Collaborative Research: New and Improved Microwave Continuum Measurements of Protoplanetary Disk Solids

The goal of this proposal is to design and deliver improved measurements of the microwave continuum emission from circumstellar disks to better understand the evolution of their constituent solids during the epoch of planet formation. The project will exploit synergies between centimeter continuum observations of protoplanetary disks with the VLA and millimeter continuum data from other facilities (e.g., ALMA) to significantly improve characterizations of the radial variations in temperatures, densities, and dust properties. The project will develop a new Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences in radio astronomy to connect research programs to the classroom to train junior scientists in radio observations. This proposal advocates taking advantage of the lower optical depths at < ∼ 100 GHz (∼cm-wavelength), focusing on data from the VLA, to (A) improve some of the fundamental methods for analyzing microwave continuum data; (B) leverage the novel combination of resolved multifrequency images and dense spectral coverage to enhance the precision and accuracy for inferences of key properties (e.g., the radial profiles of dust densities and particle size distributions); and (C) survey the cm-band emission from a large, diverse disk sample to better understand the origins of foundational demographic trends identified from data at higher frequencies. The project will produce a comprehensive census of the cm-band luminosities and spectral indices from dust and radio contamination in a single disk population and will create a new set of benchmarks to guide the development of next generation dust evolution population synthesis models. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.