To eliminate uncertainties introduced by extinction by dust in the optical, we examine to what extent the radio continuum (RC) can probe star formation in dwarf galaxies. Star formation (SF) drives galaxy formation and evolution; acquiring accurate measurements of SF thus becomes crucial in order to understand galaxies. As radio technology improves further, RC surveys will probe the fainter, more quiescent regime of the radio sky. Having a robust manner by which to convert RC luminosities to

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... r formation rate (SFR) has the potential to provide millions of independent SFR measurements out to intermediate redshifts. In order to calibrate the RC to infer SFR, the 40 dwarf galaxies that make up the LITTLE THINGS sample were chosen as the bedrock of the thesis due to the large range of galactic parameters that they cover. RC observations of these galaxies were taken with the VLA between L- and Ka-band (1–33GHz) using the B-, C-, and Darrays, yielding images with 3–10′′ resolution and rms noise levels between 3 and 15 μJy beam−1. On a global scale, 27 out of the 40 dwarf galaxies exhibited RC emission above the detection threshold, 17 of which were new RC detections. The general picture is an interstellar medium (ISM) largely void of RC emission, interspersed by isolated pockets of RC associated with SF regions; this general picture agreed with what was expected given current models of dwarf galaxies—weaker magnetic fields in the ISM leading to a higher escape of CRe (and resulting reduction in RCNTh emission). This was also backed-up by the relatively low RCNTh fraction—61 ± 7% at C-band. The observed RC–SFR relation was calibrated to allow the observed RC luminosity of a gas rich dwarf galaxy to be used to infer the SFR; the calibration takes the form SFR [M⊙ yr−1] = 5 × 10−18(RC [WHz−1])0.85. On a resolved basis, only the RCNTh was examined—this is because whether scales of 1 pc, or 1 kpc are investigated, the relationship between the Hα (current SF) and RCTh was not expected to change. Calibrating the resolved RC [...]