Protoplanetary Disk Cavities with JWST-MIRI: A Dichotomy in Molecular Emission

Abstract The evolution of planet-forming regions in protoplanetary disks is of fundamental importance to understanding planet formation. Disks with a central deficit in dust emission, a “cavity,” have long attracted interest as potential evidence for advanced disk clearing by protoplanets and/or winds. Before JWST, infrared spectra showed that these disks typically lack the strong molecular emission observed in full disks. In this work, we combine a sample of 12 disks with millimeter cavities of a range of sizes (∼2–70 au) and different levels of millimeter and infrared continuum deficits. We analyze their molecular spectra as observed with MIRI on JWST, homogeneously reduced with the new JDISCS pipeline. This analysis demonstrates a stark dichotomy in molecular emission where “molecule-rich” (MR) cavities follow global trends between water, CO, and OH luminosity and accretion luminosity as in full disks, while “molecule-poor” (MP) cavities are significantly subluminous in all molecules except sometimes OH. Disk cavities generally show subluminous organic emission, higher OH/H 2 O ratios, and suggest a lower water column density. The subthermal excitation of CO and water vibrational lines suggests a decreased gas density in the emitting layer in all cavities, supporting model expectations for C 2 H 2 photodissociation. We discover a bifurcation in the infrared index (lower in MR cavities) suggesting that the molecular dichotomy is linked to residual μ m-size dust within millimeter disk cavities. Put together, these results suggest a feedback process between dust depletion, gas density decrease, and molecule dissociation. Disk cavities may have a common evolutionary sequence where MR switch into MP over time.