"The E-MOSAICS project: simulating the formation and evolution of galaxies and their globular cluster populations across full cosmic history"

Globular clusters (GCs) have long been suggested as potentially powerful tracers of the galaxy formation process. However, due to the lack of a sound theoretical framework for the formation of GCs, this promise remains largely unfulfilled. I will present the E-MOSAICS project (MOdelling Star cluster population Assembly In Cosmological Simulations within EAGLE): a suite of cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations run with the EAGLE galaxy formation model that includes a subgrid model for star cluster formation and evolution based on observed young stellar clusters. This is the first work to self-consistently model the formation and evolution of the entire star cluster population through cosmic history in fully cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation. I will show how regular star cluster formation in the early Universe results in the GC populations observed today, and how GC populations can then be used to infer the formation and assembly of their host galaxy.