[SME-S] Star formation across the Milky Way (A)

Star formation across the Milky Way

Organiser(s):

Clare Dobbs, David Eden, Larry Morgan, Andrew Rigby, Anthony Whitworth, Gwenllian Williams

Session type:

Regular

Description:

The Milky Way is the premier laboratory in which we are afforded both the requisite statistics and the spatial resolution to examine the process of star formation in detail. This session will be devoted to the origin of stars and star clusters, from the processes that assemble molecular clouds in galaxies, through the physical processes that convert this material into stars, to the statistical properties of stars, multiple systems and star clusters. There will be sub-sessions on the assembly and evolution of molecular clouds; the formation of filaments and cores; collapse and fragmentation and the genesis of low- and high-mass stars; measuring and explaining the Initial Mass Function and stellar multiplicity; the structure and dissolution of young star clusters; and next-generation instrumentation that will power future advances. Each session will open with an invited talk from a leader in the field, followed by contributed talks, for which we particularly encourage submissions from early-career researchers. 

The programme will deliver a balance between the unprecedented observational insights being delivered by the full range of modern telescopes and interferometers, including GAIA, ALMA, JCMT, JWST and MeerKAT, and the numerical and theoretical advances facilitated by modern computer simulations and statistical techniques. We will present the latest results on the structure of the Galactic interstellar medium and its dynamics from kiloparsec to sub-parsec scales, impulsive triggering of star formation, feedback from both low- and high-mass stars, magneto-hydrodynamic simulations and the measurement of kinematics, magnetic fields and chemical abundances, as well as exploring the possibilities provided by future telecopes and facilities. This will provide a timely opportunity to bring together the communities involved in these areas of research, to showcase their work, and to plan future collaborations.

Topic:

Our Galaxy

This session is sponsored by: