Disks and Planets in Binary Systems

Abstract

The star formation process in molecular clouds usually leads to the formation of multiple stellar systems, mostly binaries. Remaining disks around those stars may be located around individual stars (circumstellar disks) or around the entire binary system (circumbinary disk). We shall briefly review the present observational evidence for both types of disks in binary stars, in particular the properties of circumbinary disks. We then present recent results of the theoretical modeling of the collapse and fragmentation of gravitationally unstable molecular cloud cores and their implications for binary and disk formation, and discuss the dynamical influence of the binary companions on disk truncation and gap formation. The presence of binaries may have profound influence on the process of planet formation as well. We present results on the stability and evolution of orbits of planets in disks around binaries.