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At the time of formation, protoplanetary discs likely contain a comparablemass to their host protostars. As a result, gravitational instabilities (GIs)are expected to play a pivotal role in the early phases of disc evolution.However, as these young objects are heavily embedded, confirmation of GIs hasremained elusive. Therefore, we use the radiative transfer code LIME to produceline images of a $0.17\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ self-gravitating protosolar-likedisc. We note the limitations of using LIME and explore methods to improve uponthe default gridding. We synthesise noiseless observations to determine thesensitivities required to detect the spiral flux, and find that the line fluxdistribution does not necessarily correlate to the abundance densitydistribution; hence performing radiative transfer calculations is imperative.Moreover, the spiral features are seen in absorption, due to the GI-heatedmidplane and high extinction, which could be indicative of GI activity. If asmall beamsize and appropriate molecular line are used then spatially resolvingspirals in a protosolar-like disc should be possible with ALMA for an on-sourcetime of 30 hr. Spectrally resolving non-axisymmetric structure takes only atenth as long for a reasonable noise level, but attributing this structure toGI-induced activity would be tentative. Finally, we find that identifyingfinger-like features in PV diagrams of nearly edge-on discs, which are a directindicator of spirals, is feasible with an on-source time of 19 hr, and hencelikely offers the most promising means of confirming GI-driven spiral structurein young, embedded protoplanetary discs.

Gravitational instabilities in a protosolar-like disc III: molecular line detection and sensitivities