Millimeter-wave Observations of Gaseous Species in Disks

The role of high spectral and spatial resolution spectroscopy in understanding the evolution of the gaseous component of circumstellar accretion disks is described. Millimeter-wave emission lines from trace constituents such as CO, CN, HCO+, and HCN can be used to probe the kinematic and physico-chemical properties in the near-surface regions of disks beyond 50-100 AU, but, thanks to extensive depletion in the midplane, they are not a reliable proxy for the disk mass. For the special case of nearly edge-on circumstellar disks, the resulting ices can be directly observed through mid-infrared spectroscopy, using ground based facilities or spacecraft (cf. Najita, this volume). Emerging and planned millimeter-wave → THz arrays will possess sufficient sensitivity and resolution to probe much closer to the central star and to search for prebiotic compounds such as those detected in comets, meteorites and interplanetary dust particles.