Chemistry in Disks VIII: the CS molecule as an analytic tracer of turbulence in disks

TL;DR

This study uses CS molecular line observations to measure turbulence levels in the outer disk of DM Tau, finding significant nonthermal motions consistent with chemical model predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to quantify turbulence in protoplanetary disks using CS line broadening, providing new constraints on turbulence magnitude and disk structure.

Findings

Turbulence with Mach number ~0.4-0.5 detected in the molecular layer.

CS line broadening exceeds thermal expectations, indicating nonthermal motions.

Results align with chemical model predictions of disk layer location.

Abstract

Turbulence is thought to be a key driver of the evolution of protoplanetary disks, regulating the mass accretion process, the transport of angular momentum, and the growth of dust particles. We intend to determine the magnitude of the turbulent motions in the outer parts (> 100 AU) of the disk surrounding DM Tau. Turbulent motions can be constrained by measuring the nonthermal broadening of line emission from heavy molecules. We used the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer to study emission from the CS molecule in the disk of DM Tau. High spatial (1.4 x 1 ") and spectral resolution (0.126 km/s) CS J=3-2 images provide constraints on the molecule distribution and velocity structure of the disk. A low sensitivity CS J=5-4 image was used in conjunction to evaluate the excitation conditions. We analyzed the data in terms of two parametric disk models, and compared the results with detailed time-dependent chemical simulations. The CS data confirm the relatively low temperature suggested by observations of other simple molecules. The intrinsic linewidth derived from the CS J=3-2 data is much larger than expected from pure thermal broadening. The magnitude of the derived nonthermal component depends only weakly on assumptions about the location of the CS molecules with respect to the disk plane. Our results indicate turbulence with a Mach number around 0.4 - 0.5 in the molecular layer. Geometrical constraints suggest that this layer is located near one scale height, in reasonable agreement with chemical model predictions.