The influence of the decay of OB associations on the evolution of dwarf galaxies

The ejection of stars from spheroidal and disk dwarf galaxies resulting from the decay of OB associations is studied. This has substantial observational consequences for disk galaxies with escape velocities up to 20 km/s, or dynamical masses up to 10(8) M (aS (TM)). The ejection of stars can (i) reduce the abundances of the products of Type Ia supernovae and, to a lesser degree, Type II supernovae, in disk stars, (ii) chemically enrich the galactic halo and intergalactic medium, (iii) lead to the loss of 50% of the stellar mass in galaxies with masses similar to 10(7) M (aS (TM)) and the loss of all stars in systems with masses a parts per thousand(2)10(5) M (aS (TM)), (iv) increase the mass-to-luminosity ratio of the galaxy.