Exploring stellar metallicities in dwarf galaxies and their implications

In this thesis I discuss issues involving stellar metallicities in dwarf galaxies. Stars reflect the gas composition at the time they formed, thereby making the metallicity distribution function (MDF -- the relative number of stars as a function of metallicity) a record of the chemical evolution within a galaxy. I measure photometric metallicities using Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) observations aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Advantages of photometric metallicities include measuring every star in the field down to fainter magnitudes than allowed by spectroscopy. I quantified and calibrated the metallicity and temperature sensitivities of colors derived from nine WFC3 filters using Dartmouth isochrones and Kurucz model atmospheres. The photometric metallicities were tested and calibrated with five well studied Galactic clusters spanning three orders of magnitude in metallicity: M92, NGC 6752, NGC 104, NGC 5927, and NGC 6791. The greatest accuracy in assigning metallicity was found using the (F390M--F555W) color, with the main advantage being the increased color sensitivity at low metallicity.;MDFs for a population, along with chemical evolution models provide evolutionary information about gas flows and enrichment within that galaxy. I measured photometric metallicities in Leo I, Leo II, IC 1613, and Phoenix, and analytical chemical evolution models were fit to their MDFs. The MDF shapes, chemical evolution models and dynamic histories suggest that the galactic conditions during periods of star formation influenced the metallicities. I find that the narrower MDFs are indicative of interactions occurring in concert with star formation, while a broader MDF indicates a passive evolution. Additionally, I explore ways to combine chemical evolution models and star formation histories (SFH), to quantify the metallicity evolution with time. The SFHs of Weisz et al. (2014) are assessed for their potential to determine MDFs for 40 Local Group dwarf galaxies. The SFH-MDF connection is examined by comparing similar MDFs measured by Kirby et al. (2013) and the SFHs. Galaxies with comparable MDFs show similar characteristics in their SFHs. Overall, I find that the SFH, interaction history, and stellar mass are important contributors to the metallicity enrichment in dwarf galaxies.