Water vapour and hydrogen in the terrestrial-planet-forming region of a protoplanetary disk

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared interferometry to spatially resolve gas, including water vapor and hydrogen, within the inner regions of a protoplanetary disk, revealing new insights into planet formation and water delivery.

Contribution

First spectrally dispersed near-IR interferometric observations of gas in the inner disk, including water vapor, around a young star, revealing gas-dust interactions and potential water sources.

Findings

Resolved gas, water vapor, and atomic hydrogen interior to the dust disk edge.

Detected water vapor likely from sublimating icy bodies.

Gas observations contrast with previous dust-only studies.

Abstract

Planetary systems, ours included, are formed in disks of dust and gas around young stars. Disks are an integral part of the star and planet formation process, and knowledge of the distribution and temperature of inner disk material is crucial for understanding terrestrial planet formation, giant planet migration, and accretion onto the central star. While the inner regions of protoplanetary disks in nearby star forming regions subtend only a few nano-radians, near-IR interferometry has recently enabled the spatial resolution of these terrestrial zones. Most observations have probed only dust, which typically dominates the near-IR emission. Here I report spectrally dispersed near-IR interferometric observations that probe gas (which dominates the mass and dynamics of the inner disk), in addition to dust, within one astronomical unit of the young star MWC 480. I resolve gas, including water vapor and atomic hydrogen, interior to the edge of the dust disk; this contrasts with results of previous spectrally dispersed interferometry observations. Interactions of this accreting gas with migrating planets may lead to short-period exoplanets like those detected around main-sequence stars. The observed water vapor is likely produced by the sublimation of migrating icy bodies, and provides a potential reservoir of water for terrestrial planets.