Mapping Luminous Blue Compact Galaxies with VIRUS-P: morphology, line ratios and kinematics

Context. Blue Compact Galaxies (BCG) are narrow emission-line systems, undergoing a violent burst of star formation. They are compact, low-luminosity galaxies, with blue colors and low chemical abundances, that offer us a unique opportunity to investigate collective star formation and its effects on galaxy evolution in a relatively simple, dynamically unperturbed environment. Spatially resolved spectrophotometric studies of BCGs are essential for a better understanding of the role of starburst-driven feedback processes on the kinematical and chemical evolution of low-mass galaxies near and far. Aims. We carry out an integral field spectroscopy (IFS) study of a sample of luminous BCGs, with the aim to probe the morphology, kinematics, dust extinction and excitation mechanisms of their warm interstellar medium (ISM). Methods. IFS data for five luminous BCGs were obtained using VIRUS-P, the prototype instrument for the Visible Integral Field Replicable Unit Spectrograph, attached to the 2.7 m Harlan J. Smith Telescope at the McDonald Observatory. VIRUS-P consists of a square array of 247 optical fibers, which covers a 109′ ′ × 109′ ′ field of view, with a spatial sampling of 4.′′2 and a 0.3 filling factor. We observed in the 3550–5850 Å spectral range, with a resolution of 5 Å FWHM. From these data we built two-dimensional maps of the continuum and the most prominent emission-lines ([O ii] λ3727, Hγ, Hβ and [O iii] λ5007), and investigate the morphology of diagnostic emission-line ratios and the extinction patterns in the ISM as well as stellar and gas kinematics. Additionally, fro