Scientific Agenda

Starbursts are a spectacular phase in the life of galaxies, with the potential of changing the appearance of the galaxy and enriching its environment with metals in galactic winds. They are a signpost of galaxy evolution, and galaxy assembly at high redshifts. Of course, they also evolve themselves, ageing as their fuel, dense gas, is consumed and the burst ceases.

Clearly, not all starbursts are born equal. Their luminosity ranges from the ultraluminous (>1012 L_sun) to the moderate (~1010 L_sun), and we find both very compact and extended bursts. Mergers and interactions undoubtedly can trigger starburst activity, and almost always do so in extreme cases, but the correlation between moderate starbursts and both visible interactions and bars funneling the gas towards the centre may be weak.

Thus, the starburst phenomenon is central to studies of galaxy evolution and poses a number of crucial questions ideal for discussion at an international workshop.

The meeting aims at bringing together different viewpoints on the evolution of starbursts, both from the perspective of the neutral and hot ISM and the stellar component. There will be a focus on the interaction of the ISM and the stellar component, and starbursts in the local universe - though the high-redshift population will not be forgotten. Modes and triggering of star formation in different environments will be addressed as well as the properties and structure of the ISM and feedback processes.

Among the specific topics we wish to cover are:

• The triggering of starbursts: What is the role of interactions, bars and actual mergers?
  
  
• The dynamics of the stars and the gas, feedback processes and self-regulation
  
  
• The dating of stellar populations within bursts: This information is essential to assess the evolutionary stage a burst has reached. It provides crucial complementary information to studies of merger sequences and gas properties, and allows to find fossil burst and investigate star formation histories.
  
  
• The dense gas and its properties: Is the fraction of dense gas in all starbursts similar? How do we interpret changes of physical and chemical properties of the molecular component, and do provide windows into the evolution of optically highly obscured sources? What clues do we get from maser lines?
  
  
• The star formations rates in moderate starbursts and ULIRGs: Are there differences in star formations efficiencies? What limits the SFRs and SFEs possible for a given burst, and its spatial and temporal extent, beyond the fuel supply? Do different modes of star formation operate in ULIRGs, moderate starbursts and disk environments? What is the role of massive cluster formation and evolution?
  
  
• The hot and warm ionized gas: How (and when) is the IGM enriched by galactic winds? Do the the metals really escape (today and at high z)? What do recombination lines tell us about the ionized component?
  
  
• Starbursts at high redshift: What are Lyman break galaxies? Are submm-bright galaxies equivalent to today's ULIRGs? Are these extreme objects just the tip of iceberg, and if so, what does the bottom of the iceberg in cosmological distances look like?

Observationally , these questions require a multi-wavelength approach, to be reflected in the participants of the workshop, including the latest results from radio, IR, optical and X-ray instruments. These results have to be supplemented by advances in modelling, which we will also cover in a number of contributions.