ISM infall as a driver of protoplanetary disc evolution

Andrew Winter

Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, 9:35CET

Protoplanetary discs, the birthplaces of planets, are often assumed to be isolated systems after the initial formation stage. In this talk, I will present some of the growing evidence that this is not the case, and planet formation is inherently linked to the large-scale star formation environment. Among other findings, I particularly focus on the first evidence that stellar accretion rates are correlated with environment in the Lupus star forming region. The obvious interpretation for the emerging observational picture is that infall onto the disc from the ISM plays a key role in disc evolution even among mature discs in the age range 1-3 Myr. This interpretation would connect galactic-scale star formation to the sub-au process of stellar accretion, and ultimately imply a transformative shift in numerous aspects of planet formation theory.