Carolin "Lina" Kimmig (Germany)
c.kimmig @ stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Non-Axisymmetric Protoplanetary Disks
More and more observations of protoplanetary disks show non-axisymmetric features, such as shadows, bright arcs, and spirals. Thus, models explaining those features are urgently needed. We aim to investigate possible origins of asymmetries via numerical simulations. As misaligned protoplanetary disks are a hot topic in current research and able to generate asymmetric features in observations, we study the evolution of warped disks (disks with radially changing orbital planes).
Warped disks are expected to cast shadows from the inclined inner region onto the outer region of the disk. Using the one-dimensionsal evolution code Dwarpy I developed during my Master's project and radiative
transfer models with RADMC3D, we hope to explore the observed temporal evolution of shadows in some of the disks, e.g. in disks around TW Hydra, HD135344B, and RXJ1604.3-2130. Additionally, we aim to investigate possible formation mechanisms for warped disks, such as massive inclined companions or late asymmetric infall of material onto the disk .
Supervisor: Cornelis Dullemond (ITA)
