Research Areas: General Overview
Our SFB is structured around two major themes: the assembly history of the Milky Way in a cosmological context (Research Area A), and the matter cycle and star formation on Galactic scales (Research Area B). Research Area A studies long-term, global evolutionary processes, while Research Area B focuses on short-term, more local processes that determine galaxy evolution.
The combined action of the more instantaneous, localized events such as star formation and feedback and the physical processes that govern them define the present-day appearance of the luminous parts of the Milky Way and have occurred throughout the history of our Galaxy. Their differing intensity and spatial location is determined by the long-term, large-scale evolution of the changing amounts of baryonic and non-baryonic matter and their distribution. A comprehensive view of the Milky Way requires knowledge and understanding of the full range of spatial and time scales from cosmological to star formation processes and their interplay.
Research Area A is structured in seven, Research Area B in six subprojects. In addition, there are three central infrastructure projects (Project Area Z) that are designed to benefit and support all three Research Areas. The various subprojects are closely interconnected in a number of ways: by their science, by the common data sets from which they draw, the common computing resources, and personnel overlap. Our proposal relies on the complementarity and the mutual benefits of the research done in the various subprojects.
