Revealing the volatile planet formation reservoir with ALMA spectral line surveys
Protoplanetary disks host the dust, gas and ice that will form new solar systems. Therefore, it is key to understand disk chemistry when considering the composition of planets and the potential habitability of these systems. Due to the line sensitivity of ALMA, we have now detected many rare isotopologues and complex organic molecules in disks for the first time. In particular, serendipitous line detections and unbiased line surveys have been key in revealing these new molecules. In this talk, I will summarize the new detections from ALMA highlighting the results from line surveys of disks around intermediate-mass stars where we can access the thermal sublimation of H2O and organic-rich ices. I will show how these disks are our best opportunity to recover the total volatile reservoir during the epoch of planet formation. In addition, I will share some first results from the ongoing unbiased 124 GHz line survey of 40 gas-rich disks with Submillimeter Array (SMA-SPEC). The WSU will revolutionize disk chemistry observations with the increase in survey speed and the observable bandwidth. This promises the detection of key isotopologues and pre-biotic molecules in disks that will enable us to fill the key gap in following the journey of volatiles from dark clouds and protostars all the way through to planets and comets.
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2024-09-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13681456
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00