首页

Structures such as gaps and rings in ALMA observations of protoplanetary disks have long been hailed as signposts of planet formation. However, it is still not clear how common such substructures are, when they become apparent in disks and how they are linked to the formation of planets. In this talk I will describe the latest insights on the commonality and evolution of substructures in disks, as well as their connection with exoplanet populations. In particular, I will discuss the implications of the discovery of a new group of disks, which has only become apparent from ALMA observations at very high resolution: the compact disks with few or no gaps, with typical dust disk sizes of only a few au in radius. Such disks are primarily found around M dwarfs and can be connected directly with the formation of close-in super-Earths, through planet formation models including pebble drift and pebble accretion. Second, I will show the latest results on the role of jets and MHD-winds in protoplanetary disks as traced by free-free emission with ALMA and VLA, and their role in our understanding of the angular momentum transport in disks. Finally, I will demonstrate the combined impact of both ALMA and JWST observations on our perception of disk composition as the result of ice transport throughout the disk, and the consequences for planet atmospheric composition.

BIO

Nienke van der Marel is an assistant professor at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. She obtained her PhD cum laude at Leiden Observatory in 2015, after which she conducted research at University of Hawaii as Beatrice Watson Parrent fellow, followed by a fellowship at the NRC Herzberg Institute in Victoria BC, Canada, and a Banting fellowship at University of Victoria. Nienke is an expert on planet formation and astrochemistry, combining insights from ALMA observations with planet formation theory.

Host: Xuening Bai