Towards a complete understanding of young embedded disks

Descripción del proyecto

La modelización de viveros de planetas podría ayudar a comprender el origen de nuestro sistema solar

Poco después de su nacimiento, casi todas las estrellas de baja masa están rodeadas de discos planos y giratorios de gas frío y polvo. Estos discos protoplanetarios pueden perdurar durante varios millones de años, tiempo durante el cual parte del material se acumula en estrellas, otra parte se pierde a través de flujos de salida y otra parte se condensa en los modestos albores de futuros planetas. Comprender estos procesos que acontecen en los discos protoplanetarios es esencial para entender el origen de sistemas planetarios y, en este contexto, el magnetismo probablemente desempeña un papel relevante. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos InAndOut está desarrollando un modelo computacional de los flujos de entrada, la acumulación y los flujos de salida durante las primeras fases de la formación de estrellas y discos protoplanetarios que incorpora efectos a pequeña escala, al tiempo que tiene en cuenta la estructura del campo magnético del entorno protoestelar. Los resultados del modelo podrían ayudar a comprender el origen de nuestro sistema solar y la evolución continua de nuestro universo.

Objetivo

Modelling the interplay of infall, accretion, and outflows during the early phases of star and disk formation is the key to understanding the origin of planetary systems. So-called protoplanetary disks form shortly after the birth of a star, and, as ultimately revealed by recent discoveries , disks are the nurseries of planets. My project, 'InAndOut: Towards a complete understanding of young embedded discs', tackles this issue by applying novel computational tools to investigate the small-scale effects in disks, while consistently accounting for the properties provided by the protostellar environment. Adopting ten prestellar cores located in different environments of a parental filamentary Giant Molecular Cloud, I will simulate the formation and evolution of embedded disk state-of-the-art code framework DISPATCH. To account for the observed diversity of cosmic-ray ionisation rates among different prestellar cores, I will vary the cosmic ray ionisation rate in my models. To guarantee a valid comparison of my results with cutting-edge observations, I will produce synthetic observations with the radiative transfer code POLARIS. Synthetic maps of dust polarisation can be used to get a better understanding of the magnetic field structure on scales beyond the disk. Anticipating first ALMA results of circular polarisation due to Zeeman splitting in young disks in the near future, it is timely to provide synthetic maps of circular polarisation, as they can tell us about the magnetic field strength in disks. Following the trajectory of the dust and gas particles in embedded disks from infall, through the disk to outflows will allow me to study, whether dust and gas can return into the disk after being ejected by a wind. Finding an answer to this question has important implications for our understanding of the origin of our solar system. Moreover, I will identify chemical tracers for the kinematics such as infall and outflow involved in the embedded disk phase.