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Observational and theoretical studies of exoplanets have matured substantially since the discovery of the first planets outside our Solar System. We now know of thousands of such planets, and together with those in our Solar System, they show a vast diversity in their types, compositions, and orbital characteristics. Understanding this diversity requires understanding where planets form and evolve. It has long been thought that planets start to form in mature disks around protostars. However, new studies hint at planets being born much earlier, when the disks are still young. Therefore, characterising these young disks where the protoplanets are born and the mature ones where the protoplanets grow can help answer one of astronomy's most fundamental questions: Why are planetary systems so diverse?

In this talk, I will focus on the physical and chemical conditions of planetary birth environments. These young systems are physically complex and chemically rich in icy and gaseous material that contributes to planetesimal formation. I will present radiative transfer modelling results for the physical properties of early systems, ALMA observations of their gaseous content, and JWST observations of their icy content. Finally, I will discuss my future plans for better understanding the relative contribution of initial conditions versus later evolutionary processes in driving exoplanet diversity.

BIO

Pooneh Nazari completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in astrophysics at the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge. After that she moved to the Netherlands for her Ph.D. with Prof. Ewine van Dishoeck at Leiden University and was awarded an honourable mention for her thesis by the International Astronomical Union. She is currently an ESO and IAU Gruber Foundation Fellow in Germany, and holds a research visitor position at MIT. Her research focuses on astrochemistry, star, and planet formation.

Host: Xuening Bai