Luke Keyte (UCL)Cambridge Fluids Network - fluids-related seminars6 May 2025 1:00pmRyle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by emailThe chemical composition of a planet’s atmosphere is intimately tied to the volatile inventory of the protoplanetary disk in which it forms. Establishing this connection requires detailed measurements of elemental abundances in disks at small spatial scales relevant to planet formation. In this talk, I will present two targeted studies of well-known Herbig Ae/Be systems, combining ALMA observations with chemical modelling to probe disk chemistry. In HD 100546, we detect complex molecular asymmetries, interpreted as the result of shadowing from planet-induced structures within the inner cavity, generating azimuthal temperature variations that drive chemical diversity. In HD 169142, we investigate the first detection of SiS emission from a protoplanetary disk—nearly a billion times brighter than predicted under typical conditions—indicative of planet-induced shocks that release silicon from dust grains into the gas phase. These findings reveal that planet formation can significantly reshape the chemical environment of disks, with direct implications for how emerging planets accrete their atmospheres. Together, these studies emphasise the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of disk chemistry and provide new insights into the origins of the wide diversity observed in exoplanetary atmospheres.