DIX Planetary Science Seminar

The Solar System's Kuiper Belt consists of a ring of small bodies, or "planetesimals". We now understand that similar planetesimal rings are common around extrasolar planetary systems, which are usually referred to as a "debris disk". This talk focuses on how we are using observations of extrasolar Kuiper Belts to better connect disk evolution, exoplanet populations and the dynamical evolution of planetary systems. Planetesimal rings are observable via dust produced during collisions between planetesimals. Observing at different wavelengths picks up emission from different dust grain sizes that are naturally sensitive to different physical processes in a planetary system. I will discuss what we have recently been learning from imaging efforts at millimeter (ALMA), mid-infrared (JWST) and near-infrared/optical wavelengths. Special focus will be given to the recent ARKS ALMA program, which has resolved two dozen debris disks at unprecedented resolution, and revealed the gas distribution and kinematics in half a dozen (https://arkslp.org/).