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Article Contents

ABSTRACT

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1.The Cosmological Significance of the Lowest Luminosity Dwarf Galaxies

1.2.Defining “Ultra-Faint Dwarf”

2.STELLAR KINEMATICS

2.1.Mass Modeling and Dark Matter Content

2.2.Identification as Galaxies

3.METALLICITIES AND CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES

3.1.The Mass-Metallicity Relation

3.2.Metallicity Distribution Functions

3.3.Chemical Evolution Histories

3.4.Chemical Abundance Patterns

4.STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES

5.STELLAR POPULATIONS AND GAS CONTENT

5.1.Star Formation Histories

5.2.Initial Mass Functions

5.3.Gas Content

THE ULTRA-FAINT END OF THE GALAXY LUMINOSITY FUNCTION

7.ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION

7.1.The Formation of Ultra-Faint Dwarfs and the Stellar Mass-Halo Mass Relation

7.2. Galactic Orbits

7.3.Tidal Evolution

8.ULTRA-FAINT DWARFS AS DARK MATTER LABORATORIES

9.ULTRA-FAINT DWARFS BEYOND THE MILKY WAY

9.1.Ultra-Faint Dwarfs Around M31

9.2.Surveys Outside the Local Group

9.3.Connection to Observations of the High-Redshift Universe

10.SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK

REFERENCES