Seminar by Karine Perraut (IPAG)

Abstract

Deciphering the physical processes occurring in the inner region of protoplanetary disks is key to understanding the environmental conditions of (terrestrial) planet formation and evolution. Thanks to its unique milliarcsecond angular resolution, VLTI/GRAVITY has studied the ~0.1–5 AU disk region in a homogeneous sample of nearly a hundred young stellar objects spanning the T-Tauri (~40), Herbig AeBe (~60), and high-mass YSO (a few) classes.

The K-band GRAVITY YSO survey, which began 8 years ago, has made significant contributions to the field: we extended the infrared disk radius-luminosity relation over four orders of magnitude, which has allowed us to identify trends related to the properties of the central star (mass, accretion rate); we tested possible evolutionary states using disk morphology proxies; we demonstrated the month-scale morphological variability of the inner disk for a few sources.

Finally, we discuss the potential benefits of the new GRAVITY+ upgrade, particularly for studying the early Class I phases of YSOs in various star-forming regions, as well as the potential legacy of GRAVITY(+) observations for refining theoretical models of protoplanets.