  While planets are commonly discovered around main-sequence stars, the
processes leading to their formation are still far from being understood.
Current planet population synthesis models, which aim to describe the planet
formation process from the protoplanetary disk phase to the time exoplanets are
observed, rely on prescriptions for the underlying properties of protoplanetary
disks where planets form and evolve. The recent development in measuring disk
masses and disk-star interaction properties, i.e., mass accretion rates, in
large samples of young stellar objects demand a more careful comparison between
the models and the data. We performed an initial critical assessment of the
assumptions made by planet synthesis population models by looking at the
relation between mass accretion rates and disk masses in the models and in the
currently available data. We find that the currently used disk models predict
mass accretion rate in line with what is measured, but with a much lower spread
of values than observed. This difference is mainly because the models have a
smaller spread of viscous timescales than what is needed to reproduce the
observations. We also find an overabundance of weakly accreting disks in the
models where giant planets have formed with respect to observations of typical
disks. We suggest that either fewer giant planets have formed in reality or
that the prescription for planet accretion predicts accretion on the planets
that is too high. Finally, the comparison of the properties of transition disks
with large cavities confirms that in many of these objects the observed
accretion rates are higher than those predicted by the models. On the other
hand, PDS70, a transition disk with two detected giant planets in the cavity,
shows mass accretion rates well in line with model predictions.
