ALMA chemical survey of disk-outflow sources in Taurus (ALMA-DOT) III: The interplay between gas and dust in the protoplanetary disk of DG Tau

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA observations to analyze the distribution and chemical composition of molecules in the protoplanetary disk of DG Tau, revealing spatial correlations with dust structures and insights into disk chemistry and dust properties near the snowline.

Contribution

It provides detailed spatial mapping of molecular emissions in DG Tau's disk, linking gas chemistry with dust features and snowline effects for the first time.

Findings

H2CO and CS originate from a disk ring at the dust continuum edge.

CN peaks at the outermost disk/envelope region.

Molecular emission rings may result from dust opacity and UV effects.

Abstract

Planets form in protoplanetary disks and inherit their chemical composition. It is therefore crucial to understand the disks molecular content. We aim to characterize the distribution and abundance of molecules in the disk of DG Tau. In the context of the ALMA chemical survey of Disk-Outflow sources in Taurus (ALMA-DOT) we analyse ALMA observations of the disk of DG Tau in H2CO 3(1,2)-2(1,1), CS 5-4, and CN 2-1 at ~0.15", i.e. ~18 au at 121 pc. H2CO and CS originate from a disk ring at the edge of the 1.3mm dust continuum, with CS probing an outer disk region with respect to H2CO (peaking at ~70 and ~60 au, respectively). CN originates from an outermost disk/envelope region peaking at ~80 au. H2CO is dominated by disk emission, while CS probes also two streams of material possibly accreting onto the disk with a peak of emission where the stream connects to the disk. The ring- and disk-height- averaged column densities are ~2.4-8.6e13 cm-2 (H2CO), ~1.7-2.5e13 cm-2 (CS), and ~1.9-4.7e13 cm-2 (CN). Unsharp masking reveals a ring of enhanced dust emission at ~40 au, i.e. just outside the CO snowline (~30 au). CS and H2CO emissions are co-spatial suggesting that they are chemically linked. The observed rings of molecular emission at the edge of the 1.3mm continuum may be due to dust opacity effects and/or continnum over-subtraction in the inner disk; as well as to increased UV penetration and/or temperature inversion at the edge of the mm-dust which would cause an enhanced gas-phase formation and desorption of these molecules. Moreover, H2CO and CS originate from outside the ring of enhanced dust emission, which also coincides with a change of the linear polarization at 0.87mm. This suggests that outside the CO snowline there could be a change of the dust properties which would reflect in the increase of the intensity (and change of polarization) of continuum, and of molecular emission.