Astronomy

“Mining the kinematics of discs to hunt for planets in formation”

Abstract:

Detecting planets during their formation stages is crucial for understanding the history and diversity of fully developed planetary systems like our own. However, observing these objects directly is challenging because they are often deeply embedded within their host protoplanetary discs, rich in gas and dust. To overcome this limitation, the study of disc kinematics through molecular line analysis has recently opened up as a promising alternative for planet detection and disc characterisation. I will describe a new methodology that aims to identify coherent kinematic signatures induced by forming planets, allowing us not only to assess their presence but also to determine their most likely radial and azimuthal positions in a statistically robust manner. This approach offers the additional benefit of enabling a three-dimensional reconstruction of the physical and dynamical structure of discs by simultaneously modelling the emission of multiple molecular tracers. I will present applications to the analysis of various protoplanetary discs observed with ALMA at high angular and velocity resolution, revealing a wide variety of kinematic and intensity features that could potentially be driven by massive embedded planets. By leveraging the wealth of information encoded in molecular lines, this framework aims to prepare the ground for a paradigm shift in the way we search for young planets and study their role in the evolution of discs.

Dr. Andrés Izquierdo, UF

Thursday, January 25, 2024 @ 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM EST

217 Bryant Space Science Center