Inheritance of complex organic material by planet-forming disks

Determine how much complex organic molecular material detected around forming stars is inherited by planet-forming disks.

Background

Complex organic molecules are important precursors for prebiotic chemistry and are routinely detected in the warm environments surrounding forming stars. However, the paper states that the extent to which this material survives or is incorporated into more evolved planet-forming disks is unknown. Resolving this inheritance fraction is necessary for assessing whether the chemical ingredients associated with the emergence of life in the Solar System are also available in other planetary systems and for constraining the chemical processing of complex organic molecules during transport into and within protoplanetary disks.

References

COMs are now routinely detected in the warm environments around forming stars (see also Rivilla et al.~ALMA2040), but it remains unknown how much of this material is inherited by planet-forming disks.

— Chemistry on solar system scales  (2610.22055 - Walsh et al., 15 Oct 2026) in Section 2, subsection C, “Feedstock for pre-biotic chemistry during planet formation”