Resolving the extended stellar halos of nearby galaxies: the future of Near-Field Cosmology

The widely accepted Cold Dark Matter cosmological paradigm faces important challenges at the scales of individual galaxies. The study of resolved stellar populations in the nearest galaxies, or "near-field cosmology", provides key constraints on the physics underlying galaxy formation and evolution. In this talk, I will present ongoing panoramic imaging surveys of galaxies in the Local Volume performed with ground-based wide-field imagers and followed-up with a multiwavelength approach. Such surveys constitute the first accurate characterization of the past and ongoing accretion processes shaping the halos of these nearby galaxies and their satellite populations: they do not only quantitatively inform theoretical models of galaxy formation and evolution, but also represent a necessary testbed in preparation for the next generation of ground-based and space-borne telescopes.