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We present a near-infrared (NIR) candidate star cluster catalog for the central kiloparsec of M82 based on new JWST NIRCam images. We identify star cluster candidates using the F250M filter, finding 1357 star cluster candidates with stellar masses >10 ^4 M _⊙ . Compared to previous optical catalogs, nearly all (87%) of the candidates we identify are new. The star cluster candidates have a median intrinsic cluster radius of ≈1 pc and stellar masses up to 10 ^6 M _⊙ . By comparing the color–color diagram to dust-free yggdrasil stellar population models, we estimate that the star cluster candidates have A _V ∼ 3−24 mag, corresponding to A _2.5 _μ _m ∼ 0.3−2.1 mag. There is still appreciable dust extinction toward these clusters into the NIR. We measure the stellar masses of the star cluster candidates, assuming ages of 0 and 8 Myr. The slope of the resulting cluster mass function is β = 1.9 ± 0.2, in excellent agreement with studies of star clusters in other galaxies.

Measuring the properties of the cold neutral medium (CNM) in low-metallicity galaxies provides insights into heating and cooling mechanisms in early Universe-like environments. We report detections of two localized atomic neutral hydrogen (H i ) absorption features in NGC 6822, a low-metallicity (0.2 Z _⊙ ) dwarf galaxy in the Local Group. These are the first unambiguous CNM detections in a low-metallicity dwarf galaxy outside the Magellanic Clouds. The Local Group L -band Survey (LGLBS) enabled these detections, due to its high spatial (15 pc for H i emission) and spectral (0.4 km s ^−1 ) resolution. We introduce LGLBS and describe a custom pipeline for searching for H i absorption at high angular resolution and extracting associated H i emission. A detailed Gaussian decomposition and radiative transfer analysis of the NGC 6822 detections reveals five CNM components, with key properties: a mean spin temperature of 32 ± 6 K, a mean CNM column density of 3.1 × 10 ^20 cm ^−2 , and CNM mass fractions of 0.33 and 0.12 for the two sightlines. Stacking nondetections does not reveal low-level signals below our median optical depth sensitivity of 0.05. One detection intercepts a star-forming region, with the H i absorption profile encompassing the CO (2−1) emission, indicating coincident molecular gas and a depression in high-resolution H i emission. We also analyze a nearby sightline with deep, narrow H i self-absorption dips, where the background warm neutral medium is attenuated by intervening CNM. The association of CNM, CO, and H α emissions suggests a close link between the colder, denser H i phase and star formation in NGC 6822.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a ubiquitous component of the interstellar medium (ISM) in z ∼ 0 massive, star-forming galaxies and play key roles in ISM energy balance, chemistry, and shielding. Wide field-of-view, high-resolution mid-infrared (MIR) images from JWST provide the ability to map the fraction of dust in the form of PAHs and the properties of these key dust grains at 10–50 pc resolution in galaxies outside the Local Group. We use MIR JWST photometric observations of a sample of 19 nearby galaxies from the Physics at High Angular Resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) survey to investigate the variations of the PAH fraction. By comparison to lower-resolution far-infrared mapping, we show that a combination of the MIRI filters ( R _PAH = [F770W+F1130W]/F2100W) traces the fraction of dust by mass in the form of PAHs (i.e., the PAH fraction, or q _PAH ). Mapping R _PAH across the 19 PHANGS galaxies, we find that the PAH fraction steeply decreases in H ii regions, revealing the destruction of these small grains in regions of ionized gas. Outside H ii regions, we find R _PAH is constant across the PHANGS sample with an average value of 3.43 ± 0.98, which, for an illuminating radiation field of intensity 2–5 times that of the radiation field in the solar neighborhood, corresponds to q _PAH values of 3%–6%.

We present the largest catalog to date of star clusters and compact associations in nearby galaxies. We have performed a V -band-selected census of clusters across the 38 spiral galaxies of the PHANGS–Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Treasury Survey, and measured integrated, aperture-corrected near-ultraviolet- U-B-V-I photometry. This work has resulted in uniform catalogs that contain ∼20,000 clusters and compact associations, which have passed human inspection and morphological classification, and a larger sample of ∼100,000 classified by neural network models. Here, we report on the observed properties of these samples, and demonstrate that tremendous insight can be gained from just the observed properties of clusters, even in the absence of their transformation into physical quantities. In particular, we show the utility of the UBVI color–color diagram, and the three principal features revealed by the PHANGS-HST cluster sample: the young cluster locus, the middle-age plume, and the old globular cluster clump. We present an atlas of maps of the 2D spatial distribution of clusters and compact associations in the context of the molecular clouds from PHANGS–Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. We explore new ways of understanding this large data set in a multiscale context by bringing together once-separate techniques for the characterization of clusters (color–color diagrams and spatial distributions) and their parent galaxies (galaxy morphology and location relative to the galaxy main sequence). A companion paper presents the physical properties: ages, masses, and dust reddenings derived using improved spectral energy distribution fitting techniques.

The exquisite angular resolution and sensitivity of JWST are opening a new window for our understanding of the Universe. In nearby galaxies, JWST observations are revolutionizing our understanding of the first phases of star formation and the dusty interstellar medium. Nineteen local galaxies spanning a range of properties and morphologies across the star-forming main sequence have been observed as part of the PHANGS-JWST Cycle 1 Treasury program at spatial scales of ∼5–50 pc. Here, we describe pjpipe , an image-processing pipeline developed for the PHANGS-JWST program that wraps around and extends the official JWST pipeline. We release this pipeline to the community as it contains a number of tools generally useful for JWST NIRCam and MIRI observations. Particularly for extended sources, pjpipe products provide significant improvements over mosaics from the MAST archive in terms of removing instrumental noise in NIRCam data, background flux matching, and calibration of relative and absolute astrometry. We show that slightly smoothing F2100W MIRI data to 0.″9 (degrading the resolution by about 30%) reduces the noise by a factor of ≈3. We also present the first public release (DR1.1.0) of the pjpipe processed eight-band 2–21 μ m imaging for all 19 galaxies in the PHANGS-JWST Cycle 1 Treasury program. An additional 55 galaxies will soon follow from a new PHANGS-JWST Cycle 2 Treasury program.

We present a statistical analysis of the local, ≈50–100 pc scale, H α emission at the locations of recent (≤125 yr) supernovae (SNe) in nearby star-forming galaxies. Our sample consists of 32 SNe in 10 galaxies that are targets of the PHANGS-MUSE survey. We find that 41% (13/32) of these SNe occur coincident with a previously identified H ii region. For comparison, H ii regions cover 32% of the area within ±1 kpc of any recent SN. Contrasting this local covering fraction with the fraction of SNe coincident with H ii regions, we find a statistical excess of 7.6% ± 8.7% of all SNe to be associated with H ii regions. This increases to an excess of 19.2% ± 10.4% when considering only core-collapse SNe (CCSNe). These estimates appear to be in good agreement with qualitative results from new, higher-resolution Hubble Space Telescope H α imaging, which also suggests many CCSNe detonate near but not in H ii regions. Our results appear consistent with the expectation that only a modest fraction of stars explode during the first ≲5 Myr of the life of a stellar population when H α emission is expected to be bright. Of the H ii region associated SNe, 85% (11/13) also have associated detected CO (2–1) emission, indicating the presence of molecular gas. The SNe associated with H ii regions have typical extinctions of A _V ∼ 1 mag, consistent with a significant amount of pre-clearing of gas from the region before the SNe explode.

The PHANGS survey uses Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Hubble Space Telescope, Very Large Telescope, and JWST to obtain an unprecedented high-resolution view of nearby galaxies, covering millions of spatially independent regions. The high dimensionality of such a diverse multiwavelength data set makes it challenging to identify new trends, particularly when they connect observables from different wavelengths. Here, we use unsupervised machine-learning algorithms to mine this information-rich data set to identify novel patterns. We focus on three of the PHANGS-JWST galaxies, for which we extract properties pertaining to their stellar populations; warm ionized and cold molecular gas; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as measured over 150 pc scale regions. We show that we can divide the regions into groups with distinct multiphase gas and PAH properties. In the process, we identify previously unknown galaxy-wide correlations between PAH band and optical line ratios and use our identified groups to interpret them. The correlations we measure can be naturally explained in a scenario where the PAHs and the ionized gas are exposed to different parts of the same radiation field that varies spatially across the galaxies. This scenario has several implications for nearby galaxies: (i) The uniform PAH ionized fraction on 150 pc scales suggests significant self-regulation in the interstellar medium, (ii) the PAH 11.3/7.7 μ m band ratio may be used to constrain the shape of the non-ionizing far-ultraviolet to optical part of the radiation field, and (iii) the varying radiation field affects line ratios that are commonly used as PAH size diagnostics. Neglecting this effect leads to incorrect or biased PAH sizes.

We use 0.1″ observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and JWST to study young massive clusters (YMCs) in their embedded “infant” phase across the central starburst ring in NGC 3351. Our new ALMA data reveal 18 bright and compact (sub-)millimeter continuum sources, of which 8 have counterparts in JWST images and only 6 have counterparts in HST images. Based on the ALMA continuum and molecular line data, as well as ancillary measurements for the HST and JWST counterparts, we identify 14 sources as infant star clusters with high stellar and/or gas masses (∼10 ^5 M _⊙ ), small radii (≲ 5 pc), large escape velocities (6–10 km s ^−1 ), and short freefall times (0.5–1 Myr). Their multiwavelength properties motivate us to divide them into four categories, likely corresponding to four evolutionary stages from starless clumps to exposed H ii region–cluster complexes. Leveraging age estimates for HST-identified clusters in the same region, we infer an evolutionary timeline, ranging from ∼1–2 Myr before cluster formation as starless clumps, to ∼4–6 Myr after as exposed H ii region–cluster complexes. Finally, we show that the YMCs make up a substantial fraction of recent star formation across the ring, exhibit a nonuniform azimuthal distribution without a very coherent evolutionary trend along the ring, and are capable of driving large-scale gas outflows.

We present new observations of the central 1 kpc of the M82 starburst obtained with the James Webb Space Telescope near-infrared camera instrument at a resolution θ ∼ 0.″05–0.″1 (∼1–2 pc). The data comprises images in three mostly continuum filters (F140M, F250M, and F360M), and filters that contain [Fe ii ] (F164N), H _2 v = 1 → 0 (F212N), and the 3.3 μ m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature (F335M). We find prominent plumes of PAH emission extending outward from the central starburst region, together with a network of complex filamentary substructures and edge-brightened bubble-like features. The structure of the PAH emission closely resembles that of the ionized gas, as revealed in Paschen α and free–free radio emission. We discuss the origin of the structure, and suggest the PAHs are embedded in a combination of neutral, molecular, and photoionized gas.

We measure the CO-to-H _2 conversion factor ( α _CO ) in 37 galaxies at 2 kpc resolution, using the dust surface density inferred from far-infrared emission as a tracer of the gas surface density and assuming a constant dust-to-metal ratio. In total, we have ∼790 and ∼610 independent measurements of α _CO for CO (2–1) and (1–0), respectively. The mean values for α _CO (2–1) and α _CO (1–0) are ${9.3}_{-5.4}^{+4.6}$ and ${4.2}_{-2.0}^{+1.9}\,{M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{pc}}^{-2}\,{({\rm{K}}\,\mathrm{km}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1})}^{-1}$ , respectively. The CO-intensity-weighted mean is 5.69 for α _CO (2–1) and 3.33 for α _CO (1–0) . We examine how α _CO scales with several physical quantities, e.g., the star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, and dust-mass-weighted average interstellar radiation field strength ( $\overline{U}$ ). Among them, $\overline{U}$ , Σ _SFR , and the integrated CO intensity ( W _CO ) have the strongest anticorrelation with spatially resolved α _CO . We provide linear regression results to α _CO for all quantities tested. At galaxy-integrated scales, we observe significant correlations between α _CO and W _CO , metallicity, $\overline{U}$ , and Σ _SFR . We also find that α _CO in each galaxy decreases with the stellar mass surface density (Σ _⋆ ) in high-surface-density regions (Σ _⋆ ≥ 100 M _⊙ pc ^−2 ), following the power-law relations ${\alpha }_{\mathrm{CO}\,(2\mbox{--}1)}\propto {{\rm{\Sigma }}}_{\star }^{-0.5}$ and ${\alpha }_{\mathrm{CO}\,(1\mbox{--}0)}\propto {{\rm{\Sigma }}}_{\star }^{-0.2}$ . The power-law index is insensitive to the assumed dust-to-metal ratio. We interpret the decrease in α _CO with increasing Σ _⋆ as a result of higher velocity dispersion compared to isolated, self-gravitating clouds due to the additional gravitational force from stellar sources, which leads to the reduction in α _CO . The decrease in α _CO at high Σ _⋆ is important for accurately assessing molecular gas content and star formation efficiency in the centers of galaxies, which bridge “Milky Way–like” to “starburst-like” conversion factors.

The EDGE-CALIFA survey provides spatially resolved optical integral-field unit and CO spectroscopy for 125 galaxies selected from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area Survey (CALIFA) Data Release 3 sample. The Extragalactic Database for Galaxy Evolution (EDGE) presents the spatially resolved products of the survey as pixel tables that reduce the oversampling in the original images and facilitate comparison of pixels from different images. By joining these pixel tables to lower-dimensional tables that provide radial profiles, integrated spectra, or global properties, it is possible to investigate the dependence of local conditions on large-scale properties. The database is freely accessible and has been utilized in several publications. We illustrate the use of this database and highlight the effects of CO upper limits on the inferred slopes of the local scaling relations between the stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and H _2 surface densities. We find that the correlation between H _2 and SFR surface density is the tightest among the three relations.

We report observations of the ground state transitions of ^12 CO, ^13 CO, C ^18 O, HCN, and HCO ^+ at 88–115 GHz in the inner region of the nearby galaxy IC 342. These data were obtained with the 16 pixel spectroscopic focal plane array Argus on the 100 m Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at 6″–9″ resolution. In the nuclear bar region, the intensity distributions of ^12 CO(1–0) and ^13 CO(1–0) emission trace moderate densities, and differ from the dense gas distributions sampled in C ^18 O(1–0), HCN(1–0), and HCO ^+ (1–0). We observe a constant HCN(1–0)-to-HCO ^+ (1–0) ratio of 1.2 ± 0.1 across the whole ∼1 kpc bar. This indicates that the HCN(1–0) and HCO ^+ (1–0) lines have intermediate optical depth, and that the corresponding ${n}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}$ of the gas producing the emission is of order 10 ^4.5−6 cm ^−3 . We show that HCO ^+ (1–0) is thermalized and HCN(1–0) is close to thermalization. The very tight correlation between the HCN(1–0) and HCO ^+ (1–0) intensities across the 1 kpc bar suggests that this ratio is more sensitive to the relative abundance of the two species than to the gas density. We confirm an angular offset (∼10″) between the spatial distribution of molecular gas and the star formation sites. Finally, we find a breakdown of the L _IR – ${L}_{\mathrm{HCN}}$ correlation at high spatial resolution due to the effect of incomplete sampling of star-forming regions by HCN emission in IC 342. The scatter of the L _IR – ${L}_{\mathrm{HCN}}$ relation decreases as the spatial scale increases from 10″ to 30″ (170–510 pc), and is comparable to the scatter of the global relation at a scale of 340 pc.

We present the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS)-AstroSat atlas, which contains UV imaging of 31 nearby star-forming galaxies captured by the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on the AstroSat satellite. The atlas provides a homogeneous data set of far-UV and near-UV maps of galaxies within a distance of 22 Mpc and a median angular resolution of 1.″4 (corresponding to a physical scale between 25 and 160 pc). After subtracting a uniform UV background and accounting for Milky Way extinction, we compare our estimated flux densities to GALEX observations, finding good agreement. We find candidate extended UV disks around the galaxies NGC 6744 and IC 5332. We present the first statistical measurements of the clumping of the UV emission and compare it to the clumping of molecular gas traced with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We find that bars and spiral arms exhibit the highest degree of clumping, and the molecular gas is even more clumped than the far-UV (FUV) emission in galaxies. We investigate the variation of the ratio of observed FUV to H α in different galactic environments and kiloparsec-sized apertures. We report that ∼65% of the variation of the log _10 (FUV/H α ) can be described through a combination of dust attenuation with star formation history parameters. The PHANGS-AstroSat atlas enhances the multiwavelength coverage of our sample, offering a detailed perspective on star formation. When integrated with PHANGS data sets from ALMA, the Very Large Telescope-MUSE, the Hubble Space Telescope, and JWST, it develops our comprehensive understanding of attenuation curves and dust attenuation in star-forming galaxies.

We present a ^12 CO( J = 2−1) survey of 60 local galaxies using data from the Atacama Compact Array as part of the Extragalactic Database for Galaxy Evolution: the ACA EDGE survey. These galaxies all have integral field spectroscopy from the CALIFA survey. Compared to other local galaxy surveys, ACA EDGE is designed to mitigate selection effects based on CO brightness and morphological type. Of the 60 galaxies in ACA EDGE, 36 are on the star formation main sequence, 13 are on the red sequence, and 11 lie in the “green valley” transition between these sequences. We test how star formation quenching processes affect the star formation rate (SFR) per unit molecular gas mass, SFE _mol = SFR/ M _mol , and related quantities in galaxies with stellar masses 10 ≤ log[ M _⋆ / M _⊙ ] ≤ 11.5 covering the full range of morphological types. We observe a systematic decrease of the molecular-to-stellar mass fraction ( ${R}_{\star }^{\mathrm{mol}}$ ) with a decreasing level of star formation activity, with green valley galaxies also having lower SFE _mol than galaxies on the main sequence. On average, we find that the spatially resolved SFE _mol within the bulge region of green valley galaxies is lower than in the bulges of main-sequence galaxies if we adopt a constant CO-to-H _2 conversion factor, α _CO . While efficiencies in main-sequence galaxies remain almost constant with galactocentric radius, in green valley galaxies, we note a systematic increase of SFE _mol , ${R}_{\star }^{\mathrm{mol}}$ , and specific SFR with increasing radius. As shown in previous studies, our results suggest that although gas depletion (or removal) seems to be the most important driver of the star formation quenching in galaxies transiting through the green valley, a reduction in star formation efficiency is also required during this stage.

We present new catalogs of likely globular clusters (GCs) in 17 nearby spiral galaxies studied as part of the PHANGS Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Treasury Survey. The galaxies were imaged in five broadband filters from the near-ultraviolet through the I band. PHANGS-HST has produced catalogs of stellar clusters of all ages by selecting extended sources (from multiple concentration index measurements) followed by morphological classification (centrally concentrated and symmetric or asymmetric, multiple peaks, and contaminants) by visually examining the V -band images and separately by a machine-learning algorithm which classified larger samples to reach fainter limits. From both cluster catalogs, we select an initial list of candidate GCs which have B − V ≥ 0.5 and V − I ≥ 0.73 mag, then remove likely contaminants (including reddened young clusters, background galaxies misclassified by the neural network, and chance superpositions/blends of stars) after a careful visual inspection. We find that ≈86% of the color-selected candidates classified as spherically symmetric and 68% of those classified as centrally concentrated but asymmetric are likely to be GCs. The luminosity functions of the GC candidates in two of our 17 galaxies, NGC 628 and NGC 3627, are atypical, and continue to rise at least 1 mag fainter than the expected turnover near M _V ∼ −7.4. These faint candidate GCs have more extended spatial distributions than their bright counterparts, and may reside in the disk rather than the bulge/halo, similar to faint GCs previously discovered in M101. These faint clusters may be somewhat younger since the age–metallicity degeneracy makes it difficult to determine precise cluster ages from integrated colors once they reach ≈1 Gyr.

Determining how the galactic environment, especially the high gas densities and complex dynamics in bar-fed galaxy centers, alters the star formation efficiency (SFE) of molecular gas is critical to understanding galaxy evolution. However, these same physical or dynamical effects also alter the emissivity properties of CO, leading to variations in the CO-to-H _2 conversion factor ( α _CO ) that impact the assessment of the gas column densities and thus of the SFE. To address such issues, we investigate the dependence of α _CO on the local CO velocity dispersion at 150 pc scales using a new set of dust-based α _CO measurements and propose a new α _CO prescription that accounts for CO emissivity variations across galaxies. Based on this prescription, we estimate the SFE in a sample of 65 galaxies from the PHANGS–Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array survey. We find increasing SFE toward high-surface-density regions like galaxy centers, while using a constant or metallicity-based α _CO results in a more homogeneous SFE throughout the centers and disks. Our prescription further reveals a mean molecular gas depletion time of 700 Myr in the centers of barred galaxies, which is overall three to four times shorter than in nonbarred galaxy centers or the disks. Across the galaxy disks, the depletion time is consistently around 2–3 Gyr, regardless of the choice of α _CO prescription. All together, our results suggest that the high level of star formation activity in barred centers is not simply due to an increased amount of molecular gas, but also to an enhanced SFE compared to nonbarred centers or disk regions.

The first JWST observations of nearby galaxies have unveiled a rich population of bubbles that trace the stellar-feedback mechanisms responsible for their creation. Studying these bubbles therefore allows us to chart the interaction between stellar feedback and the interstellar medium, and the larger galactic flows needed to regulate star formation processes globally. We present the first catalog of bubbles in NGC 628, visually identified using Mid-Infrared Instrument F770W Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS)–JWST observations, and use them to statistically evaluate bubble characteristics. We classify 1694 structures as bubbles with radii between 6 and 552 pc. Of these, 31% contain at least one smaller bubble at their edge, indicating that previous generations of star formation have a local impact on where new stars form. On large scales, most bubbles lie near a spiral arm, and their radii increase downstream compared to upstream. Furthermore, bubbles are elongated in a similar direction to the spiral-arm ridgeline. These azimuthal trends demonstrate that star formation is intimately connected to the spiral-arm passage. Finally, the bubble size distribution follows a power law of index p = −2.2 ± 0.1, which is slightly shallower than the theoretical value by 1–3.5 σ that did not include bubble mergers. The fraction of bubbles identified within the shells of larger bubbles suggests that bubble merging is a common process. Our analysis therefore allows us to quantify the number of star-forming regions that are influenced by an earlier generation, and the role feedback processes have in setting the global star formation rate. With the full PHANGS–JWST sample, we can do this for more galaxies.

The earliest stages of star formation, when young stars are still deeply embedded in their natal clouds, represent a critical phase in the matter cycle between gas clouds and young stellar regions. Until now, the high-resolution infrared observations required for characterizing this heavily obscured phase (during which massive stars have formed, but optical emission is not detected) could only be obtained for a handful of the most nearby galaxies. One of the main hurdles has been the limited angular resolution of the Spitzer Space Telescope. With the revolutionary capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), it is now possible to investigate the matter cycle during the earliest phases of star formation as a function of the galactic environment. In this Letter, we demonstrate this by measuring the duration of the embedded phase of star formation and the implied time over which molecular clouds remain inert in the galaxy NGC 628 at a distance of 9.8 Mpc, demonstrating that the cosmic volume where this measurement can be made has increased by a factor of >100 compared to Spitzer. We show that young massive stars remain embedded for ${5.1}_{-1.4}^{+2.7}$ Myr ( ${2.3}_{-1.4}^{+2.7}$ Myr of which being heavily obscured), representing ∼20% of the total cloud lifetime. These values are in broad agreement with previous measurements in five nearby ( D < 3.5 Mpc) galaxies and constitute a proof of concept for the systematic characterization of the early phase of star formation across the nearby galaxy population with the PHANGS–JWST survey.

The earliest stages of star formation occur enshrouded in dust and are not observable in the optical. Here we leverage the extraordinary new high-resolution infrared imaging from JWST to begin the study of dust-embedded star clusters in nearby galaxies throughout the Local Volume. We present a technique for identifying dust-embedded clusters in NGC 7496 (18.7 Mpc), the first galaxy to be observed by the PHANGS–JWST Cycle 1 Treasury Survey. We select sources that have strong 3.3 μ m PAH emission based on a F300M − F335M color excess and identify 67 candidate embedded clusters. Only eight of these are found in the PHANGS-HST optically selected cluster catalog, and all are young (six have SED fit ages of ∼1 Myr). We find that this sample of embedded cluster candidates may significantly increase the census of young clusters in NGC 7496 from the PHANGS-HST catalog; the number of clusters younger than ∼2 Myr could be increased by a factor of 2. Candidates are preferentially located in dust lanes and are coincident with the peaks in the PHANGS-ALMA CO (2–1) maps. We take a first look at concentration indices, luminosity functions, SEDs spanning from 2700 Å to 21 μ m, and stellar masses (estimated to be between ∼10 ^4 and 10 ^5 M _⊙ ). The methods tested here provide a basis for future work to derive accurate constraints on the physical properties of embedded clusters, characterize the completeness of cluster samples, and expand analysis to all 19 galaxies in the PHANGS–JWST sample, which will enable basic unsolved problems in star formation and cluster evolution to be addressed.

We combine archival Hubble Space Telescope and new James Webb Space Telescope imaging data covering the ultraviolet to mid-infrared regime to morphologically analyze the nuclear star cluster (NSC) of NGC 628, a grand-design spiral galaxy. The cluster is located in a 200 pc × 400 pc cavity lacking both dust and gas. We find roughly constant values for the effective radius ( r _eff ∼ 5 pc) and ellipticity ( ϵ ∼ 0.05), while the Sérsic index ( n ) and position angle (PA) drop from n ∼ 3 to ∼2 and PA ∼ 130° to 90°, respectively. In the mid-infrared, r _eff ∼ 12 pc, ϵ ∼ 0.4, and n ∼ 1–1.5, with the same PA ∼ 90°. The NSC has a stellar mass of ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}\,({M}_{\star }^{\mathrm{nsc}}/{M}_{\odot })=7.06\pm 0.31$ , as derived through B − V , confirmed when using multiwavelength data, and in agreement with the literature value. Fitting the spectral energy distribution (SED), excluding the mid-infrared data, yields a main stellar population age of (8 ± 3) Gyr with a metallicity of Z = 0.012 ± 0.006. There is no indication of any significant star formation over the last few gigayears. Whether gas and dust were dynamically kept out or evacuated from the central cavity remains unclear. The best fit suggests an excess of flux in the mid-infrared bands, with further indications that the center of the mid-infrared structure is displaced with respect to the optical center of the NSC. We discuss five potential scenarios, none of them fully explaining both the observed photometry and structure.

JWST/Mid-Infrared Instrument imaging of the nearby galaxies IC 5332, NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496 from PHANGS reveals a richness of gas structures that in each case form a quasi-regular network of interconnected filaments, shells, and voids. We examine whether this multiscale network of structure is consistent with the fragmentation of the gas disk through gravitational instability. We use FilFinder to detect the web of filamentary features in each galaxy and determine their characteristic radial and azimuthal spacings. These spacings are then compared to estimates of the most Toomre-unstable length (a few kiloparsecs), the turbulent Jeans length (a few hundred parsecs), and the disk scale height (tens of parsecs) reconstructed using PHANGS–Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the molecular gas as a dynamical tracer. Our analysis of the four galaxies targeted in this work indicates that Jeans-scale structure is pervasive. Future work will be essential for determining how the structure observed in gas disks impacts not only the rate and location of star formation but also how stellar feedback interacts positively or negatively with the surrounding multiphase gas reservoir.

The PHANGS collaboration has been building a reference data set for the multiscale, multiphase study of star formation and the interstellar medium (ISM) in nearby galaxies. With the successful launch and commissioning of JWST, we can now obtain high-resolution infrared imaging to probe the youngest stellar populations and dust emission on the scales of star clusters and molecular clouds (∼5–50 pc). In Cycle 1, PHANGS is conducting an eight-band imaging survey from 2 to 21 μ m of 19 nearby spiral galaxies. Optical integral field spectroscopy, CO(2–1) mapping, and UV-optical imaging for all 19 galaxies have been obtained through large programs with ALMA, VLT-MUSE, and Hubble. PHANGS–JWST enables a full inventory of star formation, accurate measurement of the mass and age of star clusters, identification of the youngest embedded stellar populations, and characterization of the physical state of small dust grains. When combined with Hubble catalogs of ∼10,000 star clusters, MUSE spectroscopic mapping of ∼20,000 H ii regions, and ∼12,000 ALMA-identified molecular clouds, it becomes possible to measure the timescales and efficiencies of the earliest phases of star formation and feedback, build an empirical model of the dependence of small dust grain properties on local ISM conditions, and test our understanding of how dust-reprocessed starlight traces star formation activity, all across a diversity of galactic environments. Here we describe the PHANGS–JWST Treasury survey, present the remarkable imaging obtained in the first few months of science operations, and provide context for the initial results presented in the first series of PHANGS–JWST publications.

We present a high-resolution view of bubbles within the Phantom Galaxy (NGC 628), a nearby (∼10 Mpc), star-forming (∼2 M _⊙ yr ^−1 ), face-on ( i ∼ 9°) grand-design spiral galaxy. With new data obtained as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS)-JWST treasury program, we perform a detailed case study of two regions of interest, one of which contains the largest and most prominent bubble in the galaxy (the Phantom Void, over 1 kpc in diameter), and the other being a smaller region that may be the precursor to such a large bubble (the Precursor Phantom Void). When comparing to matched-resolution H α observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, we see that the ionized gas is brightest in the shells of both bubbles, and is coincident with the youngest (∼1 Myr) and most massive (∼10 ^5 M _⊙ ) stellar associations. We also find an older generation (∼20 Myr) of stellar associations is present within the bubble of the Phantom Void. From our kinematic analysis of the H I , H _2 (CO), and H ii gas across the Phantom Void, we infer a high expansion speed of around 15 to 50 km s ^−1 . The large size and high expansion speed of the Phantom Void suggest that the driving mechanism is sustained stellar feedback due to multiple mechanisms, where early feedback first cleared a bubble (as we observe now in the Precursor Phantom Void), and since then supernovae have been exploding within the cavity and have accelerated the shell. Finally, comparison to simulations shows a striking resemblance to our JWST observations, and suggests that such large-scale, stellar-feedback-driven bubbles should be common within other galaxies.

A primary new capability of JWST is the ability to penetrate the dust in star-forming galaxies to identify and study the properties of young star clusters that remain embedded in dust and gas. In this Letter we combine new infrared images taken with JWST with our optical Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of the starbursting barred (Seyfert2) spiral galaxy NGC 1365. We find that this galaxy has the richest population of massive young clusters of any known galaxy within 30 Mpc, with ∼30 star clusters that are more massive than 10 ^6 M _⊙ and younger than 10 Myr. Sixteen of these clusters are newly discovered from our JWST observations. An examination of the optical images reveals that 4 of 30 (∼13%) are so deeply embedded that they cannot be seen in the Hubble I band ( A _V ≳ 10 mag), and that 11 of 30 (∼37%) are missing in the HST B band, so age and mass estimates from optical measurements alone are challenging. These numbers suggest that massive clusters in NGC 1365 remain completely obscured in the visible for ∼1.3 ± 0.7 Myr and are either completely or partially obscured for ∼3.7 ± 1.1 Myr. We also use the JWST observations to gain new insights into the triggering of star cluster formation by the collision of gas and dust streamers with gas and dust in the bar. The JWST images reveal previously unknown structures (e.g., bridges and overshoot regions from stars that form in the bar) that help us better understand the orbital dynamics of barred galaxies and associated star-forming rings. Finally, we note that the excellent spatial resolution of the NIRCAM F200W filter provides a better way to separate barely resolved compact clusters from individual stars based on their sizes.

We use PHANGS–James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data to identify and classify 1271 compact 21 μ m sources in four nearby galaxies using MIRI F2100W data. We identify sources using a dendrogram-based algorithm, and we measure the background-subtracted flux densities for JWST bands from 2 to 21 μ m. Using the spectral energy distribution (SED) in JWST and HST bands plus ALMA and MUSE/VLT observations, we classify the sources by eye. Then we use this classification to define regions in color–color space and so establish a quantitative framework for classifying sources. We identify 1085 sources as belonging to the ISM of the target galaxies with the remainder being dusty stars or background galaxies. These 21 μ m sources are strongly spatially associated with H ii regions (>92% of sources), while 74% of the sources are coincident with a stellar association defined in the HST data. Using SED fitting, we find that the stellar masses of the 21 μ m sources span a range of 10 ^2 –10 ^4 M _⊙ with mass-weighted ages down to 2 Myr. There is a tight correlation between attenuation-corrected H α and 21 μ m luminosity for L _ν _,F2100W > 10 ^19 W Hz ^−1 . Young embedded source candidates selected at 21 μ m are found below this threshold and have M _⋆ < 10 ^3 M _⊙ .

We present a comparison of theoretical predictions of dust continuum and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission with new JWST observations in three nearby galaxies: NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496. Our analysis focuses on a total of 1063 compact stellar clusters and 2654 stellar associations previously characterized by the Hubble Space Telescope in the three galaxies. We find that the distributions and trends in the observed PAH-focused infrared colors generally agree with theoretical expectations, and that the bulk of the observations is more aligned with models of larger, ionized PAHs. These JWST data usher in a new era of probing interstellar dust and studying how the intense radiation fields near stellar clusters and associations play a role in shaping the physical properties of PAHs.

We present maps of the 3.3 μ m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission feature in NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496 as observed with the Near-Infrared Camera imager on JWST from the PHANGS–JWST Cycle 1 Treasury project. We create maps that isolate the 3.3 μ m PAH feature in the F335M filter (F335M _PAH ) using combinations of the F300M and F360M filters for removal of starlight continuum. This continuum removal is complicated by contamination of the F360M by PAH emission and variations in the stellar spectral energy distribution slopes between 3.0 and 3.6 μ m. We modify the empirical prescription from Lai et al. to remove the starlight continuum in our highly resolved galaxies, which have a range of starlight- and PAH-dominated lines of sight. Analyzing radially binned profiles of the F335M _PAH emission, we find that between 5% and 65% of the F335M intensity comes from the 3.3 μ m feature within the inner 0.5 r _25 of our targets. This percentage systematically varies from galaxy to galaxy and shows radial trends within the galaxies related to each galaxy’s distribution of stellar mass, interstellar medium, and star formation. The 3.3 μ m emission is well correlated with the 11.3 μ m PAH feature traced with the MIRI F1130W filter, as is expected, since both features arise from C–H vibrational modes. The average F335M _PAH /F1130W ratio agrees with the predictions of recent models by Draine et al. for PAHs with size and charge distributions shifted toward larger grains with normal or higher ionization.

JWST observations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission provide some of the deepest and highest resolution views of the cold interstellar medium (ISM) in nearby galaxies. If PAHs are well mixed with the atomic and molecular gas and illuminated by the average diffuse interstellar radiation field, PAH emission may provide an approximately linear, high-resolution, high-sensitivity tracer of diffuse gas surface density. We present a pilot study that explores using PAH emission in this way based on Mid-Infrared Instrument observations of IC 5332, NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496 from the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS-JWST Treasury. Using scaling relationships calibrated in Leroy et al., scaled F1130W provides 10–40 pc resolution and 3 σ sensitivity of Σ _gas ∼ 2 M _⊙ pc ^−2 . We characterize the surface densities of structures seen at

We compare mid-infrared (mid-IR), extinction-corrected H α , and CO (2–1) emission at 70–160 pc resolution in the first four PHANGS–JWST targets. We report correlation strengths, intensity ratios, and power-law fits relating emission in JWST’s F770W, F1000W, F1130W, and F2100W bands to CO and H α . At these scales, CO and H α each correlate strongly with mid-IR emission, and these correlations are each stronger than the one relating CO to H α emission. This reflects that mid-IR emission simultaneously acts as a dust column density tracer, leading to a good match with the molecular-gas-tracing CO, and as a heating tracer, leading to a good match with the H α . By combining mid-IR, CO, and H α at scales where the overall correlation between cold gas and star formation begins to break down, we are able to separate these two effects. We model the mid-IR above I _ν = 0.5 MJy sr ^−1 at F770W, a cut designed to select regions where the molecular gas dominates the interstellar medium (ISM) mass. This bright emission can be described to first order by a model that combines a CO-tracing component and an H α -tracing component. The best-fitting models imply that ∼50% of the mid-IR flux arises from molecular gas heated by the diffuse interstellar radiation field, with the remaining ∼50% associated with bright, dusty star-forming regions. We discuss differences between the F770W, F1000W, and F1130W bands and the continuum-dominated F2100W band and suggest next steps for using the mid-IR as an ISM tracer.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) play a critical role in the reprocessing of stellar radiation and balancing the heating and cooling processes in the interstellar medium but appear to be destroyed in H ii regions. However, the mechanisms driving their destruction are still not completely understood. Using PHANGS–JWST and PHANGS–MUSE observations, we investigate how the PAH fraction changes in about 1500 H ii regions across four nearby star-forming galaxies (NGC 628, NGC 1365, NGC 7496, and IC 5332). We find a strong anticorrelation between the PAH fraction and the ionization parameter (the ratio between the ionizing photon flux and the hydrogen density) of H ii regions. This relation becomes steeper for more luminous H ii regions. The metallicity of H ii regions has only a minor impact on these results in our galaxy sample. We find that the PAH fraction decreases with the H α equivalent width—a proxy for the age of the H ii regions—although this trend is much weaker than the one identified using the ionization parameter. Our results are consistent with a scenario where hydrogen-ionizing UV radiation is the dominant source of PAH destruction in star-forming regions.

We explore the relationship between mid-infrared (mid-IR) and CO rotational line emission from massive star-forming galaxies, which is one of the tightest scalings in the local universe. We assemble a large set of unresolved and moderately (∼1 kpc) spatially resolved measurements of CO (1–0) and CO (2–1) intensity, I _CO , and mid-IR intensity, I _MIR , at 8, 12, 22, and 24 μ m. The I _CO versus I _MIR relationship is reasonably described by a power law with slopes 0.7–1.2 and normalization I _CO ∼ 1 K km s ^−1 at I _MIR ∼ 1 MJy sr ^−1 . Both the slopes and intercepts vary systematically with choice of line and band. The comparison between the relations measured for CO (1–0) and CO (2–1) allow us to infer that ${R}_{21}\propto {I}_{\mathrm{MIR}}^{0.2}$ , in good agreement with other work. The 8 μ m and 12 μ m bands, with strong polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features, show steeper CO versus mid-IR slopes than the 22 and 24 μ m, consistent with PAH emission arising not just from CO-bright gas but also from atomic or CO-dark gas. The CO-to-mid-IR ratio correlates with global galaxy stellar mass ( M _⋆ ) and anticorrelates with star formation rate/ M _⋆ . At ∼1 kpc resolution, the first four PHANGS–JWST targets show CO-to-mid-IR relationships that are quantitatively similar to our larger literature sample, including showing the steep CO-to-mid-IR slopes for the JWST PAH-tracing bands, although we caution that these initial data have a small sample size and span a limited range of intensities.

We present maps tracing the fraction of dust in the form of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in IC 5332, NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496 from JWST/MIRI observations. We trace the PAH fraction by combining the F770W (7.7 μ m) and F1130W (11.3 μ m) filters to track ionized and neutral PAH emission, respectively, and comparing the PAH emission to F2100W, which traces small, hot dust grains. We find the average R _PAH = (F770W + F1130W)/F2100W values of 3.3, 4.7, 5.1, and 3.6 in IC 5332, NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496, respectively. We find that H ii regions traced by MUSE H α show a systematically low PAH fraction. The PAH fraction remains relatively constant across other galactic environments, with slight variations. We use CO+H i +H α to trace the interstellar gas phase and find that the PAH fraction decreases above a value of ${{\rm{I}}}_{{\rm{H}}\alpha }/{{\rm{\Sigma }}}_{{\rm{H}}{\rm\small{I}}+{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}\sim {10}^{37.5}\,\mathrm{erg}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}\,{\mathrm{kpc}}^{-2}\,{({M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{pc}}^{-2})}^{-1}$ in all four galaxies. Radial profiles also show a decreasing PAH fraction with increasing radius, correlated with lower metallicity, in line with previous results showing a strong metallicity dependence to the PAH fraction. Our results suggest that the process of PAH destruction in ionized gas operates similarly across the four targets.

Large-scale bars can fuel galaxy centers with molecular gas, often leading to the development of dense ringlike structures where intense star formation occurs, forming a very different environment compared to galactic disks. We pair ∼0.″3 (30 pc) resolution new JWST/MIRI imaging with archival ALMA CO(2–1) mapping of the central ∼5 kpc of the nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 to investigate the physical mechanisms responsible for this extreme star formation. The molecular gas morphology is resolved into two well-known bright bar lanes that surround a smooth dynamically cold gas disk ( R _gal ∼ 475 pc) reminiscent of non-star-forming disks in early-type galaxies and likely fed by gas inflow triggered by stellar feedback in the lanes. The lanes host a large number of JWST-identified massive young star clusters. We find some evidence for temporal star formation evolution along the ring. The complex kinematics in the gas lanes reveal strong streaming motions and may be consistent with convergence of gas streamlines expected there. Indeed, the extreme line widths are found to be the result of inter-“cloud” motion between gas peaks; ScousePy decomposition reveals multiple components with line widths of 〈 σ _CO,scouse 〉 ≈ 19 km s ^−1 and surface densities of $\langle \,{{\rm{\Sigma }}}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2},\mathrm{scouse}}\rangle \,\approx \,800\,{M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{pc}}^{-2}$ , similar to the properties observed throughout the rest of the central molecular gas structure. Tailored hydrodynamical simulations exhibit many of the observed properties and imply that the observed structures are transient and highly time-variable. From our study of NGC 1365, we conclude that it is predominantly the high gas inflow triggered by the bar that is setting the star formation in its CMZ.

PHANGS–JWST mid-infrared (MIR) imaging of nearby spiral galaxies has revealed ubiquitous filaments of dust emission in intricate detail. We present a pilot study to systematically map the dust filament network (DFN) at multiple scales between 25 and 400 pc in NGC 628. MIRI images at 7.7, 10, 11.3, and 21 μ m of NGC 628 are used to generate maps of the filaments in emission, while PHANGS–HST B -band imaging yields maps of dust attenuation features. We quantify the correspondence between filaments traced by MIR thermal continuum/polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission and filaments detected via extinction/scattering of visible light; the fraction of MIR flux contained in the DFN; and the fraction of H ii regions, young star clusters, and associations within the DFN. We examine the dependence of these quantities on the physical scale at which the DFN is extracted. With our highest-resolution DFN maps (25 pc filament width), we find that filaments in emission and attenuation are cospatial in 40% of sight lines, often exhibiting detailed morphological agreement; that ∼30% of the MIR flux is associated with the DFN; and that 75%–80% of the star formation in H ii regions and 60% of the mass in star clusters younger than 5 Myr are contained within the DFN. However, the DFN at this scale is anticorrelated with looser associations of stars younger than 5 Myr identified using PHANGS–HST near-UV imaging. We discuss the impact of these findings on studies of star formation and the interstellar medium, and the broad range of new investigations enabled by multiscale maps of the DFN.

Ratios of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) vibrational bands are a promising tool for measuring the properties of the PAH population and their effect on star formation. The photometric bands of the MIRI and NIRCam instruments on JWST provide the opportunity to measure PAH emission features across entire galaxy disks at unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. Here we present the first results of this analysis in a sample of three nearby galaxies: NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496. Based on the variations observed in the 3.3, 7.7, and 11.3 μ m features, we infer changes to the average PAH size and ionization state across the different galaxy environments. High values of F335M _PAH /F1130W and low values of F1130W/F770W are measured in H ii regions in all three galaxies. This suggests that these regions are populated by hotter PAHs, and/or that the PAH ionization fraction is larger. We see additional evidence of heating and/or changes in PAH size in regions with higher molecular gas content as well as increased ionization in regions with higher H α intensity.

We present new 0.3–21 μ m photometry of SN 2021aefx in the spiral galaxy NGC 1566 at +357 days after B -band maximum, including the first detection of any Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) at >15 μ m. These observations follow earlier JWST observations of SN 2021aefx at +255 days after the time of maximum brightness, allowing us to probe the temporal evolution of the emission properties. We measure the fraction of flux emerging at different wavelengths and its temporal evolution. Additionally, the integrated 0.3–14 μ m decay rate of Δ m _0.3–14 = 1.35 ± 0.05 mag/100 days is higher than the decline rate from the radioactive decay of ^56 Co of ∼1.2 mag/100 days. The most plausible explanation for this discrepancy is that flux is shifting to >14 μ m, and future JWST observations of SNe Ia will be able to directly test this hypothesis. However, models predicting nonradiative energy loss cannot be excluded with the present data.

We measure empirical relationships between the local star formation rate (SFR) and properties of the star-forming molecular gas on 1.5 kpc scales across 80 nearby galaxies. These relationships, commonly referred to as “star formation laws,” aim at predicting the local SFR surface density from various combinations of molecular gas surface density, galactic orbital time, molecular cloud free fall time, and the interstellar medium dynamical equilibrium pressure. Leveraging a multiwavelength database built for the Physics at High Angular Resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) survey, we measure these quantities consistently across all galaxies and quantify systematic uncertainties stemming from choices of SFR calibrations and the CO-to-H _2 conversion factors. The star formation laws we examine show 0.3–0.4 dex of intrinsic scatter, among which the molecular Kennicutt–Schmidt relation shows a ∼10% larger scatter than the other three. The slope of this relation ranges β ≈ 0.9–1.2, implying that the molecular gas depletion time remains roughly constant across the environments probed in our sample. The other relations have shallower slopes ( β ≈ 0.6–1.0), suggesting that the star formation efficiency per orbital time, the star formation efficiency per free fall time, and the pressure-to-SFR surface density ratio (i.e., the feedback yield) vary systematically with local molecular gas and SFR surface densities. Last but not least, the shapes of the star formation laws depend sensitively on methodological choices. Different choices of SFR calibrations can introduce systematic uncertainties of at least 10%–15% in the star formation law slopes and 0.15–0.25 dex in their normalization, while the CO-to-H _2 conversion factors can additionally produce uncertainties of 20%–25% for the slope and 0.10–0.20 dex for the normalization.

High-resolution JWST-MIRI images of nearby spiral galaxies reveal emission with complex substructures that trace dust heated both by massive young stars and the diffuse interstellar radiation field. We present high angular (0.″85) and physical resolution (20–80 pc) measurements of the probability distribution function (PDF) of mid-infrared (mid-IR) emission (7.7–21 μ m) from 19 nearby star-forming galaxies from the PHANGS-JWST Cycle 1 Treasury. The PDFs of mid-IR emission from the disks of all 19 galaxies consistently show two distinct components: an approximately lognormal distribution at lower intensities and a high-intensity power law component. These two components only emerge once individual star-forming regions are resolved. Comparing with locations of H ii regions identified from Very Large Telescope/MUSE H α mapping, we infer that the power-law component arises from star-forming regions and thus primarily traces dust heated by young stars. In the continuum-dominated 21 μ m band, the power law is more prominent and contains roughly half of the total flux. At 7.7–11.3 μ m, the power law is suppressed by the destruction of small grains (including PAHs) close to H ii regions, while the lognormal component tracing the dust column in diffuse regions appears more prominent. The width and shape of the lognormal diffuse emission PDFs in galactic disks remain consistent across our sample, implying a lognormal gas column density N (H) ≈ 10 ^21 cm ^−2 shaped by supersonic turbulence with typical (isothermal) turbulent Mach numbers ≈5−15. Finally, we describe how the PDFs of galactic disks are assembled from dusty H ii regions and diffuse gas and discuss how the measured PDF parameters correlate with global properties such as star formation rate and gas surface density.

M82 is an archetypal starburst galaxy in the local Universe. The central burst of star formation, thought to be triggered by M82's interaction with other members in the M81 group, is driving a multiphase galaxy-scale wind away from the plane of the disk that has been studied across the electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we present new velocity-resolved observations of the [C ii ] 158 μ m line in the central disk and the southern outflow of M82 using the upGREAT instrument on board SOFIA. We also report the first detections of velocity-resolved (Δ V = 10 km s ^−1 ) [C ii ] emission in the outflow of M82 at projected distances of ≈1–2 kpc south of the galaxy center. We compare the [C ii ] line profiles to observations of CO and H i and find that likely the majority (>55%) of the [C ii ] emission in the outflow is associated with the neutral atomic medium. We find that the fraction of [C ii ] actually outflowing from M82 is small compared to the bulk gas outside the midplane (which may be in a halo or tidal streamers), which has important implications for observations of [C ii ] outflows at higher redshift. Finally, by comparing the observed ratio of the [C ii ] and CO intensities to models of photodissociation regions, we estimate that the far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field in the disk is ∼10 ^3.5 G _0 , in agreement with previous estimates. In the outflow, however, the FUV radiation field is 2–3 orders of magnitudes lower, which may explain the high fraction of [C ii ] arising from the neutral medium in the wind.

We present ^13 CO( J = 1 → 0) observations for the EDGE-CALIFA survey, which is a mapping survey of 126 nearby galaxies at a typical spatial resolution of 1.5 kpc. Using detected ^12 CO emission as a prior, we detect ^13 CO in 41 galaxies via integrated line flux over the entire galaxy and in 30 galaxies via integrated line intensity in resolved synthesized beams. Incorporating our CO observations and optical IFU spectroscopy, we perform a systematic comparison between the line ratio ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}\equiv I{[}^{12}\mathrm{CO}(J=1\to 0)]/I{[}^{13}\mathrm{CO}(J=1\to 0)]$ and the properties of the stars and ionized gas. Higher ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ values are found in interacting galaxies compared to those in noninteracting galaxies. The global ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ slightly increases with infrared color F _60 / F _100 but appears insensitive to other host-galaxy properties such as morphology, stellar mass, or galaxy size. We also present azimuthally averaged ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ profiles for our sample up to a galactocentric radius of 0.4 r _25 (∼6 kpc), taking into account the ^13 CO nondetections by spectral stacking. The radial profiles of ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ are quite flat across our sample. Within galactocentric distances of 0.2 r _25 , the azimuthally averaged ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ increases with the star formation rate. However, Spearman rank correlation tests show the azimuthally averaged ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ does not strongly correlate with any other gas or stellar properties in general, especially beyond 0.2 r _25 from the galaxy centers. Our findings suggest that in the complex environments in galaxy disks, ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ is not a sensitive tracer for ISM properties. Dynamical disturbances, like galaxy interactions or the presence of a bar, also have an overall impact on ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ , which further complicates the interpretations of ${{ \mathcal R }}_{12/13}$ variations.

The CO-to-H _2 conversion factor ( α _CO ) is central to measuring the amount and properties of molecular gas. It is known to vary with environmental conditions, and previous studies have revealed lower α _CO in the centers of some barred galaxies on kiloparsec scales. To unveil the physical drivers of such variations, we obtained Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array bands (3), (6), and (7) observations toward the inner ∼2 kpc of NGC 3627 and NGC 4321 tracing ^12 CO, ^13 CO, and C ^18 O lines on ∼100 pc scales. Our multiline modeling and Bayesian likelihood analysis of these data sets reveal variations of molecular gas density, temperature, optical depth, and velocity dispersion, which are among the key drivers of α _CO . The central 300 pc nuclei in both galaxies show strong enhancement of temperature T _k ≳ 100 K and density ${n}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}\gt {10}^{3}$ cm ^−3 . Assuming a CO-to-H _2 abundance of 3 × 10 ^−4 , we derive 4–15 times lower α _CO than the Galactic value across our maps, which agrees well with previous kiloparsec-scale measurements. Combining the results with our previous work on NGC 3351, we find a strong correlation of α _CO with low- J ^12 CO optical depths ( τ _CO ), as well as an anticorrelation with T _k . The τ _CO correlation explains most of the α _CO variation in the three galaxy centers, whereas changes in T _k influence α _CO to second order. Overall, the observed line width and ^12 CO/ ^13 CO 2–1 line ratio correlate with τ _CO variation in these centers, and thus they are useful observational indicators for α _CO variation. We also test current simulation-based α _CO prescriptions and find a systematic overprediction, which likely originates from the mismatch of gas conditions between our data and the simulations.

We measure the molecular gas environment near recent (

We measure the CO-to-H2 conversion factor (α CO) in 37 galaxies at 2 kpc resolution, using the dust surface density inferred from far-infrared emission as a tracer of the gas surface density and assuming a constant dust-to-metal ratio. In total, we have ∼790 and ∼610 independent measurements of α CO for CO (2–1) and (1–0), respectively. The mean values for α CO (2–1) and α CO (1–0) are 9.3 − 5.4 + 4.6 and 4.2 − 2.0 + 1.9 M ⊙ pc − 2 (K km s − 1) − 1 , respectively. The CO-intensity-weighted mean is 5.69 for α CO (2–1) and 3.33 for α CO (1–0). We examine how α CO scales with several physical quantities, e.g., the star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, and dust-mass-weighted average interstellar radiation field strength ( U ¯ ). Among them, U ¯ , ΣSFR, and the integrated CO intensity (W CO) have the strongest anticorrelation with spatially resolved α CO. We provide linear regression results to α CO for all quantities tested. At galaxy-integrated scales, we observe significant correlations between α CO and W CO, metallicity, U ¯ , and ΣSFR. We also find that α CO in each galaxy decreases with the stellar mass surface density (Σ⋆) in high-surface-density regions (Σ⋆ ≥ 100 M ⊙ pc−2), following the power-law relations α CO (2 – 1) ∝ Σ ⋆ − 0.5 and α CO (1 – 0) ∝ Σ ⋆ − 0.2 . The power-law index is insensitive to the assumed dust-to-metal ratio. We interpret the decrease in α CO with increasing Σ⋆ as a result of higher velocity dispersion compared to isolated, self-gravitating clouds due to the additional gravitational force from stellar sources, which leads to the reduction in α CO. The decrease in α CO at high Σ⋆ is important for accurately assessing molecular gas content and star formation efficiency in the centers of galaxies, which bridge "Milky Way–like" to "starburst-like" conversion factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

M82 is an archetypal starburst galaxy in the local Universe. The central burst of star formation, thought to be triggered by M82's interaction with other members in the M81 group, is driving a multiphase galaxy-scale wind away from the plane of the disk that has been studied across the electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we present new velocity-resolved observations of the [C ii ] 158 μ m line in the central disk and the southern outflow of M82 using the upGREAT instrument on board SOFIA. We also report the first detections of velocity-resolved (Δ V = 10 km s−1) [C ii ] emission in the outflow of M82 at projected distances of ≈1–2 kpc south of the galaxy center. We compare the [C ii ] line profiles to observations of CO and H i and find that likely the majority (>55%) of the [C ii ] emission in the outflow is associated with the neutral atomic medium. We find that the fraction of [C ii ] actually outflowing from M82 is small compared to the bulk gas outside the midplane (which may be in a halo or tidal streamers), which has important implications for observations of [C ii ] outflows at higher redshift. Finally, by comparing the observed ratio of the [C ii ] and CO intensities to models of photodissociation regions, we estimate that the far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field in the disk is ∼103.5 G 0, in agreement with previous estimates. In the outflow, however, the FUV radiation field is 2–3 orders of magnitudes lower, which may explain the high fraction of [C ii ] arising from the neutral medium in the wind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]