Planet hunting with molecular emission

In the early phases of planet formation, young gas-giants still embedded in their parent disks are luminous, (1-10) x 10^-4 Lsun, both during the accretion phase and immediately after (within a few Myr). Using 3D chemical models, we found that these planets provide more than enough heat to locally sublimate ices, thereby creating a unique gas phase signature surrounding the planet itself, spanning 5 AU for a Jupiter-mass protoplanet. Furthermore, the relevant chemical processes (freeze-out and thermal desorption) are rapid compared to disk rotation, and thus the signature follows the planet in its orbit. We propose to apply this chemical imaging technique to search for young, Jupiter-mass planets in the TW Hya protoplanetary disk, where fine-scale ringed structure was recently discovered with ALMA (Andrews et al. 2016), perhaps indicative of the early stages of planet growth. By looking for the youngest planets (i.e., ones that are either just beginning to form gaps or have not yet cleared their orbits), we can put unique constraints on the driving mechanisms of planet formation in disks around solar-type, low mass stars.