Abstract: The study of planet formation is nearly equivalent to the study of protoplanetary disks for two main reason. First, protoplanetary disks are the birthplaces of planetary systems. One might even say planet formation is a byproduct of the evolution of protoplanetary disks! Second, once some planets are formed, they can in turn alter influence their natal disks, creating large-scale structures like gaps, spirals, and vortices. The observation of disks with these structures has helped propel forward our understanding of how planets form and move inside these disks. In this presentation, I will give an overview of how proplanets and protoplanetary disks interact, and show examples of how state-of-the-art observations have informed our theoretical understanding.
Speaker:
Dr. Jeffrey Fung received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2015. After that, he became a postdoctoral researcher in the University of California, Berkeley, first as an NSERC/CIPS fellow, then as a NASA Sagan fellow. Dr. Fung continued his postdoctoral research in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, before joining the Clemson faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in 2021.
Learn more about his research here: Dr. Jeffrey Fung