With the advent of new instrumentation we expect a strong progress in
the research of star forming dwarf galaxies. We already mentioned the
recent/ongoing surveys with HST, Spitzer, GALEX and radio
observatories. The Herschel observatory will provide information about
heating and cooling processes of gas and dust in low metallicity
environments. This will also help us to better understand the important
question of H2 in metal poor SFDGs. LOFAR will eventually
detect low-frequency radiation from halos of starburst dwarfs. Using
wide field 2-D spectroscopy we will study the nature and triggering
mechanisms of starbursts. The conditions for
Ly
emission and the
coupling to Lyman continuum leakage will be explored and applied on
starburst dwarfs at high redshifts
(Hayes
et al. 2011).
Gradually we will understand the importance of SFDGs in the cosmic
reionization and formation of massive galaxies, the regulating
mechanisms of starbursts, the violent star formation processes, the mass
exchange with the environment and the relation between different types
of dwarf galaxies.
Acknowledgements I thank the organizers of this workshop who invited me to give this talk. In particular I would like to thank Polychronis Papaderos for creating such a nice atmosphere, stimulating social contacts and scientific discussions. I would also like to thank him and Thomas Marquart for many enlightening and stimulating discussions about the subject of star forming dwarf galaxies. Thomas is also acknowledged for helping me with some of the graphical ingredients of this paper.