Traditionally, planet formation was mostly a theoretical field, with rather loose observational constraints coming from proto-planetary disc observations and the Solar System. The field is now rapidly transforming thanks to ALMA and extreme adaptive optic systems, which recently made it possible to detect for the first time forming planets in proto-planetary discs and study in detail the structure and chemical composition of the planet building-blocks. Some of these ingredients, such as planetesimals, persist across the main sequence as debris discs, allowing us to study the architectures of (proto)planetary systems across both space and time as they evolve. In this way, planet formation is now transforming into an observational field.

The time is therefore ripe to discuss the status of the field and recent advancements. Many of those have been led by, or held major contributions from, European researchers, making the session especially topical for EAS 2020: for example, the discovery of embedded, nascent protoplanets around PDS 70 through direct imaging and in two other systems through the study of disc kinematics, the in-depth study of selected systems by the ALMA DSHARP Large Programme, and debris disc surveys such as REASONS. The session will be comprehensive, spanning planet(esimal) formation and evolution from the pre-main sequence to the Solar system, and will also include the first results from the ALMA Disc Chemistry Large Programme.

Programme

Selected questions we aim to discuss include:

• How are the current paradigms of planet formation (core accretion, gravitational instability, ...) changing in light of the new planet population being unveiled in discs?
• What is the chemical composition of material being accreted onto planets and how does it compare to exo-planetary atmospheres?
• What is the proto-planetary disc structure, in the solid and gaseous components, and how does this relate to the observed structure of planetesimal belts (debris discs) around older stars?
• Is planet formation already happening at very early, still embedded stages, and what constraints do dust and planetesimal formation place on this process?
• How does the architecture and origins of the Solar system, as revealed by theoretical modelling and in-situ planetary studies (e.g. Cassini, Juno), relate to the menagerie of discovered exoplanetary systems?

Invited speakers

• Myriam Benisty (IPAG Grenoble)
• Bertram Bitsch (MPIA Heidelberg)
• Natalia Engler (ETH Zurich)
• Quentin Kral (Observatoire de Paris)
• Yamila Miguel (Leiden)
• Catherine Walsh (Leeds)

Scientific organisers

• Giovanni Rosotti (Leiden; chair)
• Alex Cridland (Leiden; co-chair)
• Stefano Facchini (ESO; co-chair)
• Sascha Zeegers (Academia Sinica; co-chair)
• Elodie Choquet (Marseille)
• Cathie Clarke (Cambridge)
• Cornelis Dullemond (Heidelberg)
• Agnes Kospal (Budapest)
• Jes Jorgensen (Copenhagen)
• Giuseppe Lodato (Milan)
• Jonathan Marshall (Academia Sinica)
• Luca Matra (CfA)
• Farzana Meru (Warwick)
• Julien Milli (Grenoble)
• Alessandro Morbidelli (Nice)
• Christoph Mordasini (Bern)
• Nicole Pawellek (Cambridge)
• Linda Podio (Arcetri)

Contact

rosotti @ strw.leidenuniv.nl