Astronomy Colloquium

  Circumstellar disks provide the raw material and initial conditions for planet formation.  Millimeter-wavelength interferometry is a powerful tool for studying gas and dust in planet-forming regions, and it is undergoing an immense leap in sophistication with the advent of the ALMA  interferometer that is now beginning operations.  I will discuss some ways in which millimeter-wavelength interferometry is being used to study the process of planet formation in circumstellar disks, with particular emphasis on the kinematics of turbulence in protoplanetary disks and the degree to which debris disk structure reflects the dynamics of embedded planetary systems.