Rationale
While many lines of evidence highlight the role of dwarf galaxies in the cosmic scenery, as building blocks of Hubble-type galaxies and important contributors to the chemical enrichment of the universe, the formation and evolution of these systems is only sketchily understood.
The nearby universe reveals a diversity of late-type dwarf galaxies spanning a wide range in their photometric structure, metallicity and star-formation amplitude.
- Does this galaxy population share a common evolutionary history or rather consist of physically and evolutionary distinct subclasses?
- Are descentants of the sizable population of luminous compact blue galaxies at intermediate redshift identifiable among nearby dwarfs?
- Which fraction of dwarf galaxies was born out of tidally ejected matter in galaxy collisions?
- Are there characteristic phases in dwarf galaxy formation and evolution and which parametrisation approximates best the star formation history of these systems?
- Which intrinsic and environmental properties regulate star-forming activities in dwarf galaxies?
- Which processes trigger bursts of star formation in these systems and what fraction of their stellar mass may have formed in such transient violent episodes? Does the mass spectrum of young stellar clusters depend on galaxy mass?
- How does the morphology of dwarf galaxies evolve with time and what does morphology tell us about the evolutionary status of these systems?
- What is a meaningful operational definition for the "age" and the "metallicity" of a dwarf galaxy?
- Is there a measurable fraction of young dwarf galaxies at z ≈ 0 and, if so, what is the reason for their retarded evolution?
- Which are the main challenges and prospects in dwarf galaxy research and which opportunities will emerge with the advance of new observing and computing facilities in the next decade?
