Linking the beginning and the end of planet formation using ringed disks

While the general consensus is that planets assemble within protoplanetary disks, how exactly the planet formation begins and proceeds remains obscured due to uncertain parameters that critically control various macro- and micro-physics, severely limiting the predictive power of modern theories of planet formation. Using a simple analytic model of dust-gas interaction, I will discuss how the nearby protoplanetary disks that feature concentric rings of dust emission discovered by Atacama Large Milimeter Array present unique opportunities to compute these fundamental parameters that crucially determine nearly all aspects of the early stages of planet formation and evolution. Using this theory, I will further discuss the potential for the ringed disks to generate planets and the planet population we may expect to discover beyond ~1 AU that can be tested with upcoming missions.