Presentation Archive

Using Disk Substructures to Reveal Young Planet Population

Zhaohuan Zhu (University of Nevada, Las Vegas )

October 31, 2019

Abstract: ALMA provides us a great opportunity to image the planet construction zone directly, and many disk structures (e.g. spirals, gaps, warps) have emerged. In this talk, I will discuss how planet-disk interaction theory helps us understand planet formation process. Then, I will apply the planet-disk interaction theory to substructures in the ALMA large program (DSHARP) to reveal the potential young planet population. We find that the occurrence rate for >5 M J planets beyond 5-10 au is consistent with direct imaging constraints. Using these disk substructures also allows us to probe a wide-orbit planet population (Neptune to Jupiter mass planets beyond 10 au) that is not accessible to other planet searching techniques. Finally, I will discuss one possible solution to the planet mass budget problem: one puzzle revealed by ALMA that the dust in Class II disks may not be enough to explain the averaged solid mass in exoplanets.