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There is growing observational evidence that disk evolution is stellar-mass-dependent. Here, we show that these dependencies extend to the atomic and molecular content of disk atmospheres. We analyze a unique dataset of high-resolution Spitzer/IRS spectra from eight very low mass star and brown dwarf disks. We report the first detections of Ne+, H2, CO2, and tentative detections of H2O toward these faint and low-mass disks. Two of our [Ne II] 12.81 μm emission lines likely trace the hot (⩾5000 K) disk surface irradiated by X-ray photons from the central stellar/sub-stellar object. The H2S(2) and S(1) fluxes are consistent with arising below the fully or partially ionized surface traced by the [Ne II] emission in gas at ∼600 K. We confirm the higher C2H2/HCN flux and column density ratio in brown dwarf disks previously noted from low-resolution IRS spectra. Our high-resolution spectra also show that the HCN/H2O fluxes of brown dwarf disks are on average higher than those of T Tauri disks. Our LTE modeling hints that this difference extends to column density ratios if H2O lines trace warm ⩾600 K disk gas. These trends suggest that the inner regions of brown dwarf disks have a lower O/C ratio than those of T Tauri disks, which may result from a more efficient formation of non-migrating icy planetesimals. An O/C = 1, as inferred from our analysis, would have profound implications on the bulk composition of rocky planets that can form around very low mass stars and brown dwarfs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a comparison of archival Spitzer spectra of the strongly variable T Tauri EX Lupi, observed before and during its 2008 outburst. We analyze the mid-infrared emission from gas-phase molecules thought to originate in a circurnstellar disk. In quiescence the emission shows a forest of H20 lines, highly excited OH lines, and the Q branches of the organics C2H2, HCN, and CO2, similar to the emission observed toward several T Tauri systems. The outburst emission shows instead remarkable changes: H20 and OH line fluxes increase, new OH, H2, and H I transitions are detected, and organics are no longer seen. We adopt a simple model of a single-temperature slab of gas in local thermal equilibrium, a common approach for molecular analyses of Spitzer spectra, and derive the excitation temperature, column density, and emitting area of H20 and OH. We show how model results strongly depend on the selection of emission lines fitted and how this is likely to be attributed to a combination of non-thermal excitation and multiple emission components. Using H20 lines that can be approximated as thermalized to a single temperature, our results are consistent with a column density decrease in outburst while the emitting area of warm gas increases. A rotation diagram analysis suggests that the OH emission can be explained with two temperature components, which remarkably increase in column density in outburst. The relative change of H20 and OH emission suggests a key role for UV radiation in the disk surface chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present multi-epoch high-spectral resolution observations with VLT/CRIRES of the OH doublet 2Π3/2 P4.5 (1+, 1–) (2.934 μm) toward the protoplanetary disk around HD 100546. The OH doublet is detected at all epochs and is spectrally resolved while nearby H2O lines remain undetected. The OH line velocity profile is different in the three data sets: in the first epoch (2012 April, P.A. = 26°) the OH lines are symmetric and line broadening is consistent with the gas being in Keplerian rotation around the star. No OH emission is detected within a radius of 8-11 AU from the star: the line emitting region is similar in size and extent to that of the CO ro-vibrational lines. In the other two epochs (2013 March and 2014 April, P.A. = 90° and 10°, respectively) the OH lines appear asymmetric and fainter compared to 2012 April. We investigate the origin of these line asymmetries which were taken by previous authors as evidence for tidal interaction between a (unseen) massive planet and the disk. We show that the observed asymmetries can be fully explained by a misalignment of the slit of the order of 0.″04-0.″20 with respect to the stellar position. The disk is spatially resolved and the slit misalignment is likely caused by the extended dust emission which is brighter than the stellar photosphere at near-infrared wavelengths which is the wavelength used for the pointing. This can cause the photo-center of HD 100546 to be misaligned with the stellar position at near-infrared wavelengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In diffuse interstellar clouds the chemistry that leads to the formation of the oxygen-bearing ions OH+, H2O+, and H3O+ begins with the ionization of atomic hydrogen by cosmic rays, and continues through subsequent hydrogen abstraction reactions involving H2. Given these reaction pathways, the observed abundances of these molecules are useful in constraining both the total cosmic-ray ionization rate of atomic hydrogen (ζH) and molecular hydrogen fraction (). We present observations targeting transitions of OH+, H2O+, and H3O+ made with the Herschel Space Observatory along 20 Galactic sight lines toward bright submillimeter continuum sources. Both OH+ and H2O+ are detected in absorption in multiple velocity components along every sight line, but H3O+ is only detected along 7 sight lines. From the molecular abundances we compute in multiple distinct components along each line of sight, and find a Gaussian distribution with mean and standard deviation 0.042 ± 0.018. This confirms previous findings that OH+ and H2O+ primarily reside in gas with low H2 fractions. We also infer ζH throughout our sample, and find a lognormal distribution with mean log (ζH) = –15.75 (ζH = 1.78 × 10–16 s–1) and standard deviation 0.29 for gas within the Galactic disk, but outside of the Galactic center. This is in good agreement with the mean and distribution of cosmic-ray ionization rates previously inferred from H observations. Ionization rates in the Galactic center tend to be 10-100 times larger than found in the Galactic disk, also in accord with prior studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Ex Lupi from quiescence to outburst: Exploring the LTE approach in modeling blended H2O and OH mid-infrared emission," by A. Banzatti, M.R. Meyer, S. Bruderer, V. Geers. I. Pascucci, F. Lahuis, A. Juhaász, T. Henning and P. ábrahám.