From Orion to Cosmic Dawn - Chemical abundances across scales and time

by Dr Francesco Belfiore (ESO Garching)

Thursday 8 Oct 2026, 13:30 → 14:30 Europe/Stockholm

FB 54 (AlbaNova Main Building)

Chemical abundance measurements from nebular emission lines remain one of the primary tools for understanding galaxy evolution across cosmic time and probing the cycle of baryons in the Universe. Yet the interpretation of these diagnostics depends strongly on physical scale considered: from H II regions resolved in most nearby galaxies, to integrated spectra from large galaxy spectroscopic surveys, and increasingly distant systems observed with JWST. In this talk, I will discuss recent progress toward connecting these scales via new modelling approaches.

In the local Universe these tools are helping us to resolve old questions related to the discrepancy between different abundance and density tracers. More importantly, understanding the small-scale physics turns out to be fundamental to interpret the deep spectra that JWST is providing for galaxies from Cosmic Noon to Dawn, and their puzzling abundance patterns. I will conclude by summarizing some of the outstanding challenges in drawing a coherent view of chemical abundances across cosmic time.