New Discoveries in the Galactic Neighborhood through Advances in
  Laboratory Astrophysics
  As the Galactic Neighborhood (GAN) panel is fully aware, the next decade will
see major advances in our understanding of this area of research. To quote from
their charge, these advances will occur in studies of the galactic
neighborhood, including the structure and properties of the Milky Way and
nearby galaxies, and their stellar populations and evolution, as well as
interstellar media and star clusters. Central to the progress in these areas
are the corresponding advances in laboratory astrophysics that are required for
fully realizing the GAN scientific opportunities within the decade 2010-2020.
Laboratory astrophysics comprises both theoretical and experimental studies of
the underlying physics and chemistry that produces the observed astrophysical
processes. The 5 areas of laboratory astrophysics that we have identified as
relevant to the GAN panel are atomic, molecular, solid matter, plasma, and
nuclear 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 GAN 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.
