Quo Vadis Galaxy Evolution?

Galaxy formation is a complex phenomenon, as cosmological gravitational collapse is shaped by the energetic effects of stars, black holes, and supernovae. The pace of progress in this research area has increased immensely. The last decade, in particular, has witnessed some astonishing advances. Much of this progress can be attributed to instrumentation, telescopes, space observatories and computer power having improved rapidly.

Over the last two years, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has provided access to galaxies at very early cosmic epochs and by probing galaxy properties at much improved sensitivity. The promise for the future is even brighter with the next generation of ELTs, LSST, Euclid, Roman, SKA, LISA, VLTI and ngVLA on the horizon.

However, interpreting these rich data sets requires careful modeling and comparison with theoretical expectations and much increased interdisciplinary efforts. Our workshop aims to bridge the gap between observational challenges and theoretical models in galaxy evolution. We will bring together astrophysicists with interest in galaxy evolution from a variety of backgrounds, including observations, data science and cosmological simulations to encourage knowledge sharing and collaborative interdisciplinary efforts. This conference will also provide invited overview talks of some of the new observational facilities coming online within the next 5 years with the aim to promote new science projects and collaborations.

We will review the following main facilities and topics in terms of their treatment in simulations and observations, and discuss the path forward for the next decade.