Galaxies lie at the nexus of modern astrophysical pursuits. They are an essential cosmological probe, and set the environment in which stars form and compact objects merge. As such, galaxies are crucial to all of astrophysics, and yet our grasp of how they evolve is incomplete. The key lies in understanding the complicated balance between inflows and outflows that shape galaxies and regulate the amount of fuel available for star formation and black hole growth. Understanding these galactic gas flows has, to date, been inhibited by the seemingly insurmountable range of spatial and temporal scales inherent to the governing processes. I will describe our efforts to bridge this vast range of scales and illuminate the principles underlying galaxy formation. I will cover how micro-scale (~sub-pc) processes, such as turbulent mixing and radiative cooling, connect with meso-scale (~kpc) processes, such as supernova-driven galactic winds, and how—when combined using a novel cosmological multi-scale model that we call Arkenstone—they shape the macro-scale (~Mpc) galactic properties and dynamics. Taken together, these efforts aim to usher in a new era of truly predictive galaxy modeling.

Speaker: Drummond Fielding (Cornell University)

All 2023 Fall Colloquium talks are held on Wednesdays at 3:00 PM.  You may join the colloquium in person at STScI’s John N. Bahcall Auditorium or virtually or at the link listed below. 

• Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/STScILiveScienceEvents 

Please direct questions or comments to contact above. The 2023 Fall Colloquium Committee members are: Suvi Gezari (STScI), Joel Green (STScI), Matilde Mingozzi (STScI), Nashwan Sabti (JHU), Kevin Schlaufman (JHU), Ethan Vishniak (JHU), John Wu (STScI)