Infrared Properties of a Complete Sample of Star-Forming Dwarf Galaxies
  We present a study of a large, statistically complete sample of star-forming
dwarf galaxies using mid-infrared observations from the {\it Spitzer Space
Telescope}. The relationships between metallicity, star formation rate (SFR)
and mid-infrared color in these systems show that the galaxies span a wide
range of properties. However, the galaxies do show a deficit of 8.0 \um\
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission as is apparent from the median 8.0
\um\ luminosity which is only 0.004 \lstarf\ while the median $B$-band
luminosity is 0.05 \lstarb. Despite many of the galaxies being 8.0 \um\
deficient, there is about a factor of 4 more extremely red galaxies in the
[3.6] $-$ [8.0] color than for a sample of normal galaxies with similar optical
colors. We show correlations between the [3.6] $-$ [8.0] color and luminosity,
metallicity, and to a lesser extent SFRs that were not evident in the original,
smaller sample studied previously. The luminosity--metallicity relation has a
flatter slope for dwarf galaxies as has been indicated by previous work. We
also show a relationship between the 8.0 \um\ luminosity and the metallicity of
the galaxy which is not expected given the competing effects (stellar mass,
stellar population age, and the hardness of the radiation field) that influence
the 8.0 \um\ emission. This larger sample plus a well-defined selection
function also allows us to compute the 8.0 \um\ luminosity function and compare
it with the one for the local galaxy population. Our results show that below
10$^{9}$ $L$\solar, nearly all the 8.0 \um\ luminosity density of the local
universe arises from dwarf galaxies that exhibit strong \ha\ emission -- i.e.,
8.0 \um\ and \ha\ selection identify similar galaxy populations despite the
deficit of 8.0 \um\ emission observed in these dwarfs.
