Oral Presentation

The external photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs

Author(s): Thomas J. Haworth (QMUL)

Presenter: Thomas Haworth (Queen Mary University of London)

Protoplanetary discs are not isolated systems. They form in stellar clusters where other stars can irradiate the disc and drive a photoevaporative wind that can reduce the disc mass, radius and lifetime. It is plausible that this environmental impact on the disc could result in an environmental impact on the eventual planetary system.

In this talk I will provide an overview of past, present and future observations of externally photoevaporating discs. I will highlight recent key discoveries of evaporating discs near a B star in NGC 1977 and in the very young stellar cluster NGC 2024. However to continuing advancing we need to study the process in ever more regions which means new diagnostics of external photoevaporation are required. I will present new predictions of observational diagnostics to achieve this.