Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 2009. 47: 371-425 Copyright © 2009 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved

Reprinted with kind permission from Annual Reviews, 4139 El Camino Way, Palo Alto, California, USA

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Abstract. Within the Local Universe galaxies can be studied in great detail star by star, and here we review the results of quantitative studies in nearby dwarf galaxies. The Color-Magnitude Diagram synthesis method is well established as the most accurate way to determine star formation history of galaxies back to the earliest times. This approach received a large boost from the exceptional data sets that wide field CCD imagers on the ground and the Hubble Space Telescope could provide. Spectroscopic studies using large ground based telescopes such as VLT, Magellan, Keck and HET have allowed the determination of abundances and kinematics for significant samples of stars in nearby dwarf galaxies. These studies have shown how the properties of stellar populations can vary spatially and temporally. This leads to important constraints to theories of galaxy formation and evolution. The combination of spectroscopy and imaging and what they have taught us about dwarf galaxy formation and evolution is the aim of this review.

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION
• DETAILED STAR FORMATION HISTORIES
• Techniques: Synthetic CMD analysis
• An Example:
• Testing the Reliability:
• Observations: Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Group
• Early-type Dwarf Galaxies:
• Late-type Dwarf Galaxies:
• Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies
• The Small Magellanic Cloud:
• Beyond the Local Group
• STELLAR KINEMATICS AND METALLICITIES
• Early-Type Dwarfs
• Galactic dSphs:
• More Distant dSphs:
• Dwarf galaxies around M 31
• Late-Type Dwarfs
• Ultra-Faint Dwarfs
• DETAILED ABUNDANCES OF RESOLVED STARS
• Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• alpha elements
• Sodium and Nickel
• neutron-capture elements
• Ultra-Faint dwarf galaxies
• Dwarf irregulars
• CHEMICAL EVOLUTION MODELS
• Explaining Low Metallicity
• Galactic Winds
• Modelling Individual systems
• Standard Models
• Chemo-dynamical models
• Model predictions and observed abundances
• CONCLUDING REMARKS
• REFERENCES

... Les gens ont des étoiles qui ne sont pas les mêmes. Pour les uns, qui voyagent, les étoiles sont des guides. Pour d'autres elle ne sont rien que de petites lumières. Pour d'autres qui sont des savants elles sont des problèmes.