WARPFIELD Population Synthesis: The physics of (extra-)Galactic star formation and feedback driven cloud structure and emission from sub-to-kpc scales

Abstract

We present a novel method to model galactic scale star formation and the resulting emission from star clusters and the multi-phase interstellar medium. We combine global parameters, such as SFR and CMF, with {\sc warpfield} which provides a description of the feedback-driven evolution of individual star-forming regions. Our approach includes stellar evolution, stellar winds, radiation pressure, supernovae, all of which couple to the dynamical evolution of the parental cloud in a highly non-linear fashion. The heating of diffuse gas and dust is calculated self-consistently with the age, mass and density dependent escape fractions of the local star-forming regions. From this we construct the interstellar radiation field at any point in the galaxy, and we employ the multi-frequency Monte Carlo radiative transfer code {\sc polaris} to produce synthetic emission maps for the one-to-one comparison with observational data. We demonstrate the capabilities of our approach by applying the method to a Milky Way like galaxy built-up in a high-resolution cosmological MHD simulation. We give three examples. First, we compute the multi-scale distribution of electron $n_{e^-}$ and $T_{e^{-}}$ and synthesize the MW all-sky H$\alpha$ emission. We use a multipole expansion method to show that the resulting maps are consistent with observations. Second, we predict the expected \SIII 9530~\AA\ emission. This line is a key target of several planned large survey programs. It suffers less extinction than other diagnostic lines and provides information about star formation in very dense environments that are otherwise observationally not readily accessible. Third, we explore the effects of differential extinction as seen by an extra-galactic observer, and discuss the consequences for the correct interpretation of \Ha emission as a star-formation rate tracer at different viewing angles.(abridged)