EPoS Contribution
EPoS Contribution
The formation and early evolution of circumstellar disks

Jes K. Jorgensen
Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
One of the most important unanswered questions in our understanding of low-mass star formation is how circumstellar disks form and evolve during their earliest stages. Many previous studies have focused on the properties of disks around revealed young stellar objects, yet disks are likely formed sometime during the embedded protostellar stages and their properties related to the physical and chemical structure of the innermost regions of the centrally condensed envelopes surrounding such young stars. I will present a review of recent observations of disks around embedded low-mass protostars and discuss the available constraints on theoretical models for their physical structures and evolution. I will discuss the evidence for and against formation and growth of disks already during the earliest deeply embedded protostellar stages - and the perspectives for additional constraints on their physics and chemistry with near-future observations. One of the most important unanswered questions in our understanding of low-mass star formation is how circumstellar disks form and evolve during their earliest stages. Many previous studies have focused on the properties of disks around revealed young stellar objects, yet disks are likely formed sometime during the embedded protostellar stages and their properties related to the physical and chemical structure of the innermost regions of the centrally condensed envelopes surrounding such young stars. I will present a review of recent observations of disks around embedded low-mass protostars and discuss the available constraints on theoretical models for their physical structures and evolution. I will discuss the evidence for and against formation and growth of disks already during the earliest deeply embedded protostellar stages - and the perspectives for additional constraints on their physics and chemistry with near-future observations.
Collaborators:
M. Persson, CfSPF, Denmark
E. F. van Dishoeck, Leiden O, The Netherlands and MPE Garching, Germany
Suggested Session: Early Phases of Disks