Dwarf and Normal Spiral Galaxies: are they Self-Similar?

The investigation presented here was focused on clarifying the existence of dwarf spiral galaxies as a separate group from classical spirals. First, a list of spiral galaxies with small sizes was obtained. Information on colors, luminosities, morphologies and chemical content was searched for in the literature for these galaxies. Using this information, it can be concluded that dwarf spirals are not likely to be the tail of the distribution of classical galaxies. On the contrary, significant differences in some of the most important properties of spiral galaxies, such as the metallicity gradient and the bar frecuency, were found. In any case, further and more accurate observations are needed for a definitive answer.