How the first stars shaped the faintest gas-dominated dwarf galaxies
  Low-mass dwarf galaxies are very sensitive test-beds for theories of cosmic
structure formation since their weak gravitational fields allow the effects of
the relevant physical processes to clearly stand out. Up to now, no unified
account exists of the sometimes seemingly conflicting properties of the
faintest isolated dwarfs in and around the Local Group, such as Leo T and the
recently discovered Leo P and Pisces A systems. Using new numerical
simulations, we show that this serious challenge to our understanding of galaxy
formation can be effectively resolved by taking into account the regulating
influence of the ultraviolet radiation of the first population of stars on a
dwarf's star formation rate while otherwise staying within the standard
cosmological paradigm for structure formation. These simulations produce faint,
gas-dominated, star-forming dwarf galaxies that lie on the baryonic
Tully-Fisher relation and that successfully reproduce a broad range of
chemical, kinematical, and structural observables of real late-type dwarf
galaxies. Furthermore, we stress the importance of obtaining properties of
simulated galaxies in a manner as close as possible to the typically employed
observational techniques.
