Star formation rates of local blue compact dwarf galaxies. I. 1.4 GHz and 60 micron luminosities

We determine and examine the star formation rates of 50 well-known, local blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies based on their 1.4 GHz and 60 mum luminosities. We find that in cases for which both radio and far-infrared luminosities are available, the resulting star formation rates agree extremely well with one another. We determine that the star formation rates of the BCD galaxies in our sample span nearly 5 orders of magnitude, from approximately a few times 10(-3) to several times 10(1) M(.) yr(-1), with a median SFR of about 0.3 M(.) yr(-1). We discuss trends of metallicity (primarily oxygen abundance) with star formation rate and explore the connections between SFR and galaxy mass estimates.