# # Program information file # PROGRAM_ID 2024B065 PROGRAM_TITLE The Star-Disk Interaction in Real Time: Monitoring the Impact of Accretion Bursts on Disk Gas with iSHELL and JWST-MIRI PROGRAM_INV1 Benjamin Tofflemire PROGRAM_INV2 Andrea Banzatti PROGRAM_INV3 PROGRAM_INV4 PROGRAM_INV5 PROGRAM_SCICAT extra-solar planets PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_BEG The formation of stars and planets are intimately linked. The inner disk, host to terrestrial planet formation, is a dynamic site where disk material flows in, feeding unstable accretion events, flows out, driven by winds, and exists in a volatile bath of UV radiation that affects the disk chemistry. Despite this established variability, disk models remain largely static, limited in part by the lack of observations that directly links the disk's reaction to a discrete accretion event. Accretion is generally a stochastic process, making monitoring programs investigating this link unpredictable. With this program we have the opportunity to directly measure the star-disk interaction by leveraging a unique astrophysical laboratory, the short-period T Tauri binary. These systems exhibit periodic, high-amplitude accretion bursts that provide an ideal controlled experiment. In conjunction with an approved Cycle 3 JWST-MIRI program, we will monitor a T Tauri binary with iSHELL in the M-band over multiple accretion events. Together, they will measure changes in the disk kinematics [iSHELL] and chemistry [MIRI-MRS] at targeted times before, during, and after predictable accretion events. The holistic view provided by this multi-observatory experiment will propel our understanding of the inner disk into the time-domain, creating a foundation for advancements in disk and planet formation modeling. PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_END