Related papers: Imaging Protoplanetary Disks with a Square Kilomet…
I summarize recent surveys of protoplanetary disks at millimeter wavelengths and show that the distribution of luminosity, equivalent to the mass in small dust grains, declines rapidly. This contrasts with statistics on the lifetime of…
Mineralogical studies of silicate features emitted by dust grains in protoplanetary disks and Solar System bodies can shed light on the progress of planet formation. The significant fraction of crystalline material in comets, chondritic…
Dust coagulation in a protoplanetary disk is the first step of planetesimal formation. However, a pathway from dust aggregates to planetesimals remains unclear. Both numerical simulations and laboratory experiments have suggested the…
Our understanding of protoplanetary disks has greatly improved over the last decade due to a wealth of data from new facilities. Unbiased dust surveys with Spitzer leave us with good constraints on the dust dispersal timescale of small…
Debris disks are exoplanetary systems containing planets, minor bodies (such as asteroids and comets) and debris dust. Unseen planets are presumed to perturb the minor bodies into crossing orbits, generating small dust grains that are…
We review the properties of dust in protoplanetary disks around optically visible pre-main sequence stars obtained with a variety of observational techniques, from measurements of scattered light at visual and infrared wavelengths to…
Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) have revealed many dust rings in protoplanetary disks, often interpreted as dust traps at gas pressure bumps. Previous studies…
Substructures such as rings, gaps, and cavities are commonly observed in protoplanetary discs and are thought to play a key role in dust evolution and planet formation. However, a fraction of the extended discs (68% dust radii > 30 AU) in…
The growth of solids from sub-micron to millimeter and centimeter sizes is the early step toward the formation of planets inside protoplanetary disks (PPDs). However, such processes and their potential impact on the later stages of solid…
Recent imaging of protoplanetary disks with high resolution and contrast have revealed a striking variety of substructure. Of particular interest are cases where near-infrared scattered light images show evidence for low-intensity annular…
The evolution of protoplanetary disks, especially in the early stages of planetary formation, as dust grows, is the cornerstone of the birth of planets. The mechanisms involved in the growth of sub-micrometric dust grains into planetesimals…
Since the discovery of the multi-ring structure of the HL Tau disk, ALMA data suggest that the dust continuum emission of many, if not all, protoplanetary disks consists of rings and gaps, no matter their spectral type or age. The origin of…
High-angular resolution observations at sub-millimeter/millimeter wavelengths of disks surrounding young stars have shown that their morphology is made of azimuthally-symmetric or point-symmetric substructures, in some cases with spiral…
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…
The formation and evolution of disks early in the protostellar phase is an area of study in which the ngVLA is poised to make significant breakthroughs. The high-sensitivity and resolution at wavelengths of 3~mm and longer will enable…
As the earliest stage of planet formation, massive, optically thick, and gas rich protoplanetary disks provide key insights into the physics of star and planet formation. When viewed edge-on, high resolution images offer a unique…
The first steps toward planet formation involve the coagulation of small microscopic grains into larger and larger pebbles and rocks in gas-rich disks around young stars and brown dwarfs. Observations in the sub-millimeter can trace…
Recent research on the buildup of rocks from small dust grains has reaffirmed that grain growth in protoplanetary disks should occur quickly. Calculation of growth rates have been made for a variety of growth processes and generally predict…
Theoretical formation models and exoplanet detection surveys indicate that systems with multiple giant planets are common. We investigate how multiple super-thermal mass planets embedded in a circumstellar disk shape the dust distribution…
Context.Transition disks are believed to be the final stages of protoplanetary disks, during which a forming planetary system or photoevaporation processes open a gap in the inner disk, drastically changing the disk structure. From…