UNsolving planet formation – Dr Álvaro Ribas

This talk was part of the UH Centre for Astrophysics Research (CAR) 2023-2024 seminar series. For the ongoing programme, please see: https://www.herts.ac.uk/research/cent...

Date: 13 December 2023
Speaker: Dr Álvaro Ribas – University of Cambridge
Title: UNsolving planet formation: Insights from Large Samples and Single-Object studies

Abstract: The last decade has brought a revolution to the study of planet formation and protoplanetary disks. High angular resolution observations from telescopes and instruments such as ALMA and SPHERE have revealed that disk substructures are extremely common. And yet, despite giant steps towards better understanding how planets come to be and how that determines the properties of planetary systems, some of the most basic questions (What is the mass of disks? When do planets form?) remain unanswered.

It has been said that, in science, the most exciting phrase is not "Eureka!" but "That's Funny". In this talk, I will discuss a few "funny" results from exploring large samples of protoplanetary disks with artificial neural networks to determine their statistical properties, as well as a detailed study of a nearby and apparently featureless individual disk. These results provide clues about which areas of our understanding of planet formation may need to be improved, and can hopefully lead to some Eureka moments in the future.