Unveiling Planet Formation in the Youngest Disks

The recent high-resolution imaging of protoplanetary disks by ALMA has demonstrated that substructures, most frequently in the form of narrow rings and gaps, in disks appear to be ubiquitous by ages of 1-10 Myr. This surprising development suggests that planet formation may begin earlier than previously expected, at times <1 Myr, while star and disk are still in their infancy. In this talk, I will discuss my ongoing work to characterize the state of planet formation in these young disks. This includes, in particular, efforts to study the bulk demographics (such as mass and size) of embedded disks through radiative transfer modeling of a sample of ~100 young disks as a part of the VANDAM: Orion Survey to understand the initial conditions present in disks for planet formation. I will also discuss my work to characterize the substructures present in these young disks that may indicate planet formation could be quite advanced, even in the youngest disks.