On the Recent History of Star Formation in the Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy VII Z[CLC]w[/CLC] 403

The recent history of star formation in the BCD galaxy VII Zw403, is analysedwith accounts for the dynamics of the remnant generated either by aninstantaneous burst or by a continuous star formation event. We have re-observed VII Zw403 with a better sensitivity corresponding to thethreshold H$_{\alpha}$ flux $8.15 \times 10^{-17}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. Thetotal H$_{\alpha}$ luminosity derived from our data is much larger thanreported before, and presents a variety of ionized filaments and incompleteshells superimposed on the diffuse H$_{\alpha}$ emission. This result has aprofound impact on the predicted properties of the starburst blown superbubble.Numerical calculations based on the previous H$_{\alpha}$ data, predict twodifferent scenarios of star formation able to match simultaneously all observedparameters. These are an instantaneous burst of star formation with a totalmass of $5 \times 10^5$ M$_{\odot}$ and a star-forming event with a constantSFR = $4 \times 10^{-3}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, which lasts for 35 Myrs. Thenumerical calculations based on the energy input rate derived from ourobservations predict a short episode of star formation lasting less than 10Myrs with a total star cluster mass $\sim (1 - 3) \times 10^6$ M$_{\odot}$.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, 4 table, Accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa