Abstract:
The classical method of treating protoplanetary disks and planet formation in an isolated environment is increasingly being challenged, especially by recent observations. Ubiquitous occurrences of the inflow of material in the form of streamers onto disks in the Taurus and other star forming regions are being discovered. In fact, such structures have been observed around ~30% of Class II disks, which has been the driver of a large paradigm shift recently. Such interactions have considerable implications for the formation and evolution of substructures in protoplanetary disks, because they supply fresh material and impact disk dynamics. They have potentially far-reaching consequences for planet formation.
In this talk, I explore how streamers can arise naturally in hydrodynamics simulations considering different environmental conditions, showing that turbulent Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion processes can cause a variety of morphologies. These streamers cause spiral structures observable in the scattered light and CO molecular emission; I find that flocculent spiral structures, as seen in SU Aur, as well as m=2 spirals akin to the appearance of MWC 758 emerge in different models. The spirals have unique characteristics, making them distinct from structures formed through other mechanisms.
