Abstract

Invited Talk - Splinter ALMA2040

Wednesday, 09 September 2026, 15:25   (MW-2235)

What Theory Needs from ALMA2040: Connecting Mass Supply, Disk Evolution, and Planetary-System Outcomes

Vardan Elbakyan
University of Duisburg-Essen

Planet formation depends on how protoplanetary disks gain, redistribute, and lose mass. Theory now predicts that disk evolution is shaped by continuing infall from streamers, angular-momentum transport by winds and gravitational torques, external irradiation, dynamical interactions, and disk fragmentation. However, these processes are generally studied separately, and current observations rarely measure the relevant mass and angular-momentum flows in the same systems. Moreover, existing disk surveys are dominated by nearby, relatively low-density star-forming regions and do not sample the massive clusters where many stars form. This talk will discuss how ALMA2040 can turn these theoretical ideas into quantitative tests. Its improved sensitivity and angular resolution will enable measurements of streamer-fed accretion, wind launching, disk substructure and fragmentation, and disk-mass distributions across a broad range of cluster environments out to several kiloparsecs. I will emphasize the role of synthetic observations—combining simulations, radiative transfer, and realistic interferometric imaging—in designing surveys and identifying observables that distinguish competing models. The goal is to move from explaining individual disks toward predictive models of disk evolution and planetary-system formation across Galactic environments.