A comprehensive study of intense star formation bursts in irregular and compact galaxies

Abstract

We have analyzed the properties of the star formation episodes taking place in a sample of Blue Compact and Irregular galaxies by comparing their multiwavelength observational properties with the predictions of evolutionary population synthesis models. This method has allowed us to constrain the age, star formation regime (instantaneous or extended) and Initial Mass Function slope, as well as the shape and strentgh of the interstellar extinction in these regions.

32 pages, 17 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics; modifications in revised version: new title, new figures 1a,b added, new additional data in Tables 4 and 7; enlarged discussion on data calibration; typos corrected; same results and conclusions