New Discoveries in Galaxies across Cosmic Time through Advances in
  Laboratory Astrophysics
  As the Galaxies across Cosmic Time (GCT) panel is fully aware, the next
decade will see major advances in our understanding of these areas of research.
To quote from their charge, these advances will occur in studies of the
formation, evolution, and global properties of galaxies and galaxy clusters, as
well as active galactic nuclei and QSOs, mergers, star formation rate, gas
accretion, and supermassive black holes. Central to the progress in these areas
are the corresponding advances in laboratory astrophysics that are required for
fully realizing the GCT scientific opportunities within the decade 2010-2020.
Laboratory astrophysics comprises both theoretical and experimental studies of
the underlying physics that produce the observed astrophysical processes. The 5
areas of laboratory astrophysics that we have identified as relevant to the CFP
panel are atomic, molecular, solid matter, plasma, nuclear, and particle
physics. In this white paper, we describe in Section 2 some of the new
scientific opportunities and compelling scientific themes that will be enabled
by advances in laboratory astrophysics. In Section 3, we provide the scientific
context for these opportunities. Section 4 briefly discusses some of the
experimental and theoretical advances in laboratory astrophysics required to
realize the GCT scientific opportunities of the next decade. As requested in
the Call for White Papers, Section 5 presents four central questions and one
area with unusual discovery potential. Lastly, we give a short postlude in
Section 6.
