Best-fit emission-line properties in NGC 5775

We study the extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (eDIG) layer in the interacting, star-forming galaxy NGC5775 to better understand the consequences of star formation feedback on the dynamical state of the thick-disk interstellar medium. Combining emission-line spectroscopy from the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on the Southern African Large Telescope with radio continuum observations from Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies-an EVLA Survey, we ask whether thermal, turbulent, magnetic field, and cosmic-ray pressure gradients can stably support the eDIG layer in dynamical equilibrium.

This model fails to reproduce the observed exponential electron scale heights of the eDIG thick disk and halo on the northeast (h_z,e_=0.6,7.5kpc) and southwest (h_z,e_=0.8,3.6kpc) sides of the galaxy at R<11kpc. We report the first definitive detection of an increasing eDIG velocity dispersion as a function of height above the disk. Blueshifted gas along the minor axis at large distances from the midplane hints at a disk-halo circulation and/or ram pressure effects caused by the ongoing interaction with NGC5774.