High Angular Resolution Studies of Circumstellar Disks

Jenny Patience

Observations of disk material surrounding young stars determine the early environmental conditions that influence the development of planetary systems and provide constraints on theoretical models of star and planet formation. With a series of high angular resolution programs, I am investigating the hot inner region of disks that corresponds to the zone of terrestrial planet formation and the cool outer disk that encompasses most of the disk mass and is critical to giant planet formation. The infrared, submillimeter, and millimeter data provide detailed measurements of the disk structure, the influence of companions on dust distribution, and the dependence of disk properties on stellar mass. Keck interferometry observations of several pre-Main Sequence stars indicate spatially resolved hot inner disks at sub-AU scales, and the inferred sizes are comparable to or larger than the dust destruction radius. Longer wavelength data in the submm are being used to study the dependence of disk mass on the central object mass across the stellar/substellar boundary. Finally, millimeter interferometry observations of young binaries at different evolutionary stages in Taurus and Ophiuchus provide estimates of disk lifetimes that impact planet formation and reveal the influence of companion stars on disk frequency and disk mass.