Unlocking CO Depletion in Protoplanetary Disks. I. The Warm Molecular Layer

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 856; no. 1; pp. 85 - 100
• Main Authors: Schwarz, Kamber R., Bergin, Edwin A., Cleeves, L. Ilsedore, Zhang, Ke, Öberg, Karin I., Blake, Geoffrey A., Anderson, Dana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 20.03.2018; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Abundance; astrochemistry; Astrophysics; Carbon; circumstellar matter; Cosmic rays; Depletion; Disks; Dust; Grain size distribution; Interstellar gas; Interstellar matter; Interstellar medium; Ionization; ISM: abundances; Mass ratios; molecular data; Organic chemistry; Planet formation; Protoplanetary disks; Protoplanets; Reprocessing; Snowline; Time dependence

CO is commonly used as a tracer of the total gas mass in both the interstellar medium and in protoplanetary disks. Recently, there has been much debate about the utility of CO as a mass tracer in disks. Observations of CO in protoplanetary disks reveal a range of CO abundances, with measurements of...