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[24.01] Introduction to the Session `When Do Planets Form?'

D.A. Weintraub (Vanderbilt University), J.H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Are planets rare or common? If planets are common, then the timescale for the formation of planets must be less than the timescale for the dispersal of circumstellar disks around young stars. Planetary scientists have worked primarily with two models for planet formation, core accretion theory and gravitational collapse. These two models predict very different timescales for making planets. Meanwhile, astronomers have learned a great deal in recent decades about disks around young stars and about the relationship of disks to the central stars; many of the observational results have led to interpretations concerning the timescale for the evolution and dissipation of circumstellar disks. Are the timescales gleaned from the observational data compatible with theory? Is the data understood well enough to constrain theory? Or are the theories widely enough accepted to constrain interpretations of new observations? In this session, presenters will discuss and debate the information gleaned from theory and the interpretations made from observations. The dialogue in this session on this topic between and among theorists and observers will, we hope, produce a more informed, longer term dialogue on the issues surrounding planet formation.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: david.a.weintraub@vanderbilt.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35 #3
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.