Nicolas Kurtovic   (Chile)

kurtovic @ mpia.de

Origin and characterization of disks substructures, and their relation to stellar hosts

My PhD thesis is focused on understanding the effect of the stellar host and the substructures of the protoplanetary disk in the planet formation of the system. In detail, the thesis is focused on 2 main projects: - Circumbinary disks: In the case of binary or multiple systems, we know for sure that the companions to the main star are responsible of the substructures observed, and so, understanding the effect of binary systems on circumbinary disks will allow us to better understand not only the planet formation and planet population in multiple star systems, but also the effect on the disks from planet-disk interactions. - Gas-Dust relation: We know that dust evolution is influenced by its interaction with the surrounding gas, and the overall environment is dependent on the disk stellar host. We aim to compare the gas and dust radial extension, and its relation with the stellar properties, the amplitude of the substructures, and their impact on the dust trapping and planet formation.

Supervisor:    Paola Pinilla   (MPIA)