Astronomy Colloquium

Jan

2026

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

In Person (view details)

Constraining Planet Formation and Evolution With Cutting-Edge Imaging, Interferometry, and Spectroscopy

Description

Constraining Planet Formation and Evolution With Cutting-Edge Imaging, Interferometry, and Spectroscopy

The detailed process of planet formation and evolution is one of the great uncharted territories in astrophysics today. While several thousand exoplanets and hundreds of protoplanetary disks are known, only a small fraction have been characterized in detail due to limitations in observing technology. As a result, the mechanisms driving planetary accretion, orbital migration, and atmospheric evolution remain remarkably unconstrained. To advance our understanding, several fundamental science questions have been identified as high-priority for the next decade of astronomy and beyond. These include: How do planets and their satellites grow? What are the origins and demographics of protoplanetary disk structures? How do planetary system orbital architectures and atmospheres evolve over time? How are potentially habitable environments formed? Answering these questions requires simultaneously and strategically advancing: (1) scientific understanding of known disks, protoplanets, and exoplanets; and (2) techniques and instruments that will enable us to build a characterized census of these objects with significant coverage in mass, orbital separation, and age. I will give an overview of my group’s research program, which is aimed at making progress in both of these areas. I will discuss how novel combinations of imaging, interferometry, and spectroscopy with ground- and space-based facilities can be used to constrain planet formation on true solar system scales today. I will then present science-driven technical and instrumentation work for existing telescopes. Lastly, I will discuss the scientific development and expected outcomes of high-contrast, spectroscopic instruments for next-generation telescopes.