The structure of protoplanetary disks is thought to be linked to the temperature and chemistry of their dust and gas. Whether the disk is flat or flaring depends on the amount of radiation that it absorbs at a given radius, and on the efficiency with
which this is converted into thermal energy. The understanding of these heating and cooling processes is crucial to provide a reliable disk structure for the interpretation of dust continuum emission and gas line fluxes. Especially in the upper layers of the disk, where gas and dust are thermally decoupled, the infrared line emission is strictly related to the gas heating/cooling processes. We aim to study the thermal properties of the disk in the oxygen line emission region, and to investigate the relative importance of X-ray (1-120 Angstrom) and far-UV radiation (FUV, 912-2070 Angstrom) for the heating balance there. We use [OI] 63 micron line fluxes observed in a sample of protoplanetary disks of the Taurus/Auriga star forming region and compare it to the model predictions presented in our previous work. The data were obtained with the PACS instrument on board the Herschel Space Observatory as part of the Herschel Open Time Key Program GASPS (GAS in Protoplanetary diskS), published in Howard et al. (2013). Our theoretical grid of disk models can reproduce the [OI] absolute fluxes and predict a correlation between [OI] and the sum Lx+Lfuv. The data show no correlation between the [OI] line flux and the X-ray luminosity, the FUV luminosity or their sum. The data show that the FUV or X-ray radiation has no notable impact on the region where the [OI] line is formed. This is in contrast with what is predicted from our models. Possible explanations are that the disks in Taurus are less flaring than the hydrostatic models predict, and/or that other disk structure aspects that were left unchanged in our models are important. ..abridged..
Most of the mass in protoplanetary disks is in the form of gas. The study of the gas and its diagnostics is of fundamental importance in order to achieve a detailed description of the thermal and chemical structure of the disk. The radiation from the
central star (from optical to X-ray wavelengths) and viscous accretion are the main source of energy and dominates the disk physics and chemistry in its early stages. This is the environment in which the first phases of planet formation will proceed. We investigate how stellar and disk parameters impact the fine-structure cooling lines [NeII], [ArII], [OI], [CII] and H2O rotational lines in the disk. These lines are potentially powerful diagnostics of the disk structure and their modelling permits a thorough interpretation of the observations carried out with instrumental facilities such as Spitzer and Herschel. Following Aresu et al. (2011), we computed a grid of 240 disk models, in which the X-ray luminosity, UV-excess luminosity, minimum dust grain size, dust size distribution power law and surface density distribution power law, are systematically varied. We solve self-consistently for the disk vertical hydrostatic structure in every model and apply detailed line radiative transfer to calculate line fluxes and profiles for a series of well known mid- and far-infrared cooling lines. The [OI] 63 micron line flux increases with increasing FUV luminosity when Lx < 1e30 erg/s, and with increasing X-ray luminosity when LX > 1e30 erg/s. [CII] 157 micron is mainly driven by FUV luminosity via C+ production, X-rays affect the line flux to a lesser extent. [NeII] 12.8 micron correlates with X-rays; the line profile emitted from the disk atmosphere shows a double-peaked component, caused by emission in the static disk atmosphere, next to a high velocity double-peaked component, caused by emission in the very inner rim. (abridged)
Context: T Tauri stars have X-ray luminosities ranging from L_X = 10^28-10^32 erg/s. These luminosities are similar to UV luminosities (L_UV 10^30-10^31 erg/s) and therefore X-rays are expected to affect the physics and chemistry of the upper layers
of their surrounding protoplanetary disks. Aim: The effects and importance of X-rays on the chemical and hydrostatic structure of protoplanetary disks are investigated, species tracing X-ray irradiation (for L_X >= 10^29 erg/s) are identified and predictions for [OI], [CII] and [NII] fine structure line fluxes are provided. Methods: We have implemented X-ray physics and chemistry into the chemo-physical disk code ProDiMo. We include Coulomb heating and H2 ionization as heating processes and primary and secondary ionization due to X-rays in the chemistry. Results: X-rays heat up the gas causing it to expand in the optically thin surface layers. Neutral molecular species are not much affected in their abundance and spatial distribution, but charged species such as N+, OH+, H2O+ and H3O+ show enhanced abundances in the disk surface. Conclusions: Coulomb heating by X-rays changes the vertical structure of the disk, yielding temperatures of ~ 8000 K out to distances of 50 AU. The chemical structure is altered by the high electron abundance in the gas in the disk surface, causing an efficient ion-molecule chemistry. The products of this, OH+, H2O+ and H3O+, are of great interest for observations of low-mass young stellar objects with the Herschel Space Observatory. [OI] (at 63 and 145 mic) and [CII] (at 158 mic) fine structure emission are only affected for L_X > 10^30 erg/s.
