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Motivated by the stellar fossil record of Local Group (LG) dwarf galaxies, we show that the star-forming ancestors of the faintest ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs; ${rm M}_{rm V}$ $sim -2$ or ${rm M}_{star}$ $sim 10^{2}$ at $z=0$) had ultra-violet (UV) luminosities of ${rm M}_{rm UV}$ $sim -3$ to $-6$ during reionization ($zsim6-10$). The existence of such faint galaxies has substantial implications for early epochs of galaxy formation and reionization. If the faint-end slopes of the UV luminosity functions (UVLFs) during reionization are steep ($alphalesssim-2$) to ${rm M}_{rm UV}$ $sim -3$, then: (i) the ancestors of UFDs produced $>50$% of UV flux from galaxies; (ii) galaxies can maintain reionization with escape fractions that are $>$2 times lower than currently-adopted values; (iii) direct HST and JWST observations may detect only $sim10-50$% of the UV light from galaxies; (iv) the cosmic star formation history increases by $gtrsim4-6$ at $zgtrsim6$. Significant flux from UFDs, and resultant tensions with LG dwarf galaxy counts, are reduced if the high-redshift UVLF turns over. Independent of the UVLF shape, the existence of a large population of UFDs requires a non-zero luminosity function to ${rm M}_{rm UV}$ $sim -3$ during reionization.
In the Local Group (LG), almost all satellite dwarf galaxies that are within the virial radius of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31) exhibit strong environmental influence. The orbital histories of these satellites provide the key to understandin
We develop a technique to investigate the possibility that some of the recently discovered ultra-faint dwarf satellites of the Milky Way might be cusp caustics rather than gravitationally self-bound systems. Such cusps can form when a stream of stars
I show that a recently discovered star cluster near the center of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Eridanus II provides strong constraints on massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) of >~5 M_sun as the main component of dark matter. MACHO dark matter will
The discovery of Ultra-Faint Dwarf (UFD) galaxies in the halo of the Milky Way extends the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function to a few hundred solar luminosities. This extremely low luminosity regime poses a significant challenge for the pho
We report the discovery of a very diverse set of five low-surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxy candidates in Hickson Compact Group 90 (HCG 90) detected in deep U- and I-band images obtained with VLT/VIMOS. These are the first LSB dwarf galaxy candid