Poster abstract

The later stages of low mass stars formation invariably occur via accretion through a (protoplanetary) discs. The study of the evolution and final dispersal of these gaseous dusty discs is key to both the star and planet formation process and it is intimately linked to the X-ray properties of the newly formed star. Accretion is thought to be driven by magnetorotational instabilities which require a low level ionisation, provided by X-ray irradiation, in order to couple the gas to the magnetic field. Dispersal is also thought to be driven by X-rays through the photoevaporation process. In this talk I will discuss recent results of numerical simulations of the ionisation structure and evolution of X-ray irradiated discs in the context of recent observations.