On the Interpretation of Velocity Residuals in Protoplanetary Disks

Abstract

We present a first-order analytical model for line-of-sight velocity residuals, defined as the difference between observed velocities and those predicted by a fiducial model, assuming a flared, nearly axisymmetric disk with the perturbations in disk surface height $\delta h(r)$, inclination $\delta i(r)$, and position angle $\delta\mathrm{PA}(r)$. Introducing projection-deprojection mapping between sky-plane and disk-frame coordinates, we demonstrate that the normalized velocity residuals exhibit Fourier components up to the third harmonic ($\sin3\phi$ and $\cos3\phi$). Moreover, we show that the radial profiles of $\delta h(r)$, $\delta i(r)$, and $\delta\mathrm{PA}(r)$ can be uniquely recovered from the data by solving a linear inverse problem. For comparison, we highlight factors that are not considered in previous models. We also outline how our framework can be extended beyond the first-order residuals and applied to additional observables, such as line intensities and widths.