Transport of CO in Protoplanetary Disks: Consequences of Pebble Formation, Settling, and Radial Drift

Abstract

Current models of (exo)planet formation often rely on a large influx of so-called “pebbles” from the outer disk into the planet formation region. In this paper, we investigate how the formation/coagulation of pebbles in the cold outer regions of protoplanetary disks and their subsequent migration to the inner disk can alter the gas-phase CO distribution both interior and exterior to the midplane CO snowline. By simulating the resulting CO abundances in the midplane as well as the warm surface layer, we identify observable signatures of large-scale pebble formation and migration that can be used as “smoking guns” for this important process. Specifically, we find that after 1 Myr, the formation and settling of icy pebbles results in the removal of up to 80% of the CO vapor in the warm ( ) disk layers outside the CO snowline, while the radial migration of pebbles results in the generation of a plume of CO vapor inside the snowline, increasing the CO abundance by a factor ∼2–6 depending on the strength of the turbulence and the sizes of the individual pebbles. The absence of this plume of CO vapor in young nearby disks could indicate efficient conversion of CO into a more refractory species, or to the radial mass flux of pebbles being drastically reduced by, for example, disk inhomogeneities or early planetesimal formation.