SECULAR EVOLUTION

Our aim is to quantify the cosmic fate of these self-gravitating systems over a Hubble time, and identify asymptotic solutions for the effect of stellar migration, disc thickening via GMCs, and resonant relaxation in galactic centres. In order to achieve these goals, we will federate experts in the field with complementary theoretical, algorithmic, and statistical skills. When this programme is completed, SEGAL will have answered long-standing challenges on nuclear and galactic scales and promoted kinetic theory as a valuable complement to N-body simulations to probe their cosmic fate. As our top priority, it will have quantified the relative strength of internal and external dynamical processes on these encapsulated scales... The key novel and unifying methodological ingredient will be proper accounting of the self-gravity of these galactic components in open environments. By relying on the corresponding orbital diffusion framework and its stochastic or finite element formulation as..