Sulphur monoxide exposes a potential molecular disk wind from the planet-hosting disk around HD100546

TL;DR

This study reports the detection of sulphur monoxide (SO) in the HD 100546 protoplanetary disk, revealing a potential molecular disk wind possibly caused by a disk warp or accretion shock, with implications for sulphur chemistry.

Contribution

First detection of SO in HD 100546's disk showing evidence of a disk wind, suggesting a link between disk structure, sulphur chemistry, and wind launching mechanisms.

Findings

SO emission is compact and spectrally resolved with two components.

Detected blue-shifted emission indicative of a disk wind.

Disk emission is asymmetric, possibly due to a warp exposing the disk to stellar heating.

Abstract

Sulphur-bearing volatiles are observed to be significantly depleted in interstellar and circumstellar regions. This missing sulphur is postulated to be mostly locked up in refractory form. With ALMA we have detected sulphur monoxide (SO), a known shock tracer, in the HD 100546 protoplanetary disk. Two rotational transitions: $J=7_{7}-6_{6}$ (301.286 GHz) and $J=7_8-6_7$ (304.078 GHz) are detected in their respective integrated intensity maps. The stacking of these transitions results in a clear 5$\sigma$ detection in the stacked line profile. The emission is compact but is spectrally resolved and the line profile has two components. One component peaks at the source velocity and the other is blue-shifted by 5 km s$^{-1}$. The kinematics and spatial distribution of the SO emission are not consistent with that expected from a purely Keplerian disk. We detect additional blue-shifted emission that we attribute to a disk wind. The disk component was simulated using LIME and a physical disk structure. The disk emission is asymmetric and best fit by a wedge of emission in the north east region of the disk coincident with a `hot-spot' observed in the CO $J=3-2$ line. The favoured hypothesis is that a possible inner disk warp (seen in CO emission) directly exposes the north-east side of the disk to heating by the central star, creating locally the conditions to launch a disk wind. Chemical models of a disk wind will help to elucidate why the wind is particularly highlighted in SO emission and whether a refractory source of sulphur is needed. An alternative explanation is that the SO is tracing an accretion shock from a circumplanetary disk associated with the proposed protoplanet embedded in the disk at 50 au. We also report a non-detection of SO in the protoplanetary disk around HD 97048.