In this thesis I have studied how discs around young stars evolve and disperse. In particular, I build models which combine viscous evolution with photoevaporation, as previous work suggests that photoevaporation can reproduce the observed disc evolution and dispersal time-scales. The main question this thesis attempts to address is: Can photoevaporation provide a dominant dispersal mechanism for the observed population of young stars? Photoevaporation arises from the heating that high energy (UV and X-ray) photons provide to the surface layers of a disc. Before I started this work, only photoevaporation from a pure EUV radiation field was described within a hydrodynamic framework. Therefore, I start by building a hydrodynamic solution to the pure X-ray photoevaporation problem, and then extend this solution to the entire high energy spectrum. This hydrodynamic model leads me to conclude that it is the X-ray radiation field that sets the mass-loss rates. These mass-loss rates scale linearly with X-ray luminosity, are independent of the underlying disc structure and explicitly independent of stellar mass. I build a radiation-hydrodynamic algorithm, based on previous work, to describe the process of X-ray heating in discs. I then use this algorithm to span the full range of observed parameter space, to fully solve the X-ray photoevaporation problem. I further extend the algorithm to roughly approximate the heating an FUV radiation field would have on the photoevaporative flow, as well as separately testing the effect an EUV radiation field will have. These numerical tests are in agreement with the hydrodynamic model derived. Specifically, it is the X-rays that are driving the photoevaporative flow from the inner disc. Armed with an accurate description of the photoevaporative mass-loss rates from young stars, I consider the evolution of a population of disc-bearing, young (

Disc material in the corotation region librates with respect to low-mass planets on horseshoe trajectories. The exchange of angular momentum associated with this libration gives rise to the non-linear corotation torque (the horseshoe drag). For the first project described herein, we ran a suite of high-resolution 2D hydrodynamic simulations of low-mass (5 Earth mass) planets, at eccentricities 0 e < 0.3, embedded in both viscous protoplanetary discs with entropy relaxation and inviscid discs without. The attenuation of the corotation torque was obtained from these simulations and found to be well-fitted by an exponential decay with a characteristic ‘e-folding eccentricity’ that scales linearly with disc scale height. These results were tested with different disc scale heights between 0.03 and 0.1 and with a 10 Earth mass planet. In the second project in this thesis we sought to extend on these results by examining the case of an embedded 5 Earth mass planet in three dimensional discs. We found that our scaling relation held in this new case, confirming that it is possible to use 2D simulations with a softening parameter to capture the behaviour of the corotation torque. We investigated the time-averaged horseshoe width as a function of altitude and found that the corotation region extends from the midplane to around three scale heights, changing most near the midplane for eccentric planets. The final project looked at 3D radiative discs, under the influence of stellar irradiation, with more massive embedded planets capable of triggering gap formation. We use the pluto code to simulate a Jupiter mass planet at 5 AU in a protoplanetary disc. We describe our progress in understanding the process of gap formation in a case study of this class of hitherto undescribed disc.

In this thesis, I discuss two studies concerned with modelling protoplanetary discs around stars from different ends of the stellar mass range. In Chapters 1 and 2, I give an introduction to the field of protoplanetary discs, both from an observational and a modelling point of view, and describe the radiative transfer methods I have employed. In Chapter 3, I present my work regarding the disc around the Herbig Ae star HD 163296. I show the results of applying a new modelling technique to this disc: I combine SED modelling with fits to the CO snowline location and C$^$O $J=2-1$ line profile from ALMA. I find that all of the modelling steps are crucial to break degeneracies in the disc parameter space. The use of all of these constraints favours a solution with a notably low gas-to-dust ratio ($g/d < 20$). The only models with a more interstellar medium (ISM)-like $g/d$ require C$^$O to be underabundant with respect to the ISM abundances and a significant depletion of sub-micron grains, which is not supported by scattered light observations. I propose that the technique can be applied to a range of discs and opens up the prospect of being able to measure disc dust and gas budgets without making assumptions about the $g/d$ ratio. In Chapter 4, I present my work on characterising the disc around the very low mass star V410 X-ray 1. Protoplanetary discs around such low mass stars offer some of the best prospects for forming Earth-sized planets in their habitable zones. The SED of V410 X-ray 1 is indicative of an optically thick and very truncated dust disc, with my modelling suggesting an outer radius of only 0.6 au. I investigate two scenarios that could lead to such a truncation, and find that the observed SED is compatible with both. The first scenario involves the truncation of both the dust and gas in the disc, perhaps due to a previous dynamical interaction or the presence of an undetected companion. The second scenario involves the fact that a radial location of 0.6 au is close to the expected location of the H$_2$O snowline in the disc. As such, a combination of efficient dust growth, radial migration, and subsequent fragmentation within the snowline leads to an optically thick inner dust disc and larger, optically thin outer dust disc. I find that a firm measurement of the CO $J=2-1$ line flux would distinguish between these two scenarios by enabling a measurement of the radial extent of gas in the disc. Many models I consider contain at least several Earth-masses of dust interior to 0.6 au, suggesting that V410 X-ray 1 could be a precursor to a system of tightly-packed inner planets, such as TRAPPIST-1. In Chapter 5, I summarise the work presented in this thesis, give an overview of future applications of the methods outlined in this dissertation, and an outlook on potential future projects.

Protoplanetary discs set the initial conditions for planet formation. By combining observations with detailed modelling, it is possible to constrain the physics and chemistry in such discs. I have used the detailed thermo-chemical disc model ProDiMo to explore the characteristics of the gas in protoplanetary discs, particularly in Herbig Ae objects. I have assessed the ability of various observational data to trace the disc properties. This has involved a number of different approaches. Firstly I compute a series of disc models with increasing mass, in order to test the diagnostic powers of various emission lines, in particular as gas mass tracers. This approach is then expanded to a large multiparameter grid of ~ 10 5 disc models. I have helped to develop a tool for analysing and plotting the huge quantity of data presented by such a model grid. Following this approach I move on to a detailed study of the Herbig Ae star HD 163296, attempting to fit the large wealth of available observations simultaneously. These include new Herschel observations of the far-infrared emission lines, as well as interferometric CO observations and a large number of continuum data. This study addresses the topical issues of the disc gas/dust ratio, and the treatment of the disc outer edge. It explores the effects of dust settling, UV variability and stellar X-ray emission on the disc chemistry and line emission. There is possible evidence for gas-depletion in the disc of HD 163296, with the line emission enhanced by dust settling, which would indicate a later evolutionary stage for this disc than suggested by other studies. Finally, I work to improve the treatment of the gas heating/cooling balance in ProDiMo, by introducing a non-LTE treatment of the atomic hydrogen line transitions and bound-free continuum transitions. I explore the effects of this on the disc chemical and thermal structure, and assess its impact in terms of the observable quantities.

The presence of a giant planet in a low-viscosity disc can create a gap edge in the disc's radial density profile sharp enough to excite the Rossby wave instability. This instability may evolve into dust-trapping vortices that might explain the `banana-shaped' features in recently observed asymmetric transition discs with inner cavities. Previous hydrodynamical simulations of planet-induced vortices have neglected the time-scale of hundreds to thousands of orbits to grow a massive planet to Jupiter size. In this work, we study the effect of a giant planet's runaway growth time-scale on the lifetime and characteristics of the resulting vortex. For two different planet masses (1 and 5 Jupiter masses) and two different disc viscosities (alpha= 3 x 10-4 and 3 x 10-5), we compare the vortices induced by planets with several different growth time-scales between 10 and 4000 planet orbits. In general, we find that slowly-growing planets create significantly weaker vortices with lifetimes and surface densities reduced by more than 50 per cent. For the higher disc viscosity, the longest growth time-scales in our study inhibit vortex formation altogether. Additionally, slowly-growing planets produce vortices that are up to twice as elongated, with azimuthal extents well above 180. in some cases. These unique, elongated vortices likely create a distinct signature in the dust observations that differentiates them from the more concentrated vortices that correspond to planets with faster growth time-scales. Lastly, we find that the low viscosities necessary for vortex formation likely prevent planets from growing quickly enough to trigger the instability in self-consistent models.

As the number of known exoplanetary systems has grown, it has become increasing apparent that our current understanding of planet formation is insufficient to explain the broad but distinct distributions of planets and planetary systems we observe. In particular, constructing a coherent model of planetary formation and migration within a circumstellar disc which is capable of producing both hot Jupiters or Solar System-like planetary system is high challenging. Resolved observations of where planets form and how they influence their parent discs provides essential information for tackling this important question. A promising technique for detecting close-in companions is Sparse Aperture Masking (SAM). The technique uses a mask to transform a single aperture telescope into a compact interferometric array capable of reliably detecting point sources at the diffraction limit or closer to a bright star with superior contrasts than extreme AO systems at the cost of smaller fields of view. Applying image reconstruction techniques to the interferometric information allows an observer to recover detailed structure in the circumstellar material. In this thesis I present work on the interpretation of SAM interferometry data on protoplanetary discs through the simulation of a number of scenarios expected to be commonly seen, and the application of this technique to a number of objects. Analysing data taken as part of a SAM survey of transitional and pre-transitional discs using the Keck-II/NIRC2 instrument, I detected three companion candidates within the discs of DM\,Tau, LkH\alpha\,330, and TW\,Hya, and resolved a gap in the disc around FP\,Tau as indicated by flux from the disc rim. The location of all three of the companions detected as part of the survey are positioned in interesting regions of their parent discs. The candidate, LkH\alpha\,330\,b is a potentially cavity opening companion due to its close radial proximity to the inner rim of the outer disc. DM\,Tau\,b is located immediately outside of a ring of dusty material largely responsible for the NIR comment of the disc SED, similar to TW\,Hya\,b located in a shallow gap in the dust disc outside another ring of over-dense dusty material which bounds a deep but narrow gap. Both of these companion candidates maybe migrating cores which are feeding from the enriched ring of material. I conducted a more extensive study of the pre-transitional disc, V1247\,Ori, covering three epochs and the H-, K- and L-wavebands. Complementary observations with VLT/SPHERE in H\alpha and continuum plus SMA observations in CO (2-1) and continuum were performed. The orientation and geometry of the outer disc was recovered with the SMA data and determine the direction of rotation. We image the inner rim of the outer disc in L-band SAM data, recovering the rim in all three epochs. Combining all three data sets together we form a detailed image of the rim. In H- and K-band SAM data we observe the motion of a close-in companion candidate. This motion was found to be too large to be adequately explained through a near-circular Keplerian orbit within the plane of the disc around the central star. Hence an alternate hypothesis had to be developed. I postulated that the fitted position of the companion maybe influenced by the emission from the disc rim seen in the L-band SAM data. I constructed a suite of model SAM data sets of a companion and a disc rim and found that under the right conditions the fitted separation of a companion will be larger than the true separation. Under these conditions we find the motion of the companion candidate to be consistent with a near-circular Keplerian orbit within the plane of the disc at a semi-major axis of \sim6\,au. The H\alpha data lack the necessary resolution to confirm the companion as an accreting body, but through the high contrast sensitivities enabled by the state of the art SPHERE instrument I was able to rule out any other accreting body within the gap, unless deeply embedded by the sparse population of MIR emitting dust grains previously inferred to reside within the gap. Through the combination of SAM and SMA data we constrain the 3-D orientation of the disc, and through multi-wavelength SAM observation identify a close-in companion potentially responsible for the gap clearing and asymmetric arm structures seen in previous observations of this target. During my PhD I have contributed to the field of planet formation through the identification of four new candidate protoplanets observed in the discs of pre-main sequence stars. To do so I have quantified the confidence levels of companion fits to SAM data sets and formed synthetic data from models of asymmetric structures seen in these discs. I have described for the first time the effects of extended sources of emission on the fitted results of companion searches within interferometric data sets. I have combined SAM data sets from two separate telescopes with different apertures and masks to produce reconstructed image of an illuminated disc rim with superior uv-coverage. I have used the expertise I have developed in this field to contribute to a number of other studies, including the study of the young star TYC\,8241\,2652\,1, resulting in the rejection of a sub-stellar companion as the cause of the rapid dispersal of the star`s disc. The companion candidates I have identified here should be followed up to confirm their presence and nature as accreting protoplanets. Objects such as these will provide the opportunity for more detailed study of the process of planet formation in the near future with the next generation of instruments in the JWST and E-ELT.

This thesis finds that vortex instabilities are not necessarily a barrier to their potential as sites for planetesimal formation. It is challenging to build planetesimals from dust within the lifetime of a protoplanetary disc and before such bodies spiral into the central star. Collecting matter in vortices is a promising mechanism for planetesimal growth, but little is known about their stability under these conditions. We therefore aim to produce a more complete understanding of the stability of these objects. Previous work primarily focusses on 2D vortices with elliptical streamlines, which we generalise. We investigate how non?constant vorticity and density power law profiles affect stability by applying linear perturbations to equilibrium solutions. We find that non?elliptical streamlines are associated with a shearing flow inside the vortex. A ?saddle point instability? is seen for elliptical?streamline vortices with small aspect ratios and we also find that this is true in general. However, only higher aspect ratio vortices act as dust traps. For constant?density vortices with a concentrated vorticity source we find parametric instability bands at these aspect ratios. Models with a density excess show many narrow bands, though with less strongly growing modes than the constant?density solutions. This implies that dust particles attracted to a vortex core may well encounter parametric instabilities, but this does not necessarily prevent dust?trapping. We also study the stability and lifetime of vortex models with a 2D flow in three dimensions. Producing nearly?incompressible 3D models of columnar vortices, we find that weaker vortices persist for longer times in both stratified and unstratified shearing boxes, and stratification is destabilising. The long survival time for weak, elongated vortices makes it easier for processes to create and maintain the vortex. This means that vortices with a large enough aspect ratio have a good chance of surviving and trapping dust for sufficient time in order to build planetesimals.

Stars of all ages and evolutionary stages are seen to be surrounded by discs of matieral. during the formation of a stellar system the stars are orbited by a massive protoplanetary disc composed of interstellar gas and dust, in which planet formation occurs. Betewwen 1 and 10 Myr the protoplanetary disc disperses, leaving behind the newly formed system of planets and smaller bodies. The remaining material which has not formed into planets is referred to as a debris disc. Even though the interstellar dust grains from the protoplanetary disc have long been removed from the system, debris discs can contain large quantities of dust due to collisions between larger bodies and cometary activity. such dust can be detected by its thermal emission. This thesis focuses on observational studies at far-infrared and sub-millimetre wavelengths of debris discs and the late stages of protoplanetary disc evolution. An overview of surveys for debris discs performed to date is presented, highlighting the limitations and statistical biases. the motivation, design and sample selection for two large surveys for debris discs around nearby stars, with the Hershel space observatory and the SCUBA-2 sub-millimetre camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, are described. The combination of a uniform obstevational strategy, longer wavelengths than previous surveys, and a large, clearly chosen sample - unbiased by stellar properties - will allow robust statistical conclusions of how the incidence and properties of debris discs depend on system parameters such as stellar mass, age, metallicity, binarity and the presence of planets. As a precursor to the Hershel and SCUBA-2 surveys, a volume-limited ample of 130 A type star systems was surveyed using observations at 24 and 70 μm, which were required to determine the presence of emission from dust, were predicted by fitting model flux distributions to optical and near-infrared photometry. Debris discs were detected around 46 systems, 12 of which including the system with the largest dust mass - are new discoveries. This survey adds to the results of previous studies which show that debris disc incidence is not correleated with host star metallicity despite the wll known giant planet - metallicity correlation, This is in accordance with what is predicted from the core accretion theory of planet formation. The most signigicant result from this survey is that, contrary to results reported in a previous work, debris discs are oberall less common around binary stars. Further investigation shows that systems with separations of ~3-150 AU are especially deficient of debris, while closer binaries and the primaries of wider binaries show debris detection rates consisten with those for single stars. A sample of circumstellar discs around 29 young stellar systems with ages of 5-30 Myr were observed with the LABOCA sub-millimetre instrument on the APEX telescope at 870μm, to provide disc masses or mass upper limits in support of a large Hershel programme. These targets included the η Chamaeleontis cluster and four bright Herbig Ae/Be stars which have not previously been observed at this wavelength. All but the Herbig Ae/Be stars were not detected, and 3σ dust mass upper limits of ~ 0.1-3 M are determined, with corresponding total disc masses of ~0.03-1Mjup. These mass limits indicate that there is insufficient remaining material in these discs to form gas giant planets, and add to the prevailing view that protoplanetary discs typically disperse within 10 Myr and that gas giant planet formation must be completed before this time. A search for cold dust emimission from two of the Solar System's nearest neighbours - α Centauri AB and ε Indi - was also performed with LABOCA. In both cases no debris disc emission was detected. A bright resolved feature was detected near α Centauri AB, nowever, follow-up observations at a second epoch, two years after the initial observations, showed that the feature is not co-moving with the stars. It is argued that the feature is most likely a pre-stellar core. The stars α Centauri A and B are detected, which is one of only very few detections of main sequence stellar photospheres at sub-millimetre wavelengths.

L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier la formation de tourbillons dans la zone morte des disques protoplanétaires. Un code numérique 3D compressible a été mis au point et utilisé pour cette étude. Deux instabilités hydrodynamiques sont envisagées pour former les tourbillons: l'instabilité de Rossby et l'instabilité barocline.La première entraine la fragmentation d'une sur-densité annulaire en une chaîne de tourbillons qui se rattrapent les uns les autres et finissent par fusionner en un seul tourbillon qui reste stable sur de très longues durées lorsque son rapport d’aspect est suffisamment grand, et possède une structure quasi bidimensionnelle. En revanche, les tourbillons tridimensionnels de petits rapport d'aspect sont affectés par l’instabilité elliptique qui les détruits en quelques rotations. Seuls persistent ceux de grand rapport d'aspect.L'instabilité barocline, fondamentalement non linéaire, produit des tourbillons à partir de perturbations d'amplitude finies ; ces tourbillons sont ensuite amplifiés et fusionnent en tourbillons plus gros si le disque est stratifié de façon instable et s’il permet aussi le transfert de chaleur. Deux types de transfert thermique ont été envisagés pour étudier cette instabilité qui conduit alors à des différences significatives dans la structure des tourbillons formés. Le rapport d'aspect étant lié à la vorticité, l'amplification des tourbillons se traduit par une diminution de leur rapport d'aspect, et les rend donc sujet à l'instabilité elliptique. Cependant, ils ne sont pas détruit et gardent une structure tourbillonnaire grâce à l'amplification barocline. / The objective of this thesis is to study the formation of vortices in the dead-zone of protoplanetary disks. A 3D compressible numerical code has been performed and used for this study. Two hydrodynamical instabilities are considered for vortex formation: the Rossby wave instability and the baroclinic instability.The first one leads tp the fragmentation of an annular bump into a chain of vortices that catch one another and merge in a single vortex; this vortex remains stable on very long durations when its aspect ratio is large enough and has a quasi two-dimensional structure. In contrast, tridimensional small aspect ratios vortices are affected by the elliptical instability and are destroyed in a few rotation periods. Only vortices with large aspect ratios can survive.The baroclinic instability, a basically non-linear one, can produce vortices from small amplitude perturbations; these vortices are then amplified and merge in bigger vortices if the disk is unstably stratified and also permits heat transfer. Two types of heat transfer have been considered leading to significant differences in the structures of the resulting vortices. As aspect ratio and vorticity are strongly related, the baroclinic amplification reduces the aspect ratio and, so, make the vortex sensitive to the elliptical instability. However, such vortices are not destroyed and keep a vertical structure thanks to the baroclinic amplification.

Depuis la découverte de la première planète orbitant une étoile de la séquence principale autre que le Soleil en 1995, ce champ de recherche a connu une croissance vertigineuse, tant au niveau des observations, que des modèles théoriques développés en parallèle. Même si la formation et l’évolution des systèmes planétaires restent encore mal comprises dans leur globalité, Il est à peu près certain que les planètes se forment dans des disques protoplanétaires et interagissent avec ces derniers durant la phase primordiale de leur évolution. Cette thèse s’attache à décrire certains aspects de ces interactions. Parmi les problèmes soulevés par les nombreuses observations d’exoplanètes, on peut citer l’existence des Jupiter chaudes, géantes gazeuses dont la révolution autour de leur étoile s’effectue en quelques jours à peine. Il est communément admis qu’elles se sont formées dans les parties externes du disque, pour ensuite migrer vers l’intérieur. Cependant , les processus de migration restent encore débattus. On pourra aussi noter qu’un nombre important de planètes détectées, notamment par la méthode des vitesses radiales, présentent de fortes excentricités. Cette observation contraste avec celle de notre propre Système Solaire, où les planètes géantes ont des orbites quasi-circulaires. Cette distribution d’excentricités témoigne probablement d’une certaine richesse dans les interactions dynamiques entre les planètes d’un même système. Un autre résultat majeur des quelques dernières années est l’observation de planètes à faible période orbitale dont l’orbite n’est pas alignée avec l’axe de rotation de leur étoile. Cette observation pourrait potentiellement remettre en question l’idée selon laquelle ces planètes acquièrent leur faible période par le biais de la migration au sein du disque. Par conséquent, il est important de pouvoir différencier quelles sont les caractéristiques observationelles des exoplanètes qui sont le fruit de leurs interactions mutuelles, et celles qui peuvent être expliquées lors de la phase d’interaction avec le disque protoplanétaire. D’une part, cela permet d’imposer des contraintes sur la physique des disques protoplanétaires. D’autre part, il est intéressant de savoir à quoi ressemble le système de planètes une fois que le disque se dissipe, et à quelles conditions intiales peut-on s’attendre lorsque les planètes commencent à interagir entre elles sans la présence du disque. Par exemple, est-il possible pour une ou des planètes d’acquérir de l’excentricité et de l’inclinaison au sein du disque, et de les maintenir par la suite. De plus, il est certain que le disque domine l’évolution des planètes au stage primordial de leur vie, mais jusqu’à quel point cela limite-t-il les interactions entre les planètes ? / Since the discovery of the first planet orbiting a main-sequence star outside the solar system in 1995, the field of exoplanet studies has grown rapidly, both from the observational and theoretical sides. Despite the fact that we are still lacking a global picture for the formation and evolution of planetary systems, it is now commonly accepted that planets form in protoplanetary discs and interact with them in the early stages of their evolution. This thesis aims at studying some of these interactions. The observations of extrasolar planets have brought several puzzling results to the attention of the community. One of them is the existence of hot Jupiters, giant gaseous planets which orbit their parent star with a period of a few days only. The commonly accepted scenario is that they formed in the outer parts of the disc and migrated inward. Furthermore, a significant number of planets detected so far, especially by the method of radial velocities, have high eccentricities. This is in contrast with our own solar system where giant planets have quasi-circular orbits. Such a distribution of eccentricities may be the signature of strong dynamical interactions between the different components of a same planetary system. Finally, there are short-period planets whose orbits is misaligned with the axis of rotation of their host star, which could possibly argue against the smooth migration of planets in their disc. Therefore, it is important to disentangle between the orbital characteristics that planets acquired through mutual dynamical interactions, and the ones they acquired when they interacted with the disc. Firstly, it gives constraints on the physical parameters of protoplanetary discs. Secondly, it is interesting to know the properties of the system of planets after the disc has dissipated, and what sort of initial conditions one can expect when planets start to interact freely one with each other. For instance, one can ask if it is possible for planets to reach large eccentricities and inclinations when the disc was still present, and whether they could maintain them or not.