Galaxy Formation and Stellar Evolution in Dwarf Systems
Summary
The formation of galaxies and subsequent stellar evolution within dwarf systems offers a unique window into fundamental processes of cosmic structure growth. Owing to their low masses and relatively simple histories, dwarf galaxies are sensitive to a range of physical mechanisms—such as reionisation, stellar feedback and environmental influences—that regulate baryonic assembly. In the prevailing ΛCDM cosmology, dwarf haloes collapse at early times, providing the sites for the first episodes of star formation. Stellar feedback, driven by supernovae and stellar winds, can expel gas and suppress further star formation, while cosmic reionisation heats the intergalactic medium, inhibiting gas accretion onto low-mass haloes. Observations of Local Group satellites reveal diverse star formation histories, from systems that formed the bulk of their stars before reionisation to those with extended or episodic star formation over billion-year timescales. The interplay of internal processes—such as chemical enrichment and feedback—and external factors—such as ram pressure stripping by a host galaxy halo—shapes the morphology, gas content and quenching of these systems. Owing to their high number density and role as the building blocks of larger galaxies, dwarf systems also serve as sensitive probes of dark matter properties and the nature of cosmic reionisation.
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Galaxy Formation and Stellar Evolution in Dwarf Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in galaxy formation and stellar evolution in dwarf systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Dwarf galaxy: A low-mass galaxy with stellar mass typically below 10^9 M⊙, sensitive to environmental and feedback processes.
Quenching: The cessation of star formation in a galaxy, often due to gas removal or heating mechanisms.
Cosmological zoom-in simulation: A high-resolution computational model that focuses on a single region within a larger cosmological volume to study detailed galaxy formation physics.
Colour–magnitude diagram (CMD): A plot of stellar brightness versus colour used to infer ages, metallicities and star formation histories of resolved stellar populations.
References
- Hedgehog: An Isolated Quiescent Dwarf Galaxy at 2.4 Mpc. The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2024).
- Public Data Release of the FIRE-2 Cosmological Zoom-in Simulations of Galaxy Formation. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (2023).
- The JWST Resolved Stellar Populations Early Release Science Program. IV. The Star Formation History of the Local Group Galaxy WLM. The Astrophysical Journal (2024).
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