Gas turbulence can substantially impact circumstellar disk evolution and the planet formation process, yet its nature is still unknown. Therefore, to further understand the role of turbulence, unveiling its origin is crucial.
Current observational constraints point towards weak turbulence in the outer weakly-ionized regions of planet-forming disks. In these regions, the vertical shear instability (VSI) can operate and dominate as a source of gas turbulence, creating large-scale corrugated meridional flows.
Post-processing 3D global hydrodynamical simulations of VSI-turbulent disks, with and without embedded planets, we studied the potential of resolving VSI kinematical signatures in ALMA observations of CO rotational lines.
We found that VSI kinematical signatures are observable within the current ALMA capabilities, however, damped if massive planets are embedded in the disk. Further, we demonstrated how symmetries of VSI gas motions can be exploited to differentiate its unique non-Keplerian signatures from alternative mechanisms. Detecting signatures of active VSI in future kinematical observations of ALMA would reveal it as a source of turbulence in planet-forming disks.