High energy irradiated protoplanetary disks. The X-rays and FUV role in thermo-chemical modelling

PhD ceremony: Mr. G. Aresu, 9.00 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: High energy irradiated protoplanetary disks. The X-rays and FUV role in thermo-chemical modelling

Promotor(s): prof. I. Kamp

Faculty: Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Since the dawn of time, men has directed his sight to the sky, addressing there his very first existential questions. Among the fundamental dilemmas, the one that is most closely related to the human kind is: where does life come from? As never before, we might be fully equipped to answer this question.

In the last two decades we have indeed been able to collect an enormous amount of information about the scenario where life similar to ours is supposed to sprout: the planets.

The star formation process starts in dark clouds, where gravitational collapse leads to the formation of a circumstellar disk.

In the still ongoing infrared (IR) satellites era, we do observe these disks of gas and dust in orbit around pre-main sequence stars (PMS), the so called protoplanetary disks: these are the birth places of the planets.

The study of newly discovered disks and extrasolar systems provides otherwise inaccessible data on the conditions that probably led to the formation of our own planetary system.

In this thesis I studied the impact that high energy radiation (X-rays and FUV) from the central star has on the chemistry and thermal structure of the surrounding protoplanetary disk.