AB Aur, a Rosetta stone for studies of planet formation (II): H$_2$S detection and sulfur budget

TL;DR

This study detects H$_2$S in the AB Aur protoplanetary disk, maps its distribution, and models sulfur chemistry to understand its role in the sulfur budget during planet formation.

Contribution

It provides the first resolved H$_2$S emission map in a protoplanetary disk and models sulfur chemistry, highlighting the transition from ice to gas phase at specific disk heights.

Findings

H$_2$S emission forms a ring from 109 to 275 au.

Derived H$_2$S abundance is approximately 3.1×10$^{-10}$ relative to H nuclei.

Sulfur transitions from ice to gas dominance at about 12 au height.

Abstract

The sulfur abundance is poorly known in most environments. Yet, deriving the sulfur abundance is key to understanding the evolution of the chemistry from molecular clouds to planetary atmospheres. We present observations of H$_2$S 110-101 at 168.763 GHz toward the Herbig Ae star AB Aur. We aim to study the abundance of sulfuretted species toward AB Aur and to constrain how different species and phases contribute to the sulfur budget. We present new NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) interferometric observations of the continuum and H$_2$S 110-101 line at 168.763 GHz toward AB Aur. We derived radial and azimuthal profiles and used them to compare the geometrical distribution of different species in the disk. Assuming local thermodynamical equilibrium (LTE), we derived column density and abundance maps for H$_2$S, and we further used Nautilus to produce a more detailed model of the chemical abundances at different heights over the mid-plane at a distance of r=200 au. We have resolved H$_2$S emission in the AB Aur protoplanetary disk. The emission comes from a ring extending from 0.67 (109 au) to 1.69 (275 au). Under simple assumptions, we derived an abundance of (3.1$\pm$0.8)$\times$10$\rm ^{-10}$ with respect to H nuclei, which we compare with Nautilus models to deepen our understanding of the sulfur chemistry in protoplanetary disks. Chemical models indicate that H$-2$S is an important sulfur carrier in the solid and gas phase. We also find an important transition at a height of 12 au, where the sulfur budget moves from being dominated by ice species to being dominated by gas species. Studying sulfuretted species in detail in the different phases of the interstellar medium is key to solving the issue.