OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN PLANETS AND PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

Over the course of almost three decades, exoplanet research has unveiled thousands of planets orbiting stars beyond our Sun. Surprisingly, the majority of these exoplanetary systems exhibit significant differences from our own Solar System. To comprehend the reasons behind these distinctions, it is imperative to study how planets form. Planets take shape during the star formation process, emerging from the material within the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young protostar. Interactions between these newly formed planets and the disk create observable effects on the disk itself, which can be detected in the sub-millimeter to centimeter wavelength range through advanced interferometers like ALMA and VLA. In this Thesis, I explore various protoplanetary disks, each possessing unique characteristics. They range from extended disks with noticeable substructures in dust emission to a disk surrounding a very low-mass star that may have undergone giant planet formation, as well as a compact, structureless disk exhibiting a peculiar behavior whose origin remains uncertain. The methodologies employed in these investigations are diverse, encompassing high-resolution ALMA observations, comprehensive numerical modeling involving hydrodynamical and radiative transfer simulations, and a multiwavelength analysis spanning from centimeter to sub-millimeter wavelengths, incorporating data from VLA, ALMA, and other interferometers. In all the systems under examination, the presence of planets could potentially play a role, whether giant planets shaping observed dust substructures at tens or hundreds of astronomical units or inner planets generating unresolved substructures, preventing radial drift and leading to the formation of a compact disk.