Discovering extremely compact and metal-poor, star-forming dwarf
  galaxies out to z ~ 0.9 in the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey
  We report the discovery of 31 low-luminosity (-14.5 > M_{AB}(B) > -18.8),
extreme emission line galaxies (EELGs) at 0.2 < z < 0.9 identified by their
unusually high rest-frame equivalent widths (100 < EW[OIII] < 1700 A) as part
of the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS). VIMOS optical spectra of unprecedented
sensitivity ($I_{AB}$ ~ 25 mag) along with multiwavelength photometry and HST
imaging are used to investigate spectrophotometric properties of this unique
sample and explore, for the first time, the very low stellar mass end (M* <
10^8 M$_{\odot}$) of the luminosity-metallicity (LZR) and mass-metallicity
(MZR) relations at z < 1. Characterized by their extreme compactness (R50 < 1
kpc), low stellar mass and enhanced specific star formation rates (SFR/M* ~
10^{-9} - 10^{-7} yr^{-1}), the VUDS EELGs are blue dwarf galaxies likely
experiencing the first stages of a vigorous galaxy-wide starburst. Using
T_e-sensitive direct and strong-line methods, we find that VUDS EELGs are
low-metallicity (7.5 < 12+log(O/H) < 8.3) galaxies with high ionization
conditions, including at least three EELGs showing HeII 4686A emission and four
EELGs of extremely metal-poor (<10% solar) galaxies. The LZR and MZR followed
by EELGs show relatively large scatter, being broadly consistent with the
extrapolation toward low luminosity and mass from previous studies at similar
redshift. However, we find evidences that galaxies with younger and more
vigorous star formation -- as characterized by their larger EWs, ionization and
sSFR -- tend to be more metal-poor at a given stellar mass.
