Resolving Molecular Line Emission from Protoplanetary Disks: Observational Prospects for Disks Irradiated by Infalling Envelopes

Abstract

Molecular line observations that could resolve protoplanetary disks of ~100 AU both spatially and kinematically would be a useful tool to unambiguously identify these disks and to determine their kinematical and physical characteristics. In this work we model the expected line emission from a protoplanetary disk irradiated by an infalling envelope, addressing the question of its detectability with subarcsecond resolution. We adopt a previously determined disk model structure that gives a continuum spectral energy distribution and a mm intensity spatial distribution that are consistent with observational constraints of HL Tau. An analysis of the capability of presently working and projected interferometers at mm and submm wavelengths shows that molecular transitions of moderate opacity at these wavelengths (e.g., C17O lines) are good candidates for detecting disk lines at subarcsecond resolution in the near future. We suggest that, in general, disks of typical Class I sources will be detectable.

41 pages, 16 figures. To be published in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (2)

• Kinematic Diagnostics of Disks Around Young Stars: CO Overtone Emission from WL16 and 1548C27
• Evolution of Molecular Abundance in Protoplanetary Disks

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• The Far-Ultraviolet Spectra of TW Hya. II. Models of H2 Fluorescence in a Disk
• Physical vs. Observational Properties of Clouds in Turbulent Molecular Cloud Models
• Submillimeter lines from circumstellar disks around pre-main sequence stars
• On the origin of the HI holes in the interstellar medium of dwarf irregular galaxies
• Near infrared and the inner regions of protoplanetary disks
• Molecular Line Emission from Accretion Disks Around YSOs