Arcus Probe: Exploring Multi-scale Structure Formation and Evolution in the Universe

Arcus is a Probe mission concept designed to revolutionize our understanding of structure formation and evolution in the Universe on scales from stars to galaxy clusters. Through high-resolution X-ray and UV grating spectroscopy, Arcus will address multiple high-priority science questions put forward by Astro2020, most notably a challenge to NASA to “link observations and modeling of the stars, galaxies, and the gas and energetic processes that couple their formation, evolution, and destinies.” Arcus will accomplish this by locating and characterizing the “missing” baryons in galactic halos, by providing the first true constraints on the mass, energy and physical processes driving AGN wind feedback, and by tracing the spectral-temporal evolution of varying types of stellar death. In this special session, I will discuss the Arcus mission design, its science goals and objectives, and its complementarity to the panchromatic, multi-messenger mission landscape of the 2030s.