Workshop: Take a Closer Look – The Innermost Region of Protoplanetary Discs and its Connection to the Origin of Planets

Published: 10 Nov 2017
Take a closer look

ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 15–19 October 2018

Recent discoveries of close-in planets around main sequence and even pre-main sequence stars raise a number of questions about the formation of planetary systems. Their formation and migration history must be directly linked to the conditions within the inner regions of their progenitor protoplanetary discs. These sites also play a key role in star-disc interactions. Studies probing this important region require the use of innovative techniques and a wide range of instruments.

This workshop will address a number of topics related to the inner disc, including the morphology and composition of the innermost disc regions, star-disc interaction, and theories that describe the evolution of the innermost disc regions and the formation of close-in planets.

This workshop will cover the following themes:

  • Observations of the innermost regions of discs (<0.1-1 au, with near-IR interferometry, adaptive optics, spectroscopic techniques, space-based diffraction limited telescopes such as HST and JWST in the future).
  • Modeling of the inner disc (structure of the inner gas disc, disc walls, effects of magnetic fields).
  • Observations and theoretical predictions of processes happening at the inner disc-star interface (e.g., magnetic fields, accretion, jets).
  • Observations of exo-planets close to the central star (hot Jupiters, transits...).
  • Theoretical predictions to explain the origin of planets detected close to the stars.

Please see the workshop webpage for more details or contact the organisers by email. The deadline for talk abstracts is 19 May 2018 and the registration deadline is 29 June 2018.


Image credit: Composition by G. Glaso based on image by M.A. Garlick and supporting artwork from M. Kornmesser