The impact of environment on proto-planetary disks and planet formation

Thomas Haworth – Queen Mary University

There is growing evidence that planet-forming disks around young stars can be affected by their wider star forming environment. This environmental impact takes many forms, from chemical inheritance, to gravitational encounters, « late’’ infall from molecular clouds and external photoevaporation. The latter is my main focus, wherein UV radiation from massive stars heats and disperses the disk from the outside in. The pace of study of environmental effects has accelerated drastically in recent years. I will to provide an overview of the aforementioned environmental processes and how they interplay. In particular I will also highlight some of the key recent developments and look to the future in the study of external photoevaporation.