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Title:
Overview of star and planet formation
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Authors:
S. Strom, NOAO
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Abstract:
Following a brief historical overview, I will attempt to
identify
and discuss a few key issues that appear ripe for observational
or theoretical attack. Among these
are: (1) observational possibilities for linking initial conditions
and outcome stellar properties
via mid-IR spectroscopic study of protostellar cores and
optical observations of rotation properties of young stars; (2) the
potential
studying and exploiting the extrema in disk properties (mass;
evolutionary
timescales) for informing our understanding of the planet formation
process; (3) the status and potential importance of developing the
tools
needed to constrain the total disk mass and its radial distribution;
(4)
ambiguities in interpreting signatures of inner disk holes and possible
observational paths toward resolving them. I plan to end by
looking a decade into the future and outlining briefly
the potential of 30m class telescopes to advance our understanding
of star- and planet formation.
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