Objective Globular clusters (GCs) are among the oldest luminous sources in the universe, bearing witness to theearliest stages of galaxy formation as well as their evolution to the present day. While GCs have played apivotal role in our understanding of the assembly of galaxies, their full potential remains unfulfilled due toour lack of understanding of how they form. One of the largest stumbling blocks has been the anomalouschemistry (both metallicity distributions and abundance patterns) of GCs relative to field stars within galaxy.Here, we will turn the problem around and exploit these differences to understand the co-evolution of GCsand their host galaxies.Our understanding of GCs and their formation has undergone a radical change in the past two decades. First,it is now clear that while traditionally thought of as the quintessential simple stellar populations (i.e. all starswithin a cluster have the same chemical abundances and age), globular clusters host multiple stellarpopulations with spreads in He, many light elements (e.g. Na, O, Al) and even Fe in a few cases. Secondly,GCs, once thought to only be able to form in the special conditions present in the early Universe, are nowknown to be still forming today (known as Young Massive Clusters - YMCS). These two facts have openedup a new window into the interconnectedness of GC and galaxy formation and co-evolution.In this project we will quantitatively test current GC formation models with observations of YMCs, as wellas organise what is known of the stellar populations within GCs (e.g. abundance spreads, CMDmorphologies), providing, for the first time, a global view (i.e. which characteristics are specific toindividual GCs and which are common to all GCs). These results, when combined with what is known aboutmassive cluster formation in the local universe, will provide an unprecedented opportunity to use GCs toconstrain the hierarchical assembly of galaxies. Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyobservational astronomyoptical astronomynatural sciencesbiological sciencesevolutionary biologynatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyphysical cosmologygalaxy evolutionnatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomystellar astronomy Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-CoG-2014 - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2014-CoG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY Net EU contribution € 1 429 439,00 Address RODNEY STREET 2 EGERTON COURT L3 5UX Liverpool United Kingdom See on map Region North West (England) Merseyside Liverpool Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 429 439,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 1 429 439,00 Address RODNEY STREET 2 EGERTON COURT L3 5UX Liverpool See on map Region North West (England) Merseyside Liverpool Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 429 439,00
