Descripción del proyecto
Revelación de las etapas tempranas de la formación de los planetas
Los discos protoplanetarios, discos densos compuestos por gas y polvo que rodean a las estrellas recién formadas, son los lugares de nacimiento de los planetas. Sin embargo, los científicos aún no han podido descubrir los procesos exactos de formación y evolución de los planetas. Teniendo en cuenta que los discos protoplanetarios evolucionan y se disipan rápidamente, es crucial observar la formación de los planetas y estudiar sus interacciones con su disco hospedador. El equipo del proyecto PROTOPLANETS, financiado con fondos europeos, investigará las primeras etapas de formación y evolución de los sistemas planetarios mediante datos de observación de última generación de los discos protoplanetarios, calibrados con técnicas avanzadas de procesamiento de datos. El objetivo final es comprender la diversidad de los sistemas exoplanetarios relacionando las propiedades de los protoplanetas con las del disco protoplanetario.
Objetivo
Recent observing campaigns have revealed a great diversity in exoplanetary systems whose origin is yet to be understood. How and when planets form, and how they evolve and interact with their birth environment, the protoplanetary disks, are major open questions. Protoplanetary disks evolve and dissipate rapidly while planets are forming, implying a direct feedback between the processes of planet formation and disk evolution. Observing protoplanets still in the early stages of formation and studying their imprints on the disk structure is therefore crucial.
PROTOPLANETS aims to establish a global observational picture of the early stages of planetary systems formation and evolution. My team and I will analyze cutting-edge observations on a large sample of protoplanetary disks, calibrated with novel data processing technics and modelled in the light of state-of-the-art simulations, to:
(1) search for giant protoplanets still embedded in disks;
(2) study the imprints of planet-disk interactions and their dependence on stellar/disk properties;
(3) reveal the impact of planets on the disk structure and dust evolution;
(4) determine the conditions for terrestrial planet formation in the inner disk regions.
The overall ambition of PROTOPLANETS is to understand the diversity of exoplanetary systems by linking the properties of protoplanets with those of the inner and outer disk regions.
The project builds on a novel methodology to detect giant protoplanets and at the same time, characterize the birth environment shaped by those planets. As demonstrated by our recent discovery of the first protoplanet imaged in a disk, the direct detection and characterization of protoplanets will be a major breakthrough, enabling probing of processes of planet formation that could only be addressed theoretically before. The properties of such forming planets, constrained by the proposed research, will offer key insights into the timescales, location and processes of planet formation.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitución de acogida
38058 Grenoble
Francia