Astronomy Tea Talk

While a large number of the exoplanets have been found so far, finding young planets in protoplanetary disks is still challenging. Transitional disks, protoplanetary disks with gaps and holes, can potentially provide us the first chance to find young planets in disks. In this talk, I will discuss how planet-disk interaction theory helps to explain transitional disk observations and why dust dynamics during planet-disk interaction is particularly important for future observations (e.g. ALMA) to constrain the properties of the embedded planets. Finally, I will discuss some of our recent progress on developing planet-disk interaction theory: gap opening by low mass planets, planets in MRI turbulent disks, a new resonance during planet-disk interaction (buoyancy resonance), and their importance for planet migration and planet survivability.