Spatially Resolved YSO Disk Studies - Present and Future
First Author:
David Wilner
Email: dwilner AT cfa.harvard.edu
Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
60 Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Coauthors:
Abstract
The Spitzer Space Telescope has remarkable sensitivity and is producing a wealth of new infrared observations of the disks around young stars, though the angular resolution is generally insufficient to spatially resolve them. Modeling unresolved panchromatic data continues to make significant advances, but as disk models become increasingly realistic and complex, spatially resolved observations are necessary to break degeneracies and to test basic model constructs. Using selected examples, I will illustrate the role of resolved observations in present disk studies. I will focus on the millimeter regime, where dust opacity is low and resolution approaches the size scale of Jupiter's orbit(or better) in some cases. Of particular interest is the determination of disk surface density distributions, which reflect the physics of accretion, inform theories of planet formation, and potentially provide indirect evidence for the presence of protoplanets. I will also discuss some of the important issues to be addressed by spatially resolved data from the improved capabilities of next generation facilities.
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