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The European FP7 project DIANA has performed a coherent analysis of a large set of observational data of protoplanetary disks by means of thermo-chemical disk models. The collected data include extinction-corrected stellar UV and X-ray input spectra (as seen by the disk), photometric fluxes, low and high resolution spectra, interferometric data, emission line fluxes, line velocity profiles and line maps, which probe the dust, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the gas in these objects. We define and apply a standardized modeling procedure to fit these data by state-of-the-art modeling codes ( ProDiMo , MCFOST , MCMax ), solving continuum and line radiative transfer (RT), disk chemistry, and the heating and cooling balance for both the gas and the dust. 3D diagnostic RT tools (e.g., FLiTs) are eventually used to predict all available observations from the same disk model, the DIANA-standard model. Our aim is to determine the physical parameters of the disks, such as total gas and dust masses, the dust properties, the disk shape, and the chemical structure in these disks. We allow for up to two radial disk zones to obtain our best-fitting models that have about 20 free parameters. This approach is novel and unique in its completeness and level of consistency. It allows us to break some of the degeneracies arising from pure Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) modeling. In this paper, we present the results from pure SED fitting for 27 objects and from the all inclusive DIANA-standard models for 14 objects. Our analysis shows a number of Herbig Ae and T Tauri stars with very cold and massive outer disks which are situated at least partly in the shadow of a tall and gas-rich inner disk. The disk masses derived are often in excess to previously published values, since these disks are partially optically thick even at millimeter wavelength and so cold that they emit less than in the Rayleigh–Jeans limit. We fit most infrared to millimeter emission line fluxes within a factor better than 3, simultaneously with SED, PAH features and radial brightness profiles extracted from images at various wavelengths. However, some line fluxes may deviate by a larger factor, and sometimes we find puzzling data which the models cannot reproduce. Some of these issues are probably caused by foreground cloud absorption or object variability. Our data collection, the fitted physical disk parameters as well as the full model output are available to the community through an online database ( http://www.univie.ac.at/diana ).

We still do not understand how planets form or why extrasolar planetary systems are so different from our own Solar System. However, the past few years have dramatically changed our view of the disks of gas and dust around young stars. Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and extreme adaptive-optics systems have revealed that most—if not all—disks contain substructure, including rings and gaps1–3, spirals4–6, azimuthal dust concentrations7 and shadows cast by misaligned inner disks5,8. These features have been interpreted as signatures of newborn protoplanets, but the exact origin is unknown. Here we report the kinematic detection of a few-Jupiter-mass planet located in a gas and dust gap at 130 au in the disk surrounding the young star HD 97048. An embedded planet can explain both the disturbed Keplerian flow of the gas, detected in CO lines, and the gap detected in the dust disk at the same radius. While gaps appear to be a common feature in protoplanetary disks2,3, we present a direct correspondence between a planet and a dust gap, indicating that at least some gaps are the result of planet–disk interactions.Pinte et al. report the kinematic detection of a few-Jupiter-mass planet orbiting at 130 au from the young star HD 97048. The radial position of the planet coincides with a gap in both the gas and dust components of the protoplanetary disk, showing that at least some gaps can be linked to the presence of planets.

Binary interactions have been proposed to explain a variety of circumstellar structures seen around evolved stars, including asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and planetary nebulae. Studies resolving the circumstellar envelopes of AGB stars have revealed spirals, disks and bipolar outflows, with shaping attributed to interactions with a companion. Here we use a combined chemical and dynamical analysis to reveal a highly eccentric and long-period orbit for W Aquilae, a binary system containing an AGB star and a main-sequence companion. Our results are based on anisotropic SiN emission, the detections of irregular NS and SiC emission towards the S-type star, and density structures observed in the CO emission. These features are all interpreted as having formed during periastron interactions. Our astrochemistry-based method can yield stringent constraints on the orbital parameters of long-period binaries containing AGB stars, and will be applicable to other systems. When stars like our Sun die, they expel their outer layers in a dramatic stellar wind. This study of an unusual chemical signature in one particular stellar wind reveals that the signature is due to the presence of a binary system whose components had a close approach around 200 years ago.

Among the numerous known extrasolar planets, only a handful have been imaged directly so far, at large orbital radii and in rather evolved systems. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will have the capacity to observe these wide planetary systems at a younger age, thus bringing a better understanding of the planet formation process. Here we explore the ability of ALMA to detect the gaps carved by planets on wide orbits.

ABSTRACT We describe a large-scale far-infrared line and continuum survey of protoplanetary disk through to young debris disk systems carried out using the ACS instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory. This Open Time Key program, known as GASPS (Gas Survey of Protoplanetary Systems), targeted ∼250 young stars in narrow wavelength regions covering the [OI] fine structure line at 63 μm the brightest far-infrared line in such objects. A subset of the brightest targets were also surveyed in [OI]145 μm, [CII] at 157 μm, as well as several transitions of H2O and high-excitation CO lines at selected wavelengths between 78 and 180 μm. Additionally, GASPS included continuum photometry at 70, 100 and 160 μm, around the peak of the dust emission. The targets were SED Class II-III T Tauri stars and debris disks from seven nearby young associations, along with a comparable sample of isolated Herbig AeBe stars. The aim was to study the global gas and dust content in a wide sample of circumstellar disks, combining the results with models in a systematic way. In this overview paper we review the scientific aims, target selection and observing strategy of the program. We summarise some of the initial results, showing line identifications, listing the detections, and giving a first statistical study of line detectability. The [OI] line at 63 μm was the brightest line seen in almost all objects, by a factor of ∼10. Overall [OI]63 μm detection rates were 49%, with 100% of HAeBe stars and 43% of T Tauri stars detected. A comparison with published disk dust masses (derived mainly from sub-mm continuum, assuming standard values of the mm mass opacity) shows a dust mass threshold for [OI]63 μm detection of ∼10-5 M⊙. Normalising to a distance of 140 pc, 84% of objects with dust masses ≥10-5 M⊙ can be detected in this line in the present survey; 32% of those of mass 10-6-10-5 M⊙, and only a very small number of unusual objects with lower masses can be detected. This is consistent with models with a moderate UV excess and disk flaring. For a given disk mass, [OI] detectability is lower for M stars compared with earlier spectral types. Both the continuum and line emission was, in most systems, spatially and spectrally unresolved and centred on the star, suggesting that emission in most cases was from the disk. Approximately 10 objects showed resolved emission, most likely from outflows. In the GASPS sample, [OI] detection rates in T Tauri associations in the 0.3-4 Myr age range were ∼50%. For each association in the 5-20 Myr age range, ∼2 stars remain detectable in [OI]63 μm, and no systems were detected in associations with age >20 Myr. Comparing with the total number of young stars in each association, and assuming a ISM-like gas/dust ratio, this indicates that ∼18% of stars retain a gas-rich disk of total mass ∼1 MJupiter for 1-4 Myr, 1-7% keep such disks for 5-10 Myr, but none are detected beyond 10-20 Myr. The brightest [OI] objects from GASPS were also observed in [OI]145 μm, [CII]157 μm and CO J = 18 - 17, with detection rates of 20-40%. Detection of the [CII] line was not correlated with disk mass, suggesting it arises more commonly from a compact remnant envelope.

Edge-on, optically thick circumstellar disks have been previously imaged at subarcsecond resolution around about a dozen nearby young stellar objects. In these systems the central star is occulted from direct view, bright star image artifacts are absent, and the disk reflected light is clearly seen. Comparison of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) edge-on disk images with scattered light models has allowed key disk structural parameters and dust grain properties to be determined. Edge-on disks have been systematically undercounted to date: while 10% of young stars should statistically be occulted by their disk, the observed frequency is much less. Thus there is a significant potential for discovering and imaging new examples. Spitzer Space Telescope legacy science programs have provided the first good spectral energy distribution (SED) measurements for the previously known edge-on disks. These can be used as templates to identify new candidates in far-infrared survey datasets. We report on the results of our HST program to image twenty-one edge-on disk candidates mostly selected from their SEDs. Eleven are well-resolved with radii ranging from 30-400 AU, nine for the first time and six showing highly collimated jets. Outstanding individual sources include a large and symmetric new template object, a highly flattened disk not accreting onto its central star, and an asymmetric disk with a misaligned jet which likely traces tidal perturbations in a binary system. Follow-up work to obtain ancillary data and perform scattered light modeling of the most symmetric disks is now being pursued. The results of this program will guide a new round of searches for these rare but important snapshots of protoplanetary disk evolution.

With the combination of Herschel PACS (far-IR), submillimeter (submm) and millimeter (mm) ground-based observations, we are leading an investigation of all members with spectral types M4 and onwards in the Taurus star-forming region. This complete census spans the stellar to substellar boundary (M6.25), and the wavelength range covers the transition from optically thick to optically thin emission. From our Hershel PACS observations of ~135 sources, we obtain a detection rate of ~40% at 70 μm and a detection rate of ~20% at 160 μm, and provide the first far-IR measurements for the majority of these members. With our complementary submm and mm observations, best fit SED models from the radiative transfer code MCFOST will be used to infer disk properties such as scale height, mass, outer radius and maximum dust grain size. These comprehensive population statistics of disks are critical for testing star/brown dwarf and planet formation models around these later type members of Taurus.

We present new high-resolution observations and modeling of SSTtau J042021+ 281349, a 400 AU-radius edge-on protoplanetary disk. We have gathered visible and near-infrared scattered light images of the system with the Hubble Space Telescope and Keck adaptive optics system, as well as a 1.3 mm continuum map with CARMA. Compared to the well-known HH 30 disk, this new system is remarkable because of its spectacular bipolar jet and the high degree of lateral symmetry of the disk. Indeed, we argue that this system is a “cleaner” prototype for edge-on disks. In addition, the apparent achromaticity of dust properties (most notably the almost grey opacity law) from the visible to the near-infrared in this disk suggests that it is in an advanced stage of dust evolution.

Studying the inner regions of protoplanetary disks (1-10 AU) is of importance to understand the formation of planets and the accretion process feeding the forming central star. Herbig AeBe stars are bright enough to be routinely observed by Near IR interferometers. The data for the fainter T Tauri stars is much more sparse. In this contribution we present the results of our ongoing survey at the VLTI. We used the PIONIER combiner that allows the simultaneous use of 4 telescopes, yielding 6 baselines and 3 independent closure phases at once. PIONIER's integrated optics technology makes it a sensitive instrument. We have observed 22 T Tauri stars so far, the largest survey for T Tauri stars to this date. Our results demonstrate the very significant contribution of an extended component to the interferometric signal. The extended component is different from source to source and the data, with several baselines, offer a way to improve our knowledge of the disk geometry and/or composition. These results validate an earlier study by Pinte et al. 2008 and show that the dust inner radii of T Tauri disks now appear to be in better agreement with the expected position of the dust sublimation radius, contrary to previous claims.

The close environment of Herbig stars starts to be revealed step by step and it appears to be quite complex. Many physical phenomena interplay: the dust sublimation causing a puffed-up inner rim, a dusty halo, a dusty wind or an inner gaseous component. To investigate more deeply these regions, getting images at the first Astronomical Unit scale is necessary. This has become possible with near infrared instruments on the VLTI. We have developed a new imaging method adapted to young stellar objects where we process separately the stellar component from the rest of the image to reveal the environment by using the spectral differences between these two components. We present the result of this method on the first imaging survey of Herbig stars carried out by PIONIER on the VLTI.