Planet Formation In the Early Stages of Star Formation

Recent studies suggest that many protoplanetary disks around pre-main sequence stars with inferred ages of 1-5 Myr (known as Class II protostars) may contain insufficient mass to form giant planets. This may be because by this stage much of the material in the disk has already grown into larger bodies, hiding the material from sight. If this is the case, then these older disks may not be an accurate representation of the initial mass budget in disks for forming planets. To test this hypothesis, I have observed a sample of protostars in the Taurus star forming regions identified as Class I in multiple independent surveys, whose young (