Star bursts and giant HII regions

Massive star formation bursts occur in a variety of galactic environments and can temporarily dominate the light output of a galaxy even when a relatively small proportion of its mass is involved. Inferences about their ages, the IMF and its dependence on chemical composition are still somewhat wobbly owing to an excess of unknowns, but certain things can be deduced from emission spectra of associated H II regions when due regard is paid to the effects of chemical composition and ionization parameter: In particular, largest ionization parameters and effective temperatures of exciting stars, at any given oxygen abundance, are anti-correlated with the abundance, and the second effect suggests an increasing proportion of more massive stars at lower abundances, although this is not yet satisfactorily quantified. A new blue compact galaxies could be very young, but it is equally possible that there is an older population of low surface brightness. Some giant H II regions may be self-polluted with nitrogen and helium due to winds from massive stars in the associated burst. (orig.)