Protoplanetary disk chemistry and structure

TL;DR

This paper reviews current knowledge of the chemical composition and structure of protoplanetary disks, emphasizing elements essential for life, enabled by recent observational advances like ALMA and JWST.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the chemical structure of disks focusing on life-essential elements, integrating recent observational data.

Findings

Detailed chemical composition of disk gas and ice.

Insights into the distribution of life-essential elements.

Impact of recent telescopes on disk chemistry understanding.

Abstract

Knowledge of the composition of material that will form planets is crucial to understand planetary diversity and the occurrence of potentially habitable planets. Ultimately, it is the chemistry in circumstellar disks that determines the global make up of planetary systems, as the dust in these disks grows into giant planet cores and rocky planets, the gas becomes incorporated in giant planet atmospheres, and the ices can be delivered to rocky planets by comets and meteorites. With the advent of ALMA a decade ago and the recent launch of JWST, the composition of the disk gas and ice can now be studied in great detail. This review will provide an overview of our current knowledge of the disk chemical structure, focusing on the six elements essential to life on Earth: carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S).