Clusters, starbursts and feedback into the environments of galaxies

我们自己的星系和其他星系中的每一代新恒星都有助于星际介质(ISM)中重元素的丰富。随着时间的推移，这些可能以气体或尘埃粒子的形式注入的重元素，以及携带它们的流出，逐渐改变了新恒星和行星的形成方式，以及星系本身的整体性质。对恒星形成和星系ISM演化及其相互作用有了更深入的了解，这为建造大量国际设施提供了动力，包括ALMA和计划中的JCMT调查、VLT和双子座8米望远镜、斯皮策空间望远镜、赫歇尔空间天文台和詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜。目前提案的共同申请者积极参与这一领域的研究，并计划利用这些设施来解决一些悬而未决的问题。这包括年轻星团在驱动恒星爆发星系外流方面的作用；超新星和演化恒星对星系尘埃积累的相对贡献；通过化学演化模型确定恒星形成区热核的结构；调查扩散云和暗云之间的气体和尘埃循环；调查如何通过分子发射来研究高红移恒星形成区；开发三维辐射转移程序，以自洽地处理电离星云周围的成团光解离区，以解释欧空局赫歇尔空间天文台即将进行的观测；以及研究一些极端天体物理环境中的分子过程。

Each new generation of stars in our own and other galaxies contributes to the enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) in heavy elements. Over time, these heavy elements, which may be injected as gas or dust particles, and the outflows that carry them, progressively modify the way that new stars and planets form, as well as the overall properties of the galaxies themselves. Gaining a greater understanding of star formation and the ISM evolution of galaxies, and their interplay, has provided the motivation for the construction of a large number international facilities, including ALMA and the planned JCMT surveys, the VLT and Gemini 8-m telescopes, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Herschel Space Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. The co-applicants on the current proposal are heavily involved in research in this area and plan to use these facilities to tackle a number of outstanding problems. These include the role of young star clusters in driving outflows from starburst galaxies; the relative contributions of supernovae and evolved stars to the dust enrichment of galaxies; determining the structures of hot cores in star formation regions via chemical evolution models; investigating the cycling of gas and dust between diffuse clouds and dark clouds; investigating how star-forming regions at high redshifts can be studied via their molecular emission; developing a 3D radiative transfer code to self-consistently treat clumped photodissociation regions located around ionized nebulae, in order to interpret forthcoming observations by ESA's Herschel Space Observatory; and investigating molecular processes in a number of extreme astrophysical environments.