Evolution of PAHs in Protoplanetary Disks

Abstract

Depending on whom you ask, PAHs are either the smallest dust particles or the largest gas-phase molecules in space. Whether referred to as gas or dust, these PAHs can contain up to 20% of the total cosmic carbon abundance and as such also play an important role in the carbon chemistry of protoplanetary disks. The interpretation of PAH bands is often a complex procedure involving not only gas physics to determine their ionization stage and temperature, but also radiative transfer effects that can bury these bands in a strong thermal continuum from a population of larger dust particles. PAHs are most readily seen in the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of disks around Herbig AeBe stars where they are photopro- cessed by the stellar radiation field. Resolved images taken in the PAH bands confirm their origin in the flaring surfaces of circumstellar disks: if the SED is consistent with a flat disk structure (less illuminated), there is little or no evidence of PAH emission. The very low detec- tion rates in the disks around T Tauri stars often require an overall lower abundance of PAHs in these disk surface as compared to that in molecular clouds. In this review, I will adress three aspects of PAHs in protoplanetary disks: (1) Do PAHs form in protoplanetary disks or do they originate from the precursor molecular cloud? (2) Is the presence of PAH features in SEDs a consequence of the disk structure or do PAHs in fact shape the disk structure? (3) How can we use PAHs as tracers of processes in protoplanetary disks?