Abstract

The recent discovery of thousands of protoplanetary disks and exoplanets has revealed that planet formation is a very efficient process in nature. There have been several theories to describe the many steps along this process, but it remains difficult to discover planets surrounding young stars. Thanks to its unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity at radio wavelengths where the emission from the circumstellar material is optically thin, the future ngVLA telescope has the potential to transform our understanding of planet formation. In this presentation I will highlight the unprecedented imaging capabilities of the ngVLA using theoretical models of protoplanetary disks with varying planet and stellar masses. These theoretical models showcase the temporal evolution of the separation of gas and dust that in turn forms gaps and rings within the protoplanetary disk. These images will help shed light on how planets interact with disks and young stars, as well as on the properties of forming exoplanetary systems. Our findings suggest that the ngVLA would be capable of detecting the signatures in the disk of terrestrial planets at few astronomical units from the host star.