Planet-forming circumstellar disks are a fundamental part of the star formation process. Since stars form in a hierarchical fashion in groups of up to hundreds or thousands, the UV radiation environment that these disks are exposed to can vary in strength by at least six orders of magnitude. This radiation can limit the masses and sizes of the disks. Diversity in star forming environments can have long lasting effects in disk evolution and in the resulting planetary populations. We perform simulations to explore the evolution of circumstellar disks in young star clusters. We include viscous evolution, as well as the impact of dynamical encounters and external photoevaporation. We find that photoevaporation is an important process in destroying circumstellar disks: in regions of stellar density ρ ∼ 100 M pc −3 around 80% of disks are destroyed before 2 Myr of cluster evolution. Our findings are in agreement with observed disk fractions in young star forming regions and support previous estimations that planet formation must start in timescales < 0.1 − 1 Myr.Key words: key 1 key 2 1 G 0 is the FUV field measured in units of the Habing flux, 1.6 × 10 −3 erg s −1 cm −2 (Habing 1968).

Circumstellar discs are the precursors of planetary systems and develop shortly after their host star has formed. In their early stages these discs are immersed in an environment rich in gas and neighbouring stars, which can be hostile for their survival. There are several environmental processes that affect the evolution of circumstellar discs, and external photoevaporation is arguably one of the most important ones. Theoretical and observational evidence point to circumstellar discs losing mass quickly when in the vicinity of massive, bright stars. In this work we simulate circumstellar discs in clustered environments in a range of stellar densities, where the photoevaporation mass-loss process is resolved simultaneously with the stellar dynamics, stellar evolution, and the viscous evolution of the discs. Our results indicate that external photoevaporation is efficient in depleting disc masses and that the degree of its effect is related to stellar density. We find that a local stellar density lower than 100 stars pc−2 is necessary for discs massive enough to form planets to survive for 2.0Myr. There is an order of magnitude difference in the disc masses in regions of projected density 100 stars pc−2 versus 104 stars pc−2. We compare our results to observations of the Lupus clouds, the Orion Nebula Cluster, the Orion Molecular Cloud-2, Taurus, and NGC 2024, and find that the trends observed between region density and disc masses are similar to those in our simulations.

Recently, several accreting M dwarf stars have been discovered with ages far exceeding the typical protoplanetary disc lifetime. These ‘Peter Pan discs’ can be explained as primordial discs that evolve in a low-radiation environment. The persistently low masses of the host stars raise the question whether primordial discs can survive up to these ages around stars of higher mass. In this work we explore the way in which different mass loss processes in protoplanetary discs limit their maximum lifetimes, and how this depends on host star mass. We find that stars with masses ≲ 0.6 M⊙ can retain primordial discs for ∼50 Myr. At stellar masses ≳ 0.8 M⊙, the maximum disc lifetime decreases strongly to below 50 Myr due to relatively more efficient accretion and photoevaporation by the host star. Lifetimes up to 15 Myr are still possible for all host star masses up to ∼2 M⊙. For host star masses between 0.6 and 0.8 M⊙, accretion ceases and an inner gap forms before 50 Myr in our models. Observations suggest that such a configuration is rapidly dispersed. We conclude that Peter Pan discs can only occur around M dwarf stars.

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will enable Galactic gravitational wave (GW) astronomy by individually resolving &gt;104 signals from double white dwarf (DWD) binaries throughout the Milky Way. Since GWs are unaffected by stellar crowding and dust extinction unlike optical observations of the Galactic plane, in this work we assess for the first time the potential of LISA to map the Galactic stellar bar and spiral arms. To achieve this goal we combine a realistic population of Galactic DWDs with a high-resolution N-body Galactic simulation in good agreement with current observations of the Milky Way. We then model GW signals from our synthetic DWD population and reconstruct the structure of the simulated Galaxy from mock LISA observations. Our results show that while the low density contrast between the background disc and the spiral arms hampers our ability to characterise the spiral structure, the stellar bar will clearly appear in the GW map of the bulge. The axis ratio derived from the synthetic observations agrees within 1σ with the reference value, although the scale lengths are underestimated. We also recover the bar viewing angle to within one degree and the bar’s physical length to within 0.2 kpc. This shows that LISA can provide independent constraints on the bar’s structural parameter, competitive compared to those from electromagnetic tracers. We therefore foresee that synergistic use of GWs and electromagnetic tracers will be a powerful strategy to map the Milky Way’s bar and bulge.

The evolution of circumstellar discs is influenced by their surroundings. The relevant processes include external photoevaporation due to nearby stars and dynamical truncations. The impact of these processes on disc populations depends on the star-formation history and on the dynamical evolution of the region. Since star-formation history and the phase-space characteristics of the stars are important for the evolution of the discs, we start simulating the evolution of the star cluster with the results of molecular cloud collapse simulations. In the simulation, we form stars with circumstellar discs, which can be affected by different processes. Our models account for the viscous evolution of the discs, internal and external photoevaporation of gas, external photoevaporation of dust, and dynamical truncations. All these processes are resolved together with the dynamical evolution of the cluster, and the evolution of the stars. An extended period of star formation, lasting for at least 2 Myr, results in some discs being formed late. These late-formed discs have a better chance of survival because the cluster gradually expands with time, and a lower local stellar density reduces the effects of photoevaporation and dynamical truncation. Late formed discs can then be present in regions of high UV radiation, solving the proplyd lifetime problem. We also find a considerable fraction of discs that lose their gas content but remain sufficiently rich in solids to be able to form a rocky planetary system.