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Theoretical models and observations suggest that the abundances of molecular ions in protoplanetary disks should be highly sensitive to the variable ionization conditions set by the young central star. We present a search for temporal flux variability of HCO⁺J= 1–0, which was observed as a part of the Molecules with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at Planet-forming Scales ALMA Large Program. We split out and imaged the line and continuum data for each individual day the five sources were observed (HD 163296, AS 209, GM Aur, MWC 480, and IM Lup, with between three and six unique visits per source). Significant enhancement (>3σ) was not observed, but we find variations in the spectral profiles in all five disks. Variations in AS 209, GM Aur, and HD 163296 are tentatively attributed to variations in HCO⁺flux, while variations in IM Lup and MWC 480 are most likely introduced by differences in theuvcoverage, which impact the amount of recovered flux during imaging. The tentative detections and low degree of variability are consistent with expectations of X-ray flare-driven HCO⁺variability, which requires relatively large flares to enhance the HCO⁺rotational emission at significant (>20%) levels. These findings also demonstrate the need for dedicated monitoring campaigns with high signal-to-noise ratios to fully characterize X-ray flare-driven chemistry.

 

Planets form in dusty, gas-rich disks around young stars, while at the same time, the planet formation process alters the physical and chemical structure of the disk itself. Embedded planets will locally heat the disk and sublimate volatile-rich ices, or in extreme cases, result in shocks that sputter heavy atoms such as Si from dust grains. This should cause chemical asymmetries detectable in molecular gas observations. Using high-angular-resolution ALMA archival data of the HD 169142 disk, we identify compact SOJ= 8₈− 7₇and SiSJ= 19 − 18 emission coincident with the position of a ∼ 2M_Jupplanet seen as a localized, Keplerian NIR feature within a gas-depleted, annular dust gap at ≈38 au. The SiS emission is located along an azimuthal arc and has a morphology similar to that of a known¹²CO kinematic excess. This is the first tentative detection of SiS emission in a protoplanetary disk and suggests that the planet is driving sufficiently strong shocks to produce gas-phase SiS. We also report the discovery of compact¹²CO and¹³COJ= 3 − 2 emission coincident with the planet location. Taken together, a planet-driven outflow provides the best explanation for the properties of the observed chemical asymmetries. We also resolve a bright, azimuthally asymmetric SO ring at ≈24 au. While most of this SO emission originates from ice sublimation, its asymmetric distribution implies azimuthal temperature variations driven by a misaligned inner disk or planet–disk interactions. Overall, the HD 169142 disk shows several distinct chemical signatures related to giant planet formation and presents a powerful template for future searches of planet-related chemical asymmetries in protoplanetary disks.

 

We study the kinematics of the AS 209 disk using theJ= 2–1 transitions of¹²CO,¹³CO, and C¹⁸O. We derive the radial, azimuthal, and vertical velocity of the gas, taking into account the lowered emission surface near the annular gap at ≃1.″7 (200 au) within which a candidate circumplanetary-disk-hosting planet has been reported previously. In¹²CO and¹³CO, we find a coherent upward flow arising from the gap. The upward gas flow is as fast as 150 m s⁻¹in the regions traced by¹²CO emission, which corresponds to about 50% of the local sound speed or 6% of the local Keplerian speed. Such an upward gas flow is difficult to reconcile with an embedded planet alone. Instead, we propose that magnetically driven winds via ambipolar diffusion are triggered by the low gas density within the planet-carved gap, dominating the kinematics of the gap region. We estimate the ambipolar Elsässer number, Am, using the HCO⁺column density as a proxy for ion density and find that Am is ∼0.1 at the radial location of the upward flow. This value is broadly consistent with the value at which numerical simulations find that ambipolar diffusion drives strong winds. We hypothesize that the activation of magnetically driven winds in a planet-carved gap can control the growth of the embedded planet. We provide a scaling relationship that describes the wind-regulated terminal mass: adopting parameters relevant to 100 au from a solar-mass star, we find that the wind-regulated terminal mass is about one Jupiter mass, which may help explain the dearth of directly imaged super-Jovian-mass planets.

 

High-spatial-resolution observations of CO isotopologue line emission in protoplanetary disks at mid-inclinations (≈30°–75°) allow us to characterize the gas structure in detail, including radial and vertical substructures, emission surface heights and their dependencies on source characteristics, and disk temperature profiles. By combining observations of a suite of CO isotopologues, we can map the two-dimensional (r,z) disk structure from the disk upper atmosphere, as traced by CO, to near the midplane, as probed by less abundant isotopologues. Here, we present high-angular-resolution (≲0.″1 to ≈0.″2; ≈15–30 au) observations of CO,¹³CO, and C¹⁸O in either or bothJ= 2–1 andJ= 3–2 lines in the transition disks around DM Tau, Sz 91, LkCa 15, and HD 34282. We derived line emission surfaces in CO for all disks and in¹³CO for the DM Tau and LkCa 15 disks. With these observations, we do not resolve the vertical structure of C¹⁸O in any disk, which is instead consistent with C¹⁸O emission originating from the midplane. Both theJ= 2–1 andJ= 3–2 lines show similar heights. Using the derived emission surfaces, we computed radial and vertical gas temperature distributions for each disk, including empirical temperature models for the DM Tau and LkCa 15 disks. After combining our sample with literature sources, we find that¹³CO line emitting heights are also tentatively linked with source characteristics, e.g., stellar host mass, gas temperature, disk size, and show steeper trends than seen in CO emission surfaces.

 

Abstract We report the discovery of a circumplanetary disk (CPD) candidate embedded in the circumstellar disk of the T Tauri star AS 209 at a radial distance of about 200 au (on-sky separation of 1.″4 from the star at a position angle of 161°), isolated via 13 CO J = 2−1 emission. This is the first instance of CPD detection via gaseous emission capable of tracing the overall CPD mass. The CPD is spatially unresolved with a 117 × 82 mas beam and manifests as a point source in 13 CO, indicating that its diameter is ≲14 au. The CPD is embedded within an annular gap in the circumstellar disk previously identified using 12 CO and near-infrared scattered-light observations and is associated with localized velocity perturbations in 12 CO. The coincidence of these features suggests that they have a common origin: an embedded giant planet. We use the 13 CO intensity to constrain the CPD gas temperature and mass. We find that the CPD temperature is ≳35 K, higher than the circumstellar disk temperature at the radial location of the CPD, 22 K, suggesting that heating sources localized to the CPD must be present. The CPD gas mass is ≳0.095 M Jup ≃ 30 M ⊕ adopting a standard 13 CO abundance. From the nondetection of millimeter continuum emission at the location of the CPD (3 σ flux density ≲26.4 μ Jy), we infer that the CPD dust mass is ≲0.027 M ⊕ ≃ 2.2 lunar masses, indicating a low dust-to-gas mass ratio of ≲9 × 10 −4 . We discuss the formation mechanism of the CPD-hosting giant planet on a wide orbit in the framework of gravitational instability and pebble accretion. 

Abstract High spatial resolution CO observations of midinclination (≈30°–75°) protoplanetary disks offer an opportunity to study the vertical distribution of CO emission and temperature. The asymmetry of line emission relative to the disk major axis allows for a direct mapping of the emission height above the midplane, and for optically thick, spatially resolved emission in LTE, the intensity is a measure of the local gas temperature. Our analysis of Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array archival data yields CO emission surfaces, dynamically constrained stellar host masses, and disk atmosphere gas temperatures for the disks around the following: HD 142666, MY Lup, V4046 Sgr, HD 100546, GW Lup, WaOph 6, DoAr 25, Sz 91, CI Tau, and DM Tau. These sources span a wide range in stellar masses (0.50–2.10 M ⊙ ), ages (∼0.3–23 Myr), and CO gas radial emission extents (≈200–1000 au). This sample nearly triples the number of disks with mapped emission surfaces and confirms the wide diversity in line emitting heights ( z / r ≈ 0.1 to ≳0.5) hinted at in previous studies. We compute the radial and vertical CO gas temperature distributions for each disk. A few disks show local temperature dips or enhancements, some of which correspond to dust substructures or the proposed locations of embedded planets. Several emission surfaces also show vertical substructures, which all align with rings and gaps in the millimeter dust. Combining our sample with literature sources, we find that CO line emitting heights weakly decline with stellar mass and gas temperature, which, despite large scatter, is consistent with simple scaling relations. We also observe a correlation between CO emission height and disk size, which is due to the flared structure of disks. Overall, CO emission surfaces trace ≈2–5× gas pressure scale heights (H g ) and could potentially be calibrated as empirical tracers of H g .