David Trevascus   (Australia)

trevascus @ mpia.de

Direct Imaging: A Window into the Birth of Planetary Systems

Multiple competing models exist for giant planet formation. Hot-start models assume high entropies for planets upon their formation and are typically associated with formation via gravitational instability, whereas cold-start models assume low entropy and are typically associated with formation via pebble accretion. Differentiating between these models observationally requires a young planetary system (less than 100 Myr). PDS 70 is a 8 Myr old protoplanetary system with two confirmed planet detections. Both planets are at a sufficient distance from the start to be directly imaged as individual point sources within the protoplanetary disk.

In my research I use astrometry of these planets from VLT/GRAVITY to fit orbital parameters to them. In particular, the existence of multiple planets within this system allows for the estimation of planetary masses, which are necessary to associate these planets with either a hot-start or cold-start formation model, and therefore provide the first observational benchmark for these competing formation models.

Supervisor:    Wolfgang Brandner  (MPIA)