnetic field structure of protoplanetary disks, which leaves spectral line polarization as a promising method for mapping the magnetic field morphologies of such sources. We aim to model the emergent polarization of different molecul…
Observations of protoplanetary disks with high angular resolution using an ALMA interferometer showed that ring-shaped structures are often visible in their images, indicating strong disturbances in the disks. The mechanisms of their formation are vividly discussed in the literature. This article shows that the formation of such structures can be the result of destructive collisions of large bodies (planetesimals and planetary embryos) accompanied by the formation of a large number of dust particles, and the subsequent evolution of a cloud of dust formed in this way.
Context. Current models of the size- and radial evolution of dust in protoplanetary disks generally oversimplify either the radial evolution of the disk (by focussing at one single radius or by using steady state disk models) or they assume particle growth to proceed monodispersely or without fragmentation. Further studies of protoplanetary disks - such as observations, disk chemistry and structure calculations or planet population synthesis models - depend on the distribution of dust as a function of grain size and radial position in the disk. Aims. We attempt to improve upon current models t…
Protoplanetary disks are the sites of planet formation, and the evolution and eventual dispersal of these disks strongly influences the formation of planetary systems. Disk evolution during the planet-forming epoch is driven by accretion and mass-loss due to winds, and in typical environments photoevaporation by high-energy radiation from the central star is likely to dominate final gas disk dispersal. We present a critical review of current theoretical models, and discuss the observations that are used to test these models and inform our understanding of the underlying physics. We also discus…
Idealized protoplanetary disk and giant planet formation models have been interpreted to suggest that a giant planet's atmospheric abundances can be used to infer its formation location in its parent protoplanetary disk. It has recently been reported that the hot Jupiter WASP-77 A b has sub-solar atmospheric carbon and oxygen abundances with a solar C/O abundance ratio. Assuming solar carbon and oxygen abundances for its host star WASP-77 A, WASP-77 A b's atmospheric carbon and oxygen abundances possibly indicate that it accreted its envelope interior to its parent protoplanetary disk's H2O ic…
Heating by the central star is one of the key factors determining the physical structure of protoplanetary disks. Due to the large optical thickness in the radial direction, disk midplane regions are heated by the infrared radiation from the disk surface (atmosphere), which in turn is directly heated by the star. It was previously shown that interception of the stellar radiation by inhomogeneities on the disk surface can cause perturbations that propagate towards the star. In this work, we investigate the occurrence of such waves within a detailed 1+1D numerical model of the protoplanetary dis…
Structure formation in young protoplanetary disks is investigated using a one-dimensional model including the formation and the evolution of disks. Recent observations with ALMA found that a ring-hole structure may be formed in young protoplanetary disks, even when the disk is embedded in the envelope. We present a one-dimensional model for the formation of a protoplanetary disk from a molecular cloud core and its subsequent long-term evolution within a single framework. Such long-term evolution has not been explored by numerical simulations due to the limitation of computational power. In our…
Our aim is to study the thermal and dynamical evolution of protoplanetary disks in global simulations, including the physics of radiation transfer and magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence caused by the magneto-rotational instability. We develop a radiative transfer method based on the flux-limited diffusion approximation that includes frequency dependent irradiation by the central star. This hybrid scheme is implemented in the PLUTO code. The focus of our implementation is on the performance of the radiative transfer method. Using an optimized Jacobi preconditioned BiCGSTAB solver, the radiat…
Fragmentation of protoplanetary disks due to gravitational instabilities is a candidate of a formation mechanism of binary stars, brown dwarfs, and gaseous giant planets. The condition for the fragmentation has been thought that the disk cooling timescale is comparable to its dynamical timescale. However, some numerical simulations suggest that the fragmentation does not occur even if the cooling time is small enough, or the fragmentation can occur even when the cooling is inefficient. To reveal a realistic condition for fragmentation of self-gravitating disks, we perform two-dimensional numer…
A protoplanetary disk typically forms a dead zone near its midplane at the distance of a few au from the central protostar. Accretion through such a magnetically layered disk can be intrinsically unstable and has been associated with episodic outbursts in young stellar objects. We present the first investigation into the effects of low metallicity environment on the structure of the dead zone as well as the resulting outbursting behavior of the protoplanetary disk. We conducted global numerical hydrodynamic simulations of protoplanetary disk formation and evolution in the thin-disk limit. The …
Circumstellar disks are the sites of planet formation, and the very high incidence of extrasolar planets implies that most of them actually form planetary systems. Studying the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks can thus place important constraints on the conditions, timescales, and mechanisms associated with the planet formation process. In this review, we discuss observational results from infrared and submillimeter wavelength studies. We review disk lifetimes, transition objects, disk demographics, and highlight a few remarkable results from ALMA Early Science observations. We …
During the past five years, the Spitzer Space Telescope and improved ground-based facilities have enabled a huge increase in the number of circumstellar disks, around young stars of Solar mass or smaller, in which the composition of the solid component has been studied with complete mid-infrared spectra. With these samples we can assess observationally the evolution of dust through the planet-forming era, in parallel with the evolution of the composition and structure of protoplanetary disks. Here we will review the progress in this endeavour, with emphasis on objects in nearby associations an…
Turbulence is the dominant source of collisional velocities for grains with a wide range of sizes in protoplanetary disks. So far, only Kolmogorov turbulence has been considered for calculating grain collisional velocities, despite the evidence that turbulence in protoplanetary disks may be non-Kolmogorov. In this work, we present calculations of grain collisional velocities for arbitrary turbulence models characterized by power-law spectra and determined by three dimensionless parameters: the slope of the kinetic energy spectrum, the slope of the auto-correlation time, and the Reynolds number…
We present Submillimeter Array observations of the 880 micron continuum emission from three circumstellar disks around young stars in Orion that lie several arcminutes (> 1-pc) north of the Trapezium cluster. Two of the three disks are in the binary system 253-1536. Silhouette disks 216-0939 and 253-1536a are found to be more massive than any previously observed Orion disks, with dust masses derived from their submillimeter emission of 0.045 Msun and 0.066 Msun, respectively. The existence of these massive disks reveals the disk mass distribution in Orion does extend to high masses, and that t…
We present the largest sample of brown dwarf (BD) protoplanetary disk spectral energy distributions modeled to date. We compile 49 objects with ALMA observations from four star-forming regions: $ρ$ Ophiuchus, Taurus, Lupus, and Upper Scorpius. Studying multiple regions with various ages enables us to probe disk evolution over time. Specifically, from our models we obtain values for dust grain sizes, dust settling, and disk mass; we compare how each of these parameters vary between the regions. We find that disk mass decreases with age. We also find evidence of disk evolution (i.e., grain growt…
We investigate the formation process of self-gravitating protoplanetary disks in unmagnetized molecular clouds. The angular momentum is redistributed by the action of gravitational torques in the massive disk during its early formation. We develop a simplified one-dimensional accretion disk model that takes into account the infall of gas from the envelope onto the disk and the transfer of angular momentum in the disk with an effective viscosity. First we evaluate the gas accretion rate from the cloud core onto the disk by approximately estimating the effects of gas pressure and gravity acting …
I summarize recent surveys of protoplanetary disks at millimeter wavelengths and show that the distribution of luminosity, equivalent to the mass in small dust grains, declines rapidly. This contrasts with statistics on the lifetime of disks from infrared observations and the high occurrence of planets from radial velocity and transit surveys. I suggest that these disparate results can be reconciled if most of the dust in a disk is locked up in millimeter and larger sized particles within about 2 Myr. This statistical result on disk evolution agrees with detailed modeling of a small number of …
The connection between the nature of a protoplanetary disk and that of a debris disk is not well understood. Dust evolution, planet formation, and disk dissipation likely play a role in the processes involved. We aim to reconcile both manifestations of dusty circumstellar disks through a study of optically thin Class III disks and how they correlate to younger and older disks. In this work, we collect literature and ALMA archival millimeter fluxes for 85 disks (8%) of all Class III disks across nearby star-forming regions. We derive millimeter-dust masses $M_{\text{dust}}$ and compare these wi…
We describe an analytic model for an evolving protoplanetary disk driven by viscosity and a disk wind. The disk is heated by stellar irradiation and energy generated by viscosity. The evolution is controlled by 3 parameters: (i) the inflow velocity towards the central star at a reference distance and temperature, (ii) the fraction of this inflow caused by the disk wind, and (iii) the mass loss rate via the wind relative to the inward flux in the disk. The model gives the disk midplane temperature and surface density as a function of time and distance from the star. It is intended to provide an…
Accurate disk mass measurements are necessary to constrain disk evolution and the timescale of planet formation, but such measurements are difficult to make and are very dependent on assumptions. Here we look at the assumption that the disk is optically thin at radio wavelengths and the effect of this assumption on measurements of disk dust mass. We model the optical to radio spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 41 protoplanetary disks located in the young (~1-3 Myr old) Lupus star-forming region, including 0.89 mm, 1.33 mm, and 3 mm flux densities when available. We measure disk dust masse…
Protoplanetary disks are quasi-steady structures whose evolution and dispersal determine the environment for planet formation. I review the theory of protoplanetary disk evolution and its connection to observations. Substantial progress has been made in elucidating the physics of potential angular momentum transport processes - including self-gravity, magnetorotational instability, baroclinic instabilities, and magnetic braking - and in developing testable models for disk dispersal via photoevaporation. The relative importance of these processes depends upon the initial mass, size and magnetiz…
Meteorites display an isotopic composition dichotomy between non-carbonaceous (NC) and carbonaceous (CC) groups, indicating that planetesimal formation in the solar protoplanetary disk occurred in two distinct reservoirs. The prevailing view is that a rapidly formed Jupiter acted as a barrier between these reservoirs. We show a fundamental inconsistency in this model: if Jupiter is an efficient blocker of drifting pebbles, then the interior NC reservoir is depleted by radial drift within a few hundred thousand years. If Jupiter lets material pass it, then the two reservoirs will be mixed. Inst…
The collapse of interstellar gaseous clouds towards a protostar leads to the formation of accretion disks around the central star. Such disks can be dynamically stable if they settle in an axisymmetric state. In this letter, we investigate the long-term stability of astrophysical viscous disks around various protostars. We apply an implicit numerical code which solves the equations of radiation hydrodynamics and treats turbulence-induced viscosity according to the $α$-viscosity model. We show how the viscosity is related to the disk mass. A stability criterion to determine the maximum disk mas…
Formed in protoplanetary disks around young stars, giant planets can leave observational features such as spirals and gaps in their natal disks through planet-disk interactions. Although such features can indicate the existence of giant planets, protoplanetary disk signals can overwhelm the innate luminosity of planets. Therefore, in order to image planets that are embedded in disks, it is necessary to remove the contamination from the disks to reveal the planets possibly hiding within their natal environments. We observe and directly model the detected disk in the Keck/NIRC2 vortex coronagrap…
Recent advances in sub-millimeter observations of young circumstellar nebulae have opened an unprecedented window into the structure of protoplanetary disks, which has revealed the surprising ubiquity of broken and misaligned disks. In this work, we demonstrate that such disks are capable of torquing the spin axis of their host star, representing a hitherto unexplored pathway by which stellar obliquities may be generated. The basis of this mechanism is a crossing of the stellar spin precession and inner disk regression frequencies, resulting in adiabatic excitation of the stellar obliquity. We…
Theoretical models predict that the obscuration of stellar radiation by irregularities on the surface of a protoplanetary disk can cause self-generating waves traveling towards the star. However, this process is traditionally simulated using the 1+1D approach, the key approximations of which - vertical hydrostatic equilibrium of the disk and vertical diffusion of IR radiation - can distort the picture. This article presents a two-dimensional radiative hydrodynamic model of the evolution of an axially symmetric gas and dust disk. Within this model, but using simplified assumptions from 1+1D mod…
Measuring the properties of protoplanetary disks around brown dwarfs is central to understanding the formation of brown dwarfs and their planetary companions. We present modeling of CFHT Tau 4 and 2M0444, two brown dwarfs with protoplanetary disks in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. By combining modeling of the spectral energy distributions and ALMA images, we obtain disk radii and masses for these objects; these parameters can be used to constrain brown dwarf formation and planet formation, respectively. We find that the disk around CFHT Tau 4 has a mass of 0.42 M$_{Jup}$ and a radius of 80 au; we…
Waves reflected by the inner edge of a protoplanetary disk are shown to significantly modify Type I migration, even allowing the trapping of planets near the inner disk edge for small planets in a range of disk parameters. This may inform the distribution planets close to their central stars, as observed by the Kepler mission.
