11/20/14: SO/NOAO Joint Colloquium Series: Karin I. Öberg, Harvard University
Karin I. Öberg, Harvard University
The Chemistry of Planet Formation
Planets form from dust and gas in disks around young stars. The chemical structures of these disks, including snow lines, will regulate the compositions of the nascent planets, and probably the efficiency at which planets form at different disk locations. Disk chemistry is also key to understand the prebiotic surface conditions of nascent rocky planets. Finally, chemistry can be used as a tool to probe planet formation, i.e. chemical structures trace defining disk properties such as the distributions of mass, temperature, radiation, elemental depletion, and snowlines. We use spatially and spectrally resolved observations (ALMA and SMA) to explore these different aspects of disk chemistry. These studies are augmented with theory, laboratory experiments and observations at other wavelengths to begin to map out the chemistry of planet formation.
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