Morphological Mutations of Dwarf Galaxies

TL;DR

This paper reviews the morphological diversity and evolutionary processes of dwarf galaxies, emphasizing environmental influences, transformations, and the specific case of Milky Way satellites.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of dwarf galaxy types, their evolutionary pathways, and the environmental factors affecting their morphology.

Findings

Gas depletion leads to dwarf elliptical formation

Environmental effects influence morphological transformations

Milky Way satellites are key to understanding dwarf galaxy evolution

Abstract

Dwarf galaxies (DGs) are extremely challenging objects in extragalactic astrophysics. They are expected to originate as the first units in Cold Dark-Matter cosmology. They are the galaxy type most sensitive to environmental influences and their division into multiple types with various properties have invoked the picture of their variant morphological transformations. Detailed observations reveal characteristics which allow to deduce the evolutionary paths and to witness how the environment has affected the evolution. Here we review peculiarities of general morphological DG types and refer to processes which can deplete gas-rich irregular DGs leading to dwarf ellipticals, while gas replenishment implies an evolutionary cycling. Finally, as the less understood DG types the Milky Way satellite dwarf spheroidal galaxies are discussed in the context of transformation.