Characterizing the Extended Molecular Hydrogen Winds in Protoplanetary Disks from the JWST Disk Infrared Spectroscopic Chemistry Survey

Abstract We present a comprehensive analysis of extended H 2 emission from 34 protoplanetary disks observed with the JWST Disk Infrared Spectroscopic Chemistry Survey, supplemented by archival data. We investigated the morphology, kinematics, excitation conditions, and mass dynamics of H 2 . Extended emission from pure rotational H 2 lines is found to be common, with 16 sources exhibiting clear signatures of disk winds. These include monopolar and bipolar structures in inclined disks and ring-like or bubble-like morphologies in face-on system features, indicative of wide-angle disk winds. Our analysis shows that the H 2 is consistent with slow (4.2 − 3.0 + 6.7 km s −1 ) magnetohydrodynamical driven winds. For 10 disks, we model the wind morphology and find a median half-opening angle of 4 5 − 4 ° + 5 and a characteristic power-law index of α ∼ 1.6. Excitation analysis yields a median gas temperature of 624 ± 130 K and a column density of log ( N tot [ cm − 2 ] ) = 18.6 ± 0.6 . The median wind mass-loss rate, log 10 ( M ̇ wind tot ) = − 9 − 0.4 + 0.8 M ⊙ yr − 1 , implies that if molecular winds are the dominant mechanism responsible for disk dispersal, a typical disk with a mass of 2–3 M Jup would dissipate on a ∼2–3 Myr timescale, consistent with observed disk lifetimes. The M ̇ wind tot span a relatively narrow range (∼2 dex) and do not correlate strongly with accretion rates onto the star, suggesting that the mass-loss rate and the accretion rates are probing different timescales. Our findings demonstrate that spatially extended warm H 2 emission is a widespread and reliable tracer of molecular disk winds in protoplanetary systems.