IAUS 315: From interstellar clouds to star-forming galaxies: universal processes?

The availability of wide-field far-infrared and submillimeter surveys with, e.g., the Spitzer, Herschel, Planck, Wise, and Akari space observatories, coupled with the much improved capabilities of ground-based millimeter and submillimeter interferometers, have recently led to spectacular and decisive steps forward in our understanding of star formation modes from solar system scales (tens of AUs) to global (kpc) scales in galaxies. In particular, it appears that star formation in dense molecular gas is governed by essentially the same “laws” in nearby Galactic clouds and distant external galaxies. This raises the possibility of a unified picture of star formation in the Universe from small scales (clouds, filaments, protostellar cores and disks) to galaxy-wide scales.

The goal of the Symposium is to debate this possibility and to start building a coherent picture of how star formation is fuelled on a wide range of scales in galaxies and the Universe. The conference would bring together researchers working on star formation throughout the Universe from nearby clouds to local galaxies to the first star-forming galaxies at high redshift, both observers and theorists, who would debate the fundamental question whether the dominant mode of star formation is universal.

With the advent of powerful observational facilities such as ALMA and high-resolution, multi-scale numerical simulations, we believe the time is ripe for such a meeting bridging the gap between Galactic and extragalactic star formation.