Zooming Into The Water Snowline: High Resolution Water Observations of the HL Tau disk

Water is one of the central molecules for the formation and habitability of planets. In particular, the region where water freezes-out, the water snowline, could be a favorable location to form planets in protoplanetary disks.

We use high resolution ALMA observations to spatially resolve H₂O, H¹³CO+ and SO emission in the HL Tau disk. A rotational diagram analysis is used to characterize the water reservoir seen with ALMA and compare this to the reservoir visible at mid- and far-IR wavelengths.

We find that the H₂O 183 GHz line has a compact central component and a diffuse component that is seen out to ~75 au. A radially resolved rotational diagram shows that the excitation temperature of the water is ~350 K independent of radius.

The steep drop in the water brightness temperature outside the central beam of the observations where the emission is optically thick is consistent with the water snowline being located inside the central beam (≲6 au) at the height probed by the observations.

Comparing the ALMA lines to those seen at shorter wavelengths shows that only 0.02%-2% of the water reservoir is visible at mid- and far-IR wavelengths, respectively, due to optically thick dust hiding the emission whereas 35-70% is visible with ALMA. An anti-correlation between the H₂O and H¹³CO+ emission is found but this is likely caused by optically thick dust hiding the H¹³CO+ emission in the disk center.

Finally, we see SO emission tracing the disk and for the first time in SO a molecular outflow and the infalling streamer out to ~2″. The velocity structure hints at a possible connection between the SO and the H₂O emission. Spatially resolved observations of H₂O lines at (sub-)mm wavelengths provide valuable constraints on the location of the water snowline, while probing the bulk of the gas-phase reservoirs.

M. Leemker, S. Facchini, P. Curone, L. Rampinelli, M. Benisty, A. Garufi, E. Humphreys

Comments: Accepted for publication in A&A
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2511.16737 [astro-ph.EP](or arXiv:2511.16737v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2511.16737
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Submission history
From: Margot Leemker
[v1] Thu, 20 Nov 2025 19:00:03 UTC (7,812 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.16737
Astrobiology,