Probing Young Planet Populations with 3D Self-Consnstent Disk Thermodynamics

Protoplanetary disks are the birthplaces of planets.  Over the past decade, there have been significant advancements in disk observations thanks to the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and extreme adaptive optics (ExAOs).  Hundreds of disks have been observed at higher angular resolutions, revealing rich substructures (e.g., gaps/rings) at various layers, some of which are perturbed by planets.  A better understanding of disk physics holds great potential for unveiling more young planets within these substructures and distinguishing them from non-planet origins.

Speaker: Shangjia Zhang, Columbia Uinversity