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We investigate how the dynamical state of molecular clouds relates to hostgalaxy environment, and how this impacts the star formation efficiency in theMilky Way and seven nearby galaxies. We compile measurements of molecular cloudand host galaxy properties and determine mass-weighted mean cloud propertiesfor entire galaxies and distinct subregions within. We find molecular clouds tobe in ambient pressure-balanced virial equilibrium, where clouds in gas-rich,molecular-dominated, high-pressure regions are close to self-virialization,whereas clouds in gas-poor, atomic-dominated, low-pressure environments achievea balance between their internal kinetic pressure and external pressure fromthe ambient medium. The star formation efficiency per free-fall time ofmolecular clouds is low ~0.1%-1% and shows systematic variations of 2 dex as afunction of the virial parameter and host galactic environment. The trendobserved for clouds in low-pressure environments--as the solar neighborhood--iswell matched by state-of-the-art turbulence-regulated models of star formation.However, these models substantially overpredict the low observed star formationefficiencies of clouds in high-pressure environments, which suggests theimportance of additional physical parameters not yet considered by thesemodels.

How Galactic Environment affects the Dynamical State of Molecular Clouds and their Star Formation Efficiency