Speakers
Description
AtLAST will transform our understanding of both the Milky Way and the extragalactic Universe by tracing the lifecycle of gas and dust across all scales and epochs. Within our Galaxy, its 50-meter dish and wide-field, high-resolution capabilities will map the interstellar medium (ISM) in unprecedented detail, revealing how giant molecular clouds fragment into stars and how magnetic fields and feedback shape star formation. It will resolve low-mass stars in clustered environments, characterize debris disks around nearby stars, and conduct large-scale polarimetric surveys to study the role of magnetic fields in galactic ecology.
Beyond the Milky Way, AtLAST will trace the cold baryon cycle from the local Universe to cosmic dawn, linking detailed maps of nearby galaxies with statistical studies of gas and dust in high-redshift systems. It will probe diffuse reservoirs, from circumgalactic gas to forming clusters, while uncovering obscured black hole accretion and transient phenomena. At survey scale, AtLAST will connect gas physics to halo growth and dark matter, delivering a unified view of galaxy evolution and cosmic structure in synergy with multi-wavelength facilities. By bridging Galactic and extragalactic science, AtLAST will reveal the hidden processes driving the assembly and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time.