[SME-A] Observational and theoretical studies of protoplanetary discs (B)

Observational and theoretical studies of protoplanetary discs

Organiser(s):

Maria Koutoulaki, John Ilee, Richard Booth, Stefan Kraus, Rebecca Nealon, Donna Rodgers-Lee

Session type:

Regular

Description:

A first step towards understanding planetary formation is characterisation of the structure and evolution of protoplanetary discs. Recently, ground-breaking results produced by high angular resolution astronomy with facilities like VLT, VLTI, CHARA and ALMA have completely changed our view of protoplanetary discs. Synergies between different wavelengths have proven fruitful (e.g., the discovery of the PDS 70 planetary system using near-infrared scattered light observations, Ha imaging as well mm observations) and have shown that multiwavelength studies are important and needed. Another example is the study of dust evolution from small grains to pebbles which is crucial for planet formation. Constraining the spatial distribution of both small and large grains can only be done by combining near infrared and mm observations. 
This session aims at bringing together astronomers with a diverse range of expertise to discuss the latest scientific results related to observations (interferometric and non-interferometric) and simulations of protoplanetary discs. An important aspect of this session is to promote the exchange of knowledge and collaborations on the different observational and numerical techniques and wavelength coverages and discuss about new and future facilities and what they have to offer in the field (e.g., JWST, VLTI/GRAVITY+). The sessions will be opened by an invited speaker in the field and the rest of the time will be filled by contributed talks with an emphasis on early career researchers. The fields explored in this session comprise of (i) The inner region of protoplanetary discs, (ii) The outer regions of protoplanetary discs, and (iii) Simulations of protoplanetary discs. 

The innermost regions of the disc, within a few au from the protostar, play a crucial role in the physics of the entire disc, as well as in the formation of planets. Within this region, large amounts of energy are released into the system, influencing the energy balance of the full disc; dust particles evaporate at the dust sublimation point, and terrestrial planets may form. Accretion and ejection processes have an impact on the protostellar evolution. Facilities like VLT (e.g., XSHOOTER, SPHERE) and VLTI (e.g., GRAVITY and MATISSE) have made a lot of progress in detecting the inner gaseous and dusty disc and measuring the accretion and ejection properties of young stars. At mm wavelengths, ALMA completely changed our view on protoplanetary discs where unexpectedly, discs were found to consist of a series of bright symmetric nested rings and a plethora of different disc structures and shapes were present in the discs of young stars. Since then, much work has been done in studying the dust and gas component of the disc as well as looking for planets. Although these ring and spiral structures are present in discs it is still not clear whether all these structures are created from planets or not. Proper modelling is needed in order to understand these structures as well as connect the inner and outer disc observations.

Topic:

Planets/Stellar