Constraining the Stellar Populations and Star Formation Histories of
  Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies with SED Fits
  We discuss and test possible evolutionary connections between Blue Compact
Dwarf galaxies (BCDs) and other types of dwarf galaxies. BCDs provide ideal
laboratories to study intense star formation episodes in low mass dwarf
galaxies, and have sometimes been considered a short-lived evolutionary stage
between types of dwarf galaxies. To test these connections, we consider a
sample of BCDs as well as a comparison sample of nearby galaxies from the Local
Volume Legacy (LVL) survey for context. We fit the multi-wavelength spectral
energy distributions (SED, far-ultra-violet to far-infrared) of each galaxy
with a grid of theoretical models to determine their stellar masses and star
formation properties. We compare our results for BCDs with the LVL galaxies to
put BCDs in the context of normal galaxy evolution. The SED fits demonstrate
that the star formation events currently underway in BCDs are at the extreme of
the continuum of normal dwarf galaxies, both in terms of the relative mass
involved and in the relative increase over previous star formation rates.
Today's BCDs are distinctive objects in a state of extreme star formation which
is rapidly transforming them. This study also suggests ways to identify former
BCDs whose star formation episodes have since faded.
