Dusty Debris as a Window into New Planetary Systems

Saturday, February 13, 2016: 8:00 AM-9:30 AM
Wilson B (Marriott Wardman Park)
Kevin Flaherty, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
After planetary systems form, small bodies analogous to the Kuiper Belt Objects collide and produce dusty debris that can be seen around distant stars with radio interferometers. The structure of such debris disks is intimately connected with the dynamics of young planetary systems and of any gas within the disk. I will describe how recent spectacular Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of gas and dust in debris disks are revealing new details about these emerging planetary systems and the processes by which they form and evolve.