From Scaling Relations to Physical Laws: Constraining the Physics of Star Formation Across Local Galaxies
Abstract
The conversion of cold dense gas, traced by molecular line emission, into stars remains one of the fundamental unsolved problems in galaxy evolution. Observations over the past decades have established empirical relations between gas and star formation, yet their physical origin remains uncertain. Gravity, turbulence, and stellar feedback as main drivers provide fundamentally different pictures of how star formation is regulated, while reproducing remarkably similar galaxy-scale scaling relations. To disentangle the individual importance of each process, not only its mass and distribution, but also its temperature, density, excitation, and chemistry must be probed. However, current or planned (sub)millimetre facilities cannot combine statistical breadth, cloud-scale resolution, and multi-line diagnostics across large galaxy samples. A new, flagship interferometer with increased line sensitivity and bandwidth enables obtaining multi-transition, multi-isotopologue observations of molecular gas at GMC-resolved scales across nearby galaxies, enabling millions of independent measurements of its physical state across a wide range of extragalactic environments. This will transform molecular gas from an empirical tracer into a quantitative probe of the physical processes governing the relation between the dense gas and star formation. With the 2040s landscape of optical and radio facilities, ALMA2040 will facilitate a predictive theory of the conversion of gas into stars.
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BibTeX
@misc{brok2026from,
title = {{From Scaling Relations to Physical Laws: Constraining the Physics of Star Formation Across Local Galaxies}},
author = {Jakob den Brok and Cecilia Bacchini and Leindert A. Boogaard and Mathilde Bouvier and Viviana Casasola and Laura Colzi and Timothy A. Davis and Cosima Eibensteiner and Daniel Espada and Simon Glover and Logan H. Jones and Ryan Keenan and Ralf S. Klessen and Ivanna Langan and Dieu D. Nguyen and Miguel Pereira-Santaella and Miguel Querejeta and Ilaria Ruffa and Francesco Salvestrini and Jiayi Sun and Sabine Thater and Robin Tress and Antonio Usero and Thomas G. Williams},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.21891},
eprint = {2610.21891},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21891},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - From Scaling Relations to Physical Laws: Constraining the Physics of Star Formation Across Local Galaxies
AU - Jakob den Brok
AU - Cecilia Bacchini
AU - Leindert A. Boogaard
AU - Mathilde Bouvier
AU - Viviana Casasola
AU - Laura Colzi
AU - Timothy A. Davis
AU - Cosima Eibensteiner
AU - Daniel Espada
AU - Simon Glover
AU - Logan H. Jones
AU - Ryan Keenan
AU - Ralf S. Klessen
AU - Ivanna Langan
AU - Dieu D. Nguyen
AU - Miguel Pereira-Santaella
AU - Miguel Querejeta
AU - Ilaria Ruffa
AU - Francesco Salvestrini
AU - Jiayi Sun
AU - Sabine Thater
AU - Robin Tress
AU - Antonio Usero
AU - Thomas G. Williams
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.21891
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21891
AB - The conversion of cold dense gas, traced by molecular line emission, into stars remains one of the fundamental unsolved problems in galaxy evolution. Observations over the past decades have established empirical relations between gas and star formation, yet their physical origin remains uncertain. Gravity, turbulence, and stellar feedback as main drivers provide fundamentally different pictures of how star formation is regulated, while reproducing remarkably similar galaxy-scale scaling relations. To disentangle the individual importance of each process, not only its mass and distribution, but also its temperature, density, excitation, and chemistry must be probed. However, current or planned (sub)millimetre facilities cannot combine statistical breadth, cloud-scale resolution, and multi-line diagnostics across large galaxy samples. A new, flagship interferometer with increased line sensitivity and bandwidth enables obtaining multi-transition, multi-isotopologue observations of molecular gas at GMC-resolved scales across nearby galaxies, enabling millions of independent measurements of its physical state across a wide range of extragalactic environments. This will transform molecular gas from an empirical tracer into a quantitative probe of the physical processes governing the relation between the dense gas and star formation. With the 2040s landscape of optical and radio facilities, ALMA2040 will facilitate a predictive theory of the conversion of gas into stars.
ER -