Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie
STEPHEN PHILLIPS hostreviews.co.uk / UNSPLASH

Protoplanetary disks at high angular resolution

Cornelis P. Dullemond , Institut für theoretische Astrophysik, Heidelberg

With ALMA and high-contrast optical/IR imaging, protoplanetary disks are revealed to be structured objects. They display rings, spirals, vortices and warps. These structures appear to be extremely well-defined and often have high contrast. This poses the question: what processes cause these conspicuous structures? Are these signs of planet formation? Or do they betray the existence of just-born planets in these disks? In this talk I will discuss these observations and some theoretical models that attempt to explain them. I will show that these structures indicate that dust “pebbles” are being moved around and are trapped in so-called “pressure traps”. I will show that planetary/substellar companions perturb the disk, but that also disk-internal processes can explain some of the ringlike dust traps. Finally I will discuss some ideas to explain the strong warps seen in some of these protoplanetary disks.

Heidelberg Joint Astronomical Colloquium
17 Jul 2018, 16:15
Philosophenweg 12, großer Hörsaal

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