The interstellar medium and disk-halo interaction of the edge-on galaxies NGC 3044 and NGC 5775

This thesis studies the interstellar medium (ISM) and the disk-halo interaction of two spiral galaxies, NGC 3044 and NGC 5775. These two galaxies are both edge-on and infrared-bright, but NGC 3044 is isolated and NGC 5775 is currently interacting with a companion. We found HI supershells in both of these galaxies. The purpose of this study is to examine the different components of the ISM, to compare their distributions within each galaxy, to relate the ISM to the formation of supershells and to test the ISM disk-halo model envisaged in Norman and Ikeuchi (1989).; We have obtained observational data which trace the distributions of the different components of the ISM, including emission from neutral hydrogen, molecular gas, energetic cosmic rays, dust and ionized gas. For both galaxies, we find normal global ISM parameters such as total mass, density, luminosity and star formation rate (SFR) for starburst galaxies of their class (SBc), in spite of the existence of a global asymmetry in the gas distribution in NGC 3044 and the current interaction of NGC 5775 with its companion.; We found expanding supershell signatures in 4 of the high latitude features in NGC 3044 and 2 in NGC 5775. Assuming a one time energy injection by supernovae at the centre of an expanding feature, most of the expanding features would require the equivalent of tens of thousands of supernovae. For both galaxies, we show that the current SFR and available H{dollar}alpha{dollar} luminosity do not preclude the existence of supergiant star clusters that can produce this many supernovae. However, the largest super star clusters observed in some galaxies contain a factor of 2-3 less massive stars than required to form the largest supershells in the two galaxies study here. For NGC 3044, the formation of supershells by impacting clouds may be ruled out based on the ages of the supershells and the lack of a source of high velocity clouds around the galaxy. For NGC 5775, at least 2 high-latitude features are related to the neutral hydrogen bridge connecting it with its interacting companion. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...