Constraining the radial drift of millimeter-sized grains in the protoplanetary disks in Lupus

Context. Recent ALMA surveys of protoplanetary disks have shown that for most disks the extent of the gas emission is greater than the extent of the thermal emission of millimeter-sized dust. Both line optical depth and the combined effect of radially dependent grain growth and radial drift may contribute to this observed effect. To determine whether or not radial drift is common across the disk population, quantitative estimates of the effect of line optical depth are required.
Aims: For a sample of ten disks from the Lupus survey we investigate how well dust-based models without radial dust evolution reproduce the observed ¹²CO outer radius, and determine whether radial dust evolution is required to match the observed gas-dust size difference.
Methods: Based on surface density profiles derived from continuum observations we used the thermochemical code DALI to obtain ¹²CO synthetic emission maps. Gas and dust outer radii of the models were calculated using the same methods as applied to the observations. The gas and dust outer radii (R_CO, R_mm) calculated using only line optical depth were compared to observations on a source-by-source basis.
Results: For five disks, we find R_{CO, obs}/R_{mm, obs} > R_{CO, mdl}/R_{mm, mdl}. For these disks we need both dust evolution and optical depth effects to explain the observed gas-dust size difference. For the other five disks, the observed R_CO/R_mm lies within the uncertainties on R_{CO, mdl}/R_{mm, mdl} due to noise. For these disks the observed gas-dust size difference can be explained using only line optical depth effects. We also identify six disks not included in our initial sample but part of a survey of the same star-forming region that show significant signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ≥ 3) ¹²CO J = 2-1 emission beyond 4 × R_mm. These disks, for which no R_CO is available, likely have R_CO/R_mm ≫ 4 and are difficult to explain without substantial dust evolution.
Conclusions: Most of the disks in our sample of predominantly bright disks are consistent with radial drift and grain growth. We also find six faint disks where the observed gas-dust size difference hints at considerable radial drift and grain growth, suggesting that these are common features among both bright and faint disks. The effects of radial drift and grain growth can be observed in disks where the dust and gas radii are significantly different, while more detailed models and deeper observations are needed to see this effect in disks with smaller differences.