3:30–5:00 pm ERC 161
Title: Photochemical Processing in Protoplanetary Disks and the Link to Planetary Compositions
Abstract: Protoplanetary disks are chemical factories, transforming the materials they inherit from their natal molecular clouds into the gas and solids that ultimately get accreted into planets. Observations of these disks show a complex array of processes shaping these materials, including photochemical reactions driven by high-energy radiation emitted by the young central stars of these disks and their neighbors. These reactions primarily occur in the surface layers of protoplanetary disks and are readily observed. However, it remains uncertain to what extent the products of these reactions are accreted by planets forming much deeper inside these disks. Meteorites and comets in our Solar System contain evidence of photochemical processing, but whether this processing occurred in our solar nebula or parent molecular cloud is unclear. I will report on modeling efforts to explore whether photochemical processing in our own protoplanetary disk is sufficient to match the photochemical record seen in our Solar System and discuss the implications for linking the observed chemical inventories in protoplanetary disks to the compositions to planets that form within them.
Zoom: https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/96426832251?pwd=sWlgab9U46NofRA0VMaC7Y1sLA99Te.1
