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Abstract

Gas dynamics and turbulence in protoplanetary disks play a crucial role in disk evolution and planet formation, not only by dictating the motion of solid particles through the planet-forming disk but also by allowing the transport of angular momentum and so the mass accretion onto the star. Significant are the effects of turbulence on dust settling, dust concentration and growth/fragmentation, fundamental ingredients for the dust to grow into pebbles and planetesimals, building blocks of planets. Therefore, exploring the gas dynamics and observational signatures of turbulence is essential to further understand its origin and impact in planet formation. In this thesis, I present a study on the gas dynamics and kinematical signatures of disks unstable to the vertical shear instability (VSI), a robust candidate to generate turbulence in the outer regions of protoplanetary disks. Via high-resolution 3D hydrodynamical simulations post-processed with radiative transfer predictions and synthetic observations, I show that the VSI produces observational signatures in CO kinematics, observable within ALMA’s capabilities. However, I also show that the interplay between the VSI and forming massive planets can substantially affect their kinematic signatures, by partially suppressing the VSI and sculpting a complex velocity structure. These predictions will help to interpret upcoming ALMA kinematical observations, potentially revealing a process behind gas turbulence in planet-forming disks.