Stars form via the gravitational collapse of molecular clouds during which time the protostellar object contracts by over seven orders of magnitude. If all the angular momentum present in the natal cloud was conserved during collapse, stars would approach rotational velocities rapid enough to tear themselves apart within just a few Myr. In contrast to this, observations of pre-main sequence rotation rates are relatively slow (∼ 1 − 15 days) indicating that significant quantities of angular momentum must be removed from the star. I use observations of fully convective pre-main sequence stars in two well-studied, nearby regions of star formation (namely the Orion Nebula Cluster and Taurus-Auriga) to determine the removal rate of stellar angular momentum. I find the accretion disc-hosting stars to be rotating at a slower rate and contain less specific angular momentum than the disc-less stars. I interpret this as indicating a period of accretion disc-regulated angular momentum evolution followed by near-constant rotational evolution following disc dispersal. Furthermore, assuming that the age spread inferred from the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram constructed for the star forming region is real, I find that the removal rate of angular momentum during the accretion-disc hosting phase to be more rapid than that expected from simple disc-locking theory whereby contraction occurs at a fixed rotation period. This indicates a more efficient process of angular momentum removal must operate, most likely in the form of an accretion-driven stellar wind or outflow emanating from the star-disc interaction. The initial circumstellar envelope that surrounds a protostellar object during the earliest stages of star formation is rotationally flattened into a disc as the star contracts. An effective viscosity, present within the disc, enables the disc to evolve: mass accretes inwards through the disc and onto the star while momentum migrates outwards, forcing the outer regions of the disc to expand. I used spatially resolved submillimetre detections of the dust and gas components of protoplanetary discs, gathered from the literature, to measure the radial extent of discs around low-mass pre-main sequence stars of ∼ 1−10 Myr and probe their viscous evolution. I find no clear observational evidence for the radial expansion of the dust component. However, I find tentative evidence for the expansion ofthe gas component. This suggests that the evolution of the gas and dust components of protoplanetary discs are likely governed by different astrophysical processes. Observations of jets and outflows emanating from protostars and pre-main sequence stars highlight that it may also be possible to remove angular momentum from the circumstellar material. Using the sample of spatially resolved protoplanetary discs, I find no evidence for angular momentum removal during disc evolution. I also use the spatially resolved debris discs from the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array-2 Observations of Nearby Stars survey to constrain the amount of angular momentum retained within planetary systems. This sample is compared to the protoplanetary disc angular momenta and to the angular momentum contained within pre-stellar cores. I find that significant quantities of angular momentum must be removed during disc formation and disc dispersal. This likely occurs via magnetic braking during the formation of the disc, via the launching of a disc or photo-evaporative wind, and/or via ejection of planetary material following dynamical interactions.

L'existence de molécules interstellaires soulève une question, ces molécules sont-elles les mêmes molécules que nous voyons dans le système Solaire aujourd'hui ? C'est une question toujours ouverte qui implique des conséquences profondes. Il est possible d’éclaircir cette question en étant capables de retracer l'héritage d'un groupe de molécules chimiquement liées, ce que nous appelons un réservoir. Le meilleur outil pour retracer l'héritage des réservoirs sont les rapports isotopiques. L'élément qui montre les plus grandes variations du rapport isotopique dans le système Solaire est l'azote. Ces variations indiquent que le rapport isotopique de l'azote est sensible aux conditions physiques de la formation des étoiles.L'objectif principal de cette thèse est d'identifier les réservoirs d'azote à différents étapes de la formation des étoiles et des planètes. La première étape de cette entreprise était d'identifier le rapport isotopique de la masse principal d'azote du milieu interstellaire local aujourd'hui.Cela a été déterminé égale à 323 ± 30 à partir du rapport CN/C 15 N mesuré dans le disque protoplanétaire autour de TW Hya. Parallèlement à cela, nous avons également mesuré un rapport HCN/HC 15 N=128 ± 36 dans le disque protoplanétaire autour de MWC 480. Ces rapports isotopiques très distinctes mesurées sur les disques protoplanétaires sont une indication claire de la présence d'au moins deux réservoirs d'azote dans les disques protoplanétaires. La façon dont ces réservoirs se séparent est cependant inconnue. Cela pourrait peut-être se produire en raison de réactions de fractionnement chimique ayant lieu dans les cœurs prestellaires. Nous avions donc comme objectif d'obtenir une mesure précise et directe du rapport isotopique de l'azote des molécules d'HCN dans le cœur prestellaire L1498.Pour obtenir cette mesure, l'obstacle le plus important à surmonter était due aux anomalies hyperfines des molécules d'HCN. Ces anomalies hyperfines sont induites par le chevauchement des composants hyperfins. Ceci sont particulièrement sensibles à la densité de colonne d'HCN, mais aussi au champ de vitesses et aux largeurs de raies. Ainsi les anomalies hyperfines sont un outil de mesure de l'abondance d'HCN permettant aussi de sonder la cinématique des cœurs prestellaires.Pour reproduire avec précision les anomalies hyperfines, et ainsi mesurer des densités de colonne précises d'HCN, nous avions besoin d'explorer un espace de paramètres dégénéré de 15 dimensions. Pour minimiser les dégénérescences nous avons obtenu un profil de densité basé sur des cartes du continuum de L1498. Ceci permettant de réduire à 12 dimensions l'espace des paramètres. L'exploration de cet espace de paramètre a été fait grâce à l'utilisation d'un méthode de minimisation MCMC. Grâce à cette exploration, nous avons obtenu HCN/HC 15 N = 338 ± 28 et HCN/H 13 CN = 45 ± 3. Les incertitudes sur ces valeurs sont limités par les erreurs de calibration et sont dé-terminés de manière non arbitraire par le méthode MCMC. Les implications de ces résultats sont discutées dans le chapitre de conclusion,où nous présentons également quelques perspectives sur l'avenir. / The existence of interstellar molecules raises the question, are thesemolecules the same molecules we see on the Solar system today? Thisis still an open question with far reaching consequences. Some lightmay be shed on this issue if we are able to trace the heritage of agroup of chemically linked molecules, a so-called reservoir. The besttool to trace the heritage of reservoirs are isotopic ratios. The elementthat shows the largest isotopic ratio variations in the Solar system isnitrogen. For this is an indication that the isotopic ratio of nitrogen issensitive to the physical conditions during star formation.The main objective of this thesis is to identify the reservoirs of ni-trogen at different stages of star and planet formation. The first stepin this endeavour was to identify the isotopic ratio of the bulk of ni-trogen in the local ISM today. This was determined to be 323 ± 30from the CN/C 15 N ratio in the protoplanetary disk around TW Hya.Along with it we also measured the HCN/HC 15 N= 128 ± 36 in theprotoplanetary disk around MWC 480. This very distinct nitrogen iso-topic ratios on protoplanetary disks are a clear indication that thereare at least two reservoirs of nitrogen in protoplanetary disks. Howthese reservoirs get separated is however unknown. This could pos-sibly happen due to chemical fractionation reactions taking place inprestellar cores. We therefore aimed to obtain an accurate direct mea-surement of the nitrogen isotopic ratio of HCN in the prestellar coreL1498.To obtain this measurement the most important hurdle to overcomewere the hyperfine anomalies of HCN. These hyperfine anomaliesarise due to the overlap of hyperfine components. They are especiallysensitive to the column density of HCN, but also to the velocity fieldand line widths. Thus hyperfine anomalies are a tool to measure theabundance of HCN and to probe the kinematics of prestellar cores.To accurately reproduce the hyperfine anomalies, and thus mea-sure accurate column densities for HCN, we needed to explore adegenerate parameter space of 15 dimensions. To minimise the de-generacies we have derived a density profile based on continuummaps of L1498. This reduced the parameter space to 12 dimensions.The exploration of this parameter space was done through the useof a MCMC minimisation method. Through this exploration we ob-tained HCN/HC 15 N = 338 ± 28 and HCN/H 13 CN = 45 ± 3. Theuncertainties on these values are calibration limited and determinednon-arbitrarily by the MCMC method. Implications of these resultsare discussed in the concluding chapter, where we also present somefuture perspectives.

Stars form from the collapse of molecular clouds and evolve in an environment rich in gas and dust before becoming Main Sequence stars. During this phase, characterised by the presence of a protoplanetary disc, stars manifest changes in the structure and luminosity. This thesis performs a multi-wavelength analysis, from optical to mm range, on a sample of young stars (YSOs), mainly Classical T Tauri (CTTS). The purpose is to study optical and infrared variability and its relation with the protoplanetary disc. Longer wavelength, in the mm range, are used instead to investigate the evolution of the disc, in terms of dust growth. In optical, an F-test on a sample of 39 CTTS reveals that 67\% of the stars are variable. The variability, quantified through pooled sigma, is visible both in magnitude amplitudes and changes over time. Time series analysis applied on the more variable stars finds the presence of quasi periodicity, with periods longer than two weeks, interpreted either as eclipsing material in the disc happening on a non-regular basis, or as a consequence of star-disc interaction via magnetic field lines. The variability of YSOs is confirmed also in infrared, even if with lower amplitude. No strong correlations are found between optical and infrared variability, which implies a different cause or a time shift in the two events. By using a toy model to explore their origin, I find that infrared variations are likely to stem from emissions in the inner disc. The evolution of discs in terms of dust growth is confirmed in most discs by the analysis of the slope of the spectral energy distribution (SED), after correcting for wind emission and optical depth effects. However, the comparison with a radiative transfer model highlights that a number of disc parameters, in particular disc masses and temperature, dust size distribution and composition, can also affect the slope of the SED.