JAO Colloquium

Title: A cloud-scale view of the star formation process from PHANGS –

Abstract: Where do stars form and how is their formation regulated across galactic disks are two critical questions for our understanding of the star formation process. High angular observations of nearby galaxies allow us to sample the star formation process across entire galactic disks reaching now regularly the scales of the star-forming units, namely Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) and HII regions. Such data provide new insights on the molecular gas reservoir and its role in the star formation process as well as information on the importance of galactic components such as bulges, stellar bars, spiral arms and active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the conversion of cold (molecular) gas into stars. I will introduce the PHANGS (Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS) survey and present a few highlights from the ongoing research of the collaboration pertaining to the molecular gas—star formation cycle.