Collaborative Research: Protocomets to protoplanets: Connecting the chemical ecosystems of planet-forming disks across the spectrum

This research team will study planet formation by characterizing the carbon monoxide (CO) gas in disks that surround new-born stars. This volatile gas may stick on grains and pebble-sized solids far away from the star within the disk, moving with them as they drift towards the star, where they may be released due to its heat. Using infrared spectroscopy to sense CO in the inner disk and millimeter images to sense CO in the outer disk, the team will probe, respectively, the planet-formation region and where most of the disk material exists as in a ‘reservoir’. Three graduate students will be trained in telescope observing and data modeling at the PhD level, and two undergraduate students will be involved in high level research. Calibrated datasets and open-source codes will be made publicly available. A new course on radio astronomy for undergraduate astronomy majors will be developed. There will be broader outreach to local middle and high schools through summer programs and campus visits, and to the community at large through public events. Recent observations and simulations suggest that CO chemistry is being impacted by dynamical and chemical processing. Patterns between the derived CO column densities in the terrestrial planet forming zone (e.g., < 5 au) and in the outer bulk gas reservoir probed at ALMA-wavelengths will be sought. The program will use data from world-class ground-based observatories: the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile; and the Keck observatory and the Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. The collaboration leverages the strengths of the three participating institutions to provide the most complete picture to date of the volatile content of protoplanetary disks. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.