Star Clusters in Evolving Galaxies
  Their ubiquity and extreme densities make star clusters probes of prime
importance of galaxy evolution. Old globular clusters keep imprints of the
physical conditions of their assembly in the early Universe, and younger
stellar objects, observationally resolved, tell us about the mechanisms at
stake in their formation. Yet, we still do not understand the diversity
involved: why is star cluster formation limited to 1e5 Msun objects in the
Milky Way, while some dwarf galaxies like NGC 1705 are able to produce clusters
10 times more massive? Why do dwarfs generally host a higher specific frequency
of clusters than larger galaxies? How to connect the present-day, often
resolved, stellar systems to the formation of globular clusters at high
redshift? And how do these links depend on the galactic and cosmological
environments of these clusters? In this review, I present recent advances on
star cluster formation and evolution, in galactic and cosmological context. The
emphasis is put on the theory, formation scenarios and the effects of the
environment on the evolution of the global properties of clusters. A few open
questions are identified.
