Protoplanetary Disk Science Enabled by Extremely Large Telescopes
Abstract
The processes that transform gas and dust in circumstellar disks into diverse exoplanets remain poorly understood. One key pathway is to study exoplanets as they form in their young (few~Myr) natal disks. Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) such as GMT, TMT, or ELT, can be used to establish the initial chemical conditions, locations, and timescales of planet formation, via (1)~measuring the physical and chemical conditions in protoplanetary disks using infrared spectroscopy and (2)~studying planet-disk interactions using imaging and spectro-astrometry. Our current knowledge is based on a limited sample of targets, representing the brightest, most extreme cases, and thus almost certainly represents an incomplete understanding. ELTs will play a transformational role in this arena, thanks to the high spatial and spectral resolution data they will deliver. We recommend a key science program to conduct a volume-limited survey of high-resolution spectroscopy and high-contrast imaging of the nearest protoplanetary disks that would result in an unbiased, holistic picture of planet formation as it occurs.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1903.05077,
title = {Protoplanetary Disk Science Enabled by Extremely Large Telescopes},
author = {Hannah Jang-Condell and Sean Brittain and Alycia Weinberger and Michael Liu and Jacqueline Faherty and Jaehan Bae and Sean Andrews and Megan Ansdell and Til Birnstiel and Alan Boss and Laird Close and Thayne Currie and Steven J Desch and Sarah Dodson-Robinson and Chuanfei Dong and Gaspard Duchene and Catherine Espaillat and Kate Follette and Eric Gaidos and Peter Gao and Nader Haghighipour and Hilairy Hartnett and Yasuhiro Hasegawa and Mihkel Kama and Jinyoung Serena Kim and Ágnes Kóspál and Carey Lisse and Wladimir Lyra and Bruce Macintosh and Dimitri Mawet and Peregrine McGehee and Michael Meyer and Eliad Peretz and Laura Perez and Klaus Pontoppidan and Steph Sallum and Colette Salyk and Andrew Szentgyorgyi and Kevin Wagner},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.05077},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Science white paper submitted to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey