Letters of Intent received in 2024

LoI 2026-2222
Star Clusters as Guides to Galaxies: Synergies and New Developments from Space and Ground-Based Surveys

Topics

a) Star Clusters and Stellar clumps in the high-z Universe from JWST
b) Young and old star cluster population demographics across cosmic time: from low surface brightness dwarf galaxies to giant ellipticals, from Milky Way to young galaxies in the early Universe.
c) High energy phenomena from globular clusters + GW progenitors
d) IMBHs in star clusters: a view from simulations and observational prospects with SKA
e) Globular cluster studies in the era of optical/near-IR panoramic surveys : Rubin, Euclid, Xuntian/CSST and Roman
f) Advanced Statistics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Techniques for star cluster science
g) Simple and multiple stellar populations in GCs: linking models to JWST observations of high-redshift galaxies
h) Simulations of star clusters in a cosmological context
i) Dynamics of star clusters and star cluster systems

Rationale

Star clusters, both within our own Galaxy and beyond, are a window onto a wide range of astro-
physical processes, and probe questions about both the evolution of stars, as well as the evolution of galaxies.

The broad range of science cases enabled by the detailed study of star clusters include among many others: understanding galaxy evolution and their dark matter content, formation and growth of Black Holes (BHs), high energy astrophysics and understanding the origins of gravitational wave (GW) sources. Star clusters have puzzling characteristics in the form of multiple stellar populations. New breakthroughs have been made with cluster simulation theory, discovery of star clusters and anomalous chemical enrichment in young galaxies with JWST, and new observational facilities such as Rubin Observatory will enable large-scale discoveries of new cluster populations.

The goal of the meeting will be to interpret the wealth of observational data obtained by current facilities and to prepare for future work with upcoming observatories such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the European Space Agency’s Euclid, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), Xuntian (CSST, Chinese Space Station Telescope), and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. With Euclid and JWST having recently come online, Rubin and SKA currently undergoing commissioning and Roman and Xuntian/CSST having planned launches by early 2027, 2026 is the perfect timing to hold this conference. These discussions will be critical to improve our current understanding of star cluster formation within galaxies, and will inform future generations of theoretical models of cluster formation and evolution over the history of the Universe.

In collaboration with the LOC, we will organize public outreach and education events related to star cluster science in southern Latin America, making use of educational modules developed by Rubin Observatory’s Education and Public Outreach team.

Other SOC members:

Kyle Kremer (University of California, San Diego, USA)
Rosa A. Gonzalez-Lopezlira (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México)
Laura Sales (University of California, Riverside, USA)
Annette Ferguson (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Léo Girardi (INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Italy)
Karina Voggel (Strasbourg Observatory, France)
Katja Fahrion (University of Vienna, Austria)
Michele Cantiello (INAF Astronomical Observatory of Abruzzo, Italy)
Rubén Sánchez-Janssen (UK Astronomy Technology Centre, UK)
Ling Zhu (Shanghai Astronomical observatory, China)
Michael Beasley (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain)
Javier Alonso-García (Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile)
Jennifer Sobeck (Caltech, IPAC, United States)
Yasna Ordenes Briceño (Universidad Diego Portales, Chile)
Abbas Askar (Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Poland)
Sungsoon Lim (Yonsei university, South Korea)
Alexey Bobrick (Technion Institute, Israel)

Other LOC members:
Arianna Cortesi (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Scientific editors:
Kristen Dage, Ana Chies Santos, Javier Alonso-García, Jennifer Sobeck, Rubén Sánchez-Janssen