The 'soot line': Destruction of pre-solar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the terrestrial planet-forming region of disks

Interstellar material is highly processed when subjected to the physical conditions that prevail in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks, the potential birthplace of habitable planets. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are abundant in the interstellar medium, and they have also been observed in the disks around young stars, with evidence for some modification. Dr. Kress and her colleagues propose that protoplanetary disks have a ‘soot line’, within which PAHs are irreversibly destroyed via thermally-driven reactions. Dr. Kress will discuss the physical and chemical processes in protoplanetary disks that determine how much water and organic material a habitable planet will contain.

Speaker: Monika Kress, Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State University