Scientific Rationale
Today ' s technology delivers computer power that allows to resolve spatial scales well below a kiloparsec in simulations of galaxy formation. The situation is bound to improve even further in the near future, opening the opportunity for refined modelling of the baryonic component that explicitly accounts for processes occurring at the newly resolved scales.
- What are the physical processes leading to star formation, that must be properly accounted for in order to follow accurately the evolution of the baryonic gas in a galaxy?
- Can we formulate algorithms that encapsulate such physics with a sufficient degree of fidelity ?
- What are the spatial scales that need to be captured and what are the ones that can be dealt with via subgrid prescriptions ?
Baryonic physics is a key ingredient for successful computer models of galaxy formation and evolution. Nevertheless, the main processes that regulate the behavior of the baryonic gas inside galaxies and that need to be followed with accuracy in numerical simulations remain to be clarified.
Furthering our understanding of this important question is the goal of this workshop. In doing so, we intend to promote a novel approach in which leading structure formation researchers meet together with experts in the field of the interstellar medium and star formation.
In fact the evolution of the baryonic gas inside galaxies is regulated by processes occurring over a wide variety of spatial scales, ranging from the few parsecs of protostellar cores to the tens of kiloparsecs of galactic disks. Thus a successful model can only rest on a correct understanding of the role played by, and potential interplay between, the processes at each scale.
Therefore, the time is now ripe for addressing the development of new computational models of baryonic physics in the context of galaxy formation that comply with the correct answers to the questions listed above.