Radio continuum observations of local star-forming galaxies using the
  Caltech Continuum Backend on the Green Bank Telescope
  We observed radio continuum emission in 27 local (D < 70 Mpc) star-forming
galaxies with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope between 26 GHz and 40 GHz
using the Caltech Continuum Backend. We obtained detections for 22 of these
galaxies at all four sub-bands and four more marginal detections by taking the
average flux across the entire bandwidth. This is the first detection (full or
marginal) at these frequencies for 22 of these galaxies. We fit spectral energy
distributions (SEDs) for all of the four-sub-band detections. For 14 of the
galaxies, SEDs were best fit by a combination of thermal free-free and
nonthermal synchrotron components. Eight galaxies with four-sub-band detections
had steep spectra that were only fit by a single nonthermal component. Using
these fits, we calculated supernova rates, total number of equivalent O stars,
and star formation rates within each ~23 arcsecond beam. For unresolved
galaxies, these physical properties characterize the galaxies' recent star
formation on a global scale. We confirm that the radio-far-infrared correlation
holds for the unresolved galaxies' total 33 GHz flux regardless of their
thermal fractions, though the scatter on this correlation is larger than that
at 1.4 GHz. In addition, we found that for the unresolved galaxies, there is an
inverse relationship between the ratio of 33 GHz flux to total far-infrared
flux and the steepness of the galaxy's spectral index between 1.4 GHz and 33
GHz. This relationship could be an indicator of the timescale of the observed
episode of star formation.
