Exploring the Interstellar Media of Optically Compact Dwarf Galaxies
  We present new Very Large Array HI spectral line, archival Sloan Digital Sky
Survey, and archival Spitzer Space Telescope imaging of eight star-forming blue
compact dwarf galaxies that were selected to be optically compact (optical
radii less than 1 kpc). These systems have faint blue absolute magnitudes (M_B
>= -17), ongoing star formation (based on emission-line selection by the H
alpha or [OIII] lines), and are nearby (mean velocity = 3315 km/s = 45 Mpc).
One galaxy in the sample, ADBS 113845+2008, is found to have an HI halo that
extends 58 r-band scale lengths from its stellar body. In contrast, the rest of
the sample galaxies have HI radii to optical-scale-length ratios ranging from
9.3 to 26. The size of the HI disk in the "giant disk" dwarf galaxy ADBS
113845+2008 appears to be unusual as compared to similarly compact stellar
populations.
