We present results from a GALEX ultraviolet (UV) survey of a complete sample
of 390 galaxies within ~11 Mpc of the Milky Way. The UV data are a key
component of the composite Local Volume Legacy (LVL), an
ultraviolet-to-infrared imaging program designed to provide an inventory of
dust and star formation in nearby spiral and irregular galaxies. The ensemble
dataset is an especially valuable resource for studying star formation in dwarf
galaxies, which comprise over 80% of the sample. We describe the GALEX survey
programs which obtained the data and provide a catalog of far-UV (~1500
Angstroms) and near-UV (~2200 Angstroms) integrated photometry. General UV
properties of the sample are briefly discussed. We compute two measures of the
global star formation efficiency, the SFR per unit HI gas mass and the SFR per
unit stellar mass, to illustrate the significant differences that can arise in
our understanding of dwarf galaxies when the FUV is used to measure the SFR
instead of H-alpha. We find that dwarf galaxies may not be as drastically
inefficient in coverting gas into stars as suggested by prior H-alpha studies.
In this context, we also examine the UV properties of late-type dwarf galaxies
that appear to be devoid of star formation because they were not detected in
previous H-alpha narrowband observations. Nearly all such galaxies in our
sample are detected in the FUV, and have FUV SFRs that fall below the limit
where the H-alpha flux is robust to Poisson fluctuations in the formation of
massive stars. The UV colors and star formation efficiencies of
H-alpha-undetected, UV-bright dwarf irregulars appear to be relatively
unremarkable with respect to those exhibited by the general population of
star-forming galaxies.Comment: submitted to ApJS, revised per referee's comments; accepted Oct. 30
w/o further revision; 37 pages; figure 6 omitted due to size; figure
available from http://users.obs.carnegiescience.edu/jlee/paper
