The Stellar Population and Star Formation Properties of Blue Compact
  Dwarf Galaxies
  We study the stellar populations, star formation histories and star formation
properties for a sample of blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) selected by
cross-correlating the Gil de Paz et al. (2003) sample with the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6). The sample includes 31 BCDs, which span a
large range in galactic parameters. Using a stellar population synthesis
method, we derive the stellar populations and reconstruct the star formation
histories for these BCDs. Our studies confirm that BCDs are not young systems
experiencing their first star formation but old systems undergoing a starburst
activity. The stellar mass-weighted ages can be as old as 10 Gyr while the
luminosity-weighted ages might be up to $\sim 3$ orders of magnitude younger
($\sim 10$ Myr) for most galaxies.
  Based on multi-wavelength data, we also study the integrated star formation
properties. The SFR for our sample galaxies spans nearly 3 orders of magnitude,
from a few $10^{-3}$ to $\sim1\,M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, with the median value of
$\sim 0.1\, M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$. We find that about 90% BCDs in our sample have
their birthrate parameter (the ratio of the current SFR to the averaged past
SFR) $b>2-3$. We further discuss correlations of the current SFR with the
integrated galactic stellar mass and explore the connection between SFR and
metallicity.
