Physics and Chemistry of Protoplanetary Accretion Disks

Abstract

First, we give a concise introduction to the formation, theory and stability of protoplanetary accretion disks. In a second part, we present an overview of the physical processes that are currently thought to be of importance for the evolution of a protoplanetary disk. Finally, we discuss some new ideas of how chemical reactions might influence the global evolution of such disks.

There are many very good reviews available that summarizes our present knowledge and ideas about protoplanetary disks. Consequently, I will not attempt to add just another review of the same kind to the literature. I rather prefer to discuss theoretical aspects that in my view bear great potential to foster the development of the topic in the next few years. In this respect, this written account deviates considerably from the oral version of the two 90-minutes lectures. In the oral version, much emphasis was put on introducing the standard models for the protoplanetary disk. This encompasses only one chapter in the present version. The reasoning behind this is that most of the material that could be presented in section 4 is easily available in most libraries so that it might be more valuable to dwell on those things that are usually not discussed at great lenght (if at all) in this context and that bear great potentials.