Luminosity Functions in Dwarf Irregulars

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Abstract
Observing luminosity functions and color-magnitude diagrams is a first step towards understanding the luminous stellar populations in galaxies. Dwarf irregular galaxies are of special interest for a variety of reasons. They are common at distances where they can be resolved, and generally have low background surface brightnesses which makes photometry of the resolved stars relatively easy. Dwarf irregulars exhibit a fairly wide spread in metal abundance allowing the study of massive star formation and evolution under a variety of conditions. Also, the dynamics of such systems is in general simple, without spiral density waves or other effects which might complicate understanding of the star formation process.

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