[Ne II] emission-line profiles from photoevaporative disc winds

Abstract

I model profiles of the [Ne II] forbidden emission line at 12.81 μm, emitted by photoevaporative winds from discs around young, solar mass stars. The predicted line luminosities (~10-6 L⊙) are consistent with recent data, and the line profiles vary significantly with the disc inclination. Edge-on discs show broad (30-40 km s-1) double-peaked profiles, due to the rotation of the disc, while in face-on discs the structure of the wind results in a narrower line (≃10 km s-1) and a significant blueshift (5-10 km s-1). These results suggest that the observations of [Ne II] line profiles can provide a direct test of models of protoplanetary disc photoevaporation. © 2008 The Author. Journal compilation © 2008 RAS.