Coffee talks
Friday 16/05/2025 @ 11:30, Sala riunioni quarto piano e on-line (meet.google.com/sue-bwvk-axf)
Antonio Garufi (INAF-IRA), "One step closer to planet formation. With SKAO."
Over the past decade, the advent of ALMA has unveiled a diverse range of planet-forming disk morphologies, the connection of which to planet formation remains only partially understood. One key limitation of ALMA observations is their inability to probe dust grains approaching centimeter sizes, a critical stage in the process of planet formation. Additionally, ALMA has revealed that the millimeter emission from planet-forming disks is often optically thick, complicating accurate measurements of dust opacity and disk mass. In this presentation, we investigate the potential of SKAO to address these challenges. By integrating data from VLA and ALMA disk surveys, along with recent ALMA Band 1 observations, we develop statistical predictions for the SKAO capability to study disk demographics. This includes identifying which disks can be detected, resolved, and characterized. Based on our analysis of a sample of 400 known disks within 200 pc, we estimate that approximately 70 disks are bright enough to be detected with just three hours of observing time, and 30 of these are also extended enough to be meaningfully resolved. We explore how such an initial SKAO survey could revolutionize our understanding of key aspects of planet formation, including the total dust budget, grain properties, and other fundamental processes shaping planetary systems.