Hydrocarbons in Protoplanetary Disks: Evaluating the carbon to oxygen ratios in protoplanetary disks

Hartog, Philippa (2024) Hydrocarbons in Protoplanetary Disks: Evaluating the carbon to oxygen ratios in protoplanetary disks. Bachelor's Thesis, Astronomy.

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Abstract

Protoplanetary disks form around newborn stars and provide the region in space for planets to form. Exploring the chemistry occurring there is key to our understanding of planet formation and evolution. It has been suggested that the carbon to oxygen ratio in these disks is well above the solar value, which would lead to carbon based chemistry and thus carbon rich planets forming. This thesis aims to evaluate the C/O ratio in the outer regions of protoplanetary disks to see if an elevated value is indeed necessary to explain the current ALMA observations of hydrocarbons in the disks. Two of the more commonly observed hydrocarbons, C2H and C3H2, are chosen in the observations made by the MAPS project and compared to simulated disk models. These models are set up at two C/O ratios, using ProDiMo, allowing for the C/O ratio in the disks to be evaluated. The solar C/O models’ integrated line fluxes more closely approach the MAPS observed fluxes. For the radial intensity profiles, the C/O ratio had very little effect on reproducing the MAPS observations. From the column densities no C/O ratio should be concluded as they are derived values instead they can be used to investigate underlying processes in the models. The observations of protoplanetary disks can be reproduced with a C/O ratio well below the value of 2 suggested by the MAPS team. This implies that the processes responsible for creating the enhanced C/O ratios may not be as prevalent in the disk as previously thought.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Kamp, I.E.E. and Kanwar, J.
Degree programme:	Astronomy
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	15 Jul 2024 07:52
Last Modified:	15 Jul 2024 07:52
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/33341

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