[NeII] emission line profiles from photoevaporative disc winds

TL;DR

This paper models the [NeII] emission line profiles from photoevaporative winds in protoplanetary discs, showing how line shapes vary with disc inclination and can test disc photoevaporation models.

Contribution

It provides detailed predictions of [NeII] line profiles based on disc inclination, linking observational signatures to disc wind models.

Findings

Line luminosities are consistent with observed data.

Line profiles vary with disc inclination, showing broad double peaks edge-on.

Blue-shifts are significant in face-on discs.

Abstract

I model profiles of the [NeII] forbidden emission line at 12.81um, emitted by photoevaporative winds from discs around young, solar-mass stars. The predicted line luminosities (~ 1E-6 Lsun) are consistent with recent data, and the line profiles vary significantly with disc inclination. Edge-on discs show broad (30-40km/s) double-peaked profiles, due to the rotation of the disc, while in face-on discs the structure of the wind results in a narrower line (~10km/s) and a significant blue-shift (5-10km/s). These results suggest that observations of [NeII] line profiles can provide a direct test of models of protoplanetary disc photoevaporation.