Related papers: Outer Spiral Disks as Clues to Galaxy Formation an…
Circumstellar debris disks are the extrasolar analogues of the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt. They consist of comets and leftover planetesimals that continuously collide and produce circumstellar dust that can be observed as infrared…
The disks that orbit young stars are the essential conduits and reservoirs of material for star and planet formation. Their structures, meaning the spatial variations of the disk physical conditions, reflect the underlying mechanisms that…
Over the past decade, progress in observational capabilities, combined with theoretical advancements, have transformed our comprehension of the physics and chemistry during planet formation. Despite these important steps forward, open…
I briefly review recent developments in the study of circumstellar debris disks, particularly at infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths, and discuss possible avenues of research for the near future.
We review the observational evidences and the possible theoretical explanations for the abundance gradients in the Galactic disk. In particular, we discuss the implications of abundance gradients and gradients of abundance ratios on the…
In a hierarchical merging scenario, the outer parts of a galaxy are a fossil record of the galaxy's early history. Observations of the outer disks and halos of galaxies thus provide a tool to study individual galaxy histories and test…
Thick disks appear to be common in external large spiral galaxies and our own Milky Way also hosts one. The existence of a thick disk is possibly directly linked to the formation history of the host galaxy and if its properties is known it…
A new view on our Galaxy has recently emerged, with large consequences on its formation scenarios. Not only new dwarf satellites have been detected, still orbiting and tidally disrupting, but also a multitude of stellar streams or tidal…
We have in recent years come to view the outer parts of galaxies as having vital clues about their formation and evolution. Here, we would like to briefly present our results from a complete sample of nearby, late-type, spiral galaxies,…
Some factors connecting the evolutionary histories of galaxies with the characteristics of their cluster systems are reviewed. Unanswered questions include: How is one to understand the observation that some globular cluster systems have…
Spirals in galaxies have long been thought to be caused by gravitational instability in the stellar component of the disk, but discerning the precise mechanism had proved elusive. Tidal interactions, and perhaps bars, may provoke some…
Until recently, only about 10% of the total intracluster gas volume had been studied with high accuracy, leaving a vast region essentially unexplored. This is now changing and a wide area of hot gas physics and chemistry awaits discovery in…
Spiral structures are a common feature in scattered-light images of protoplanetary disks, and of great interest as possible tracers of the presence of planets. However, other mechanisms have been put foward to explain them, including…
The origins of planets, and perhaps life itself, is intrinsically linked to the chemistry of planet formation. In this chapter we will attempt to explore the chemistry of planet-forming disks from the perspective of knowledge gained from…
As the largest virialized structures in the universe, galaxy clusters continue to grow and accrete matter from the cosmic web. Due to the low gas density in the outskirts of clusters, measurements are very challenging, requiring extremely…
The past 5 years have dramatically changed our view of the disks of gas and dust around young stars. Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and extreme adaptive optics systems have revealed that disks are…
For the last few decades the study of disks around stars young and old and of different types have progressed significantly. During the same time a completely new discipline, the study of exoplanets, planets orbiting stars other than our…
Galaxies represent the visible fabric of the Universe and there has been considerable progress recently in both observational and theoretical studies. The underlying goal is to understand the present-day diversity of galaxy forms, masses…
The flatness of the rotation curve inside spiral galaxies is interpreted as the imprint of a halo of invisible matter. Using the deepest observations of distant galaxies, we have investigated how large disks could have been formed.…
We review the observations of extrasolar planets, ongoing developments in theories of planet formation, orbital migration, and the evolution of multiplanet systems.