Discs & Planets formation

Planet formation occurs in a very early phase of disk evolution, as recently demonstrated by ALMA observations. In fact, disks quickly lose their homogeneous structure, developing gaps, rings and spirals already in the proto-stellar phase. Our challenge is to understand the mechanisms at the origin of these structures and if/how they are connected to the presence and/or formation of proto-planets. Our group is involved in observational programs both in AO-assisted optical/IR instruments such as SPHERE, and in sub-mm observations with ALMA. Through these complementary observations, we investigate the initial conditions for planet formation, by studying the physical properties of protoplanetary disks such as the surface density and radial temperature profile and the presence of gaps and other substructures. We model these features through dedicated hydrodynamical simulations, and we explore the potential planets that could explain them, comparing the results with the outcome of direct imaging planet searches. In the near future, this research will benefit by the availability of new generation high-angular resolution instruments such as SHARK-VIS/NIR at LBT and ERIS at VLT.