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Abstract

We present an overview and first results from a M-band spectroscopic survey of planet-forming disks performed with iSHELL on the Infrared Telescope Facility, using two slits that provide resolving power R ≈ 60,000–92,000 (5–3.3 km s⁻¹). iSHELL provides a nearly complete coverage at 4.52–5.24 μm in one shot, covering >50 lines from the R and P branches of ¹²CO and ¹³CO for each of multiple vibrational levels, and providing unprecedented information on the excitation of multiple emission and absorption components. Some of the most notable new findings of this survey are: (1) the detection of two CO Keplerian rings at <2 au (in HD 259431), (2) the detection of H₂O rovibrational lines at 5 μm (in AS 205 N), and (3) the common kinematic variability of CO lines over timescales of 1–14 yr. By homogeneously analyzing this survey together with a previous survey of cooler stars, we discuss a unified view of CO spectra where emission and absorption components scan the disk surface across radii from a dust-free region within dust sublimation out to ≈10 au. We classify two fundamental types of CO line shapes interpreted as emission from Keplerian rings (double-peak lines) and a disk surface plus a low-velocity part of a wind (triangular lines), where CO excitation reflects different emitting regions (and their gas-to-dust ratio) rather than just the irradiation spectrum. A disk+wind interpretation for the triangular lines naturally explains several properties observed in CO spectra, including the line blueshifts, line shapes that turn into narrow absorption at high inclinations, and the frequency of disk winds as a function of the stellar type.