Tracking the flow of interstellar gas across scales: from galaxies to star clusters

Ana Duarte-Cabral; Maxime Valeille-Manet; Mathilde Bouvier; Miguel Querejeta; Jan Forbrich; Daniela Calzetti; Cecilia Bacchini; Frédérique Motte; Maria J. Jimenez-Donaire; Bruce G. Elmegreen; Dieu D. Nguyen; Alessio Traficante; Alvaro Hacar; Nicolas Peretto; Francesco Salvestrini; Laura Colzi; Thomas G. Williams; Timothy A. Davis; Tony Wong; Helena Faustino Vieira; Eva Durán-Camacho; Victor M. Rivilla; Kate Pattle; Sean T. Linden; Rosita Paladino; Ilaria Ruffa; Shih-Ping Lai; Elias Brinks; Eva Schinnerer; Drew Lapeer; Theotokis Georgatos; Miguel Pereira-Santaella; Ivanna Langan

arXiv · 2610.21661

Tracking the flow of interstellar gas across scales: from galaxies to star clusters

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Abstract

While the baryon cycle of the interstellar medium - and its ability to form stars - plays a key role in galaxy evolution, unravelling the physical processes driving its evolution remains a critical challenge, given that present-day observing facilities are unable to map entire galactic ecosystems down to the scales of individual star-forming clumps. Here, we outline the technical requirements that would enable, for the first time, to connect the small (pc) scale physics of star formation, to the large (tens-of-kpc) scales of galaxies, enabling an effective tracking of the flows of matter and energy across a vast range of environments, and answering the long-standing question of what regulates star formation across cosmic time.

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Ana Duarte-Cabral, Maxime Valeille-Manet, Mathilde Bouvier, Miguel Querejeta, Jan Forbrich, Daniela Calzetti, Cecilia Bacchini, Frédérique Motte, Maria J. Jimenez-Donaire, Bruce G. Elmegreen, Dieu D. Nguyen, Alessio Traficante, Alvaro Hacar, Nicolas Peretto, Francesco Salvestrini, Laura Colzi, Thomas G. Williams, Timothy A. Davis, Tony Wong, Helena Faustino Vieira, Eva Durán-Camacho, Victor M. Rivilla, Kate Pattle, Sean T. Linden, Rosita Paladino, Ilaria Ruffa, Shih-Ping Lai, Elias Brinks, Eva Schinnerer, Drew Lapeer, Theotokis Georgatos, Miguel Pereira-Santaella, Ivanna Langan. 2026-10-15. Tracking the flow of interstellar gas across scales: from galaxies to star clusters. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21661

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