| Description: | Dwarf galaxies are exceptional probes of star formation physics due to their status as extreme (low-density, low-metallicity) star-forming environments and to the predominant role that star formation feedback plays in shaping their baryonic structure. By the same token, the processes that regulate star formation in dwarfs must be understood in order to use these systems to test theories of dark matter or to explain the assembly of the low-mass galaxy population. I will discuss several recent works that use low-mass galaxies beyond the Nearby Universe to probe the processes that drive, halt, and regulate star formation. These studies highlight both the utility of dwarfs in constraining the star formation cycle, and the importance of star formation physics in explaining dwarf properties: such efforts will only expand in the coming years as new surveys produce increasingly large and complete dwarf galaxy samples out to significant redshifts. |
