The ACS LCID project. IX. Imprints of the early Universe in the radial
  variation of the star formation history of dwarf galaxies
  Based on Hubble Space Telescope observations from the Local Cosmology from
Isolated Dwarfs project, we present the star formation histories, as a function
of galactocentric radius, of four isolated Local Group dwarf galaxies: two dSph
galaxies, Cetus and Tucana, and two transition galaxies (dTrs), LGS-3 and
Phoenix. The oldest stellar populations of the dSphs and dTrs are, within the
uncertainties, coeval ($\sim 13 Gyr$) at all galactocentric radii. We find that
there are no significative differences between the four galaxies in the
fundamental properties (such as the normalized star formation rate or
age-metallicity relation) of their outer regions (radii greater than four
exponential scale lengths); at large radii, these galaxies consist exclusively
of old ($\geq 10.5 Gyr$) metal-poor stars. The duration of star formation in
the inner regions vary from galaxy to galaxy, and the extended central star
formation in the dTrs produces the dichotomy between dSph and dTr galaxy types.
The dTr galaxies show prominent radial stellar population gradients: the
centers of these galaxies host young ($\leq 1 Gyr$) populations while the age
of the last formation event increases smoothly with increasing radius. This
contrasts with the two dSph galaxies. Tucana shows a similar, but milder,
gradient, but no gradient in age is detected Cetus. For the three galaxies with
significant stellar population gradients, the exponential scale length
decreases with time. These results are in agreement with outside-in scenarios
of dwarf galaxy evolution, in which a quenching of the star formation toward
the center occurs as the galaxy runs out of gas in the outskirts.
