Northwestern Events Calendar

Feb
15
2022

Special Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Patrick Sheehan: Unveiling Planet Formation in the Youngest Disks

When: Tuesday, February 15, 2022
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CT

Where: Online

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Contact: Samantha Westlake  

Group: Physics and Astronomy Astrophysics Seminars

Category: Academic

Description:

Abstract: Surveys are now revealing a tremendous diversity in the properties of exoplanetary systems that can exist. A general paradigm for how these planets form, by the steady growth from dust to boulders to planetesimals, has been established. That said, the physics that regulates the ultimate outcome of planet formation remains uncertain and is quite sensitive to the conditions in the planet forming disks where these processes are active. In this talk, I will discuss my ongoing work to characterize the youngest known disks, which crucially represent the initial conditions for planet formation. This includes efforts to study the bulk demographics (such as mass and size) of young disks as well as the discovery of substructures that may indicate advanced planet formation even in early disks. Throughout this work I will focus on my efforts to couple state-of-the-art modeling techniques that I have developed with cutting-edge observations in order to maximize returns on the exquisite radio/millimeter datasets that enable this research. Looking to the future, I will also discuss how to build on these techniques to prepare for the next generation of observational facilities, and particularly the ngVLA.

Speaker: Patrick Sheehan, NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Fellow, Northwestern University

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