OH mid-infrared emission as a diagnostic of H$_2$O UV photodissociation. III. Application to planet-forming disks

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that mid-infrared OH emission lines can serve as effective diagnostics for H2O photodissociation in planet-forming disks, providing insights into the UV radiation environment and disk chemistry.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent thermo-chemical model including prompt OH emission from H2O photodissociation, linking OH line intensities to UV radiation and water exposure in disks.

Findings

OH lines in 9-13 μm trace water photodissociation levels.

OH fluxes primarily depend on stellar FUV radiation.

Predicted asymmetry in rotational quadruplet components.

Abstract

JWST gives a unique access to the physical and chemical structure of inner disks ($<10$~au), where the majority of the planets are forming. However, the interpretation of mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectra requires detailed thermo-chemical models able to provide synthetic spectra readily comparable to spectroscopic observations. Our goal is to explore the potential of mid-IR emission of OH to probe H$_2$O photodissociation. We include in the DALI disk model prompt emission of OH following photodissociation of H$_2$O in its $\tilde{B}$ electronic state ($\lambda < 144$~nm). This model allows to compute in a self-consistent manner the thermo-chemical structure of the disk and the resulting mid-IR line intensities of OH and H$_2$O. The OH line intensities in the $9-13~\mu$m range are proportional to the total amount of water photodissociated. As such, these lines are a tracer of the amount of water exposed to the FUV field, which depends on the temperature, density, and strength of the FUV field reaching the upper molecular layers. In particular, the OH line fluxes primarily scale with the FUV field emitted by the star in contrast with H$_2$O lines in the 10-20$~\mu$m range which scale with the bolometric luminosity. OH is therefore a key diagnostic to probe the effect of Ly$\alpha$ and constrain the dust FUV opacity in the upper molecular layers. A strong asymmetry between the A' and A'' components of each rotational quadruplet is also predicted. OH mid-IR emission is a powerful tool to probe H$_2$O photodissociation and infer the physical conditions in disk atmospheres. As such, the inclusion of OH mid-IR lines in the analysis of JWST-MIRI spectra will be key for robustly inferring the composition of planet-forming disks. The interpretation of less excited OH lines requires additional quantum calculations of the formation pumping of OH levels by O+H$_2$ and the collisional rate coefficients.