Physical Society Colloquium

The Birth and Growth of Young Planets

Zhaohuan Zhu

Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Planet formation is a challenging process because a planet needs to grow 13 orders of magnitude in size from the interstellar dust within a tiny fraction of the cosmological time. On the other hand, the ubiquitous exoplanets imply that planet formation occurs robustly. Over the past decade, optical (near-IR) and radio observations have revolutionized planet formation study by providing high-resolution images of protoplanetary disks, where young planets are born. These observations reveal a diverse disk structures, including gaps/rings, spirals, asymmetry, and even misaligned disks. I will discuss some recent observational and theoretical developments on disk features and their potential connections with young planets across a wide mass range. A potential young planet population far away from the central star is being revealed by these observations. On the other hand, observations only provide us individual snapshot during the planet formation process. To connect and understand different stages of planet formation, we need theory and numerical simulations. Some recent radiation hydrodynamical simulations on the planet's envelope gathering phase will be presented. These simulations not only shed light on the super-Earth/mini-Neptune populations but also reveal what to expect from future observations, including JWST and ngVLA.