The environment of galaxies is known to influence their evolution via a wide range of processes, such as tidal interactions, ram-pressure stripping, or galaxy harassment. However, the exact interconnectivity between the large scale environment-driven mechanisms and the other internal processes (starburst, star formation quenching, nuclear activity, and both outflows and inflows) remains poorly understood. This thesis describes the use of the WiFeS and MUSE integral field spectrographs to study gas flows and star formation activity inside two members of compact groups of galaxies: HCG 16c and HCG 91c. In particular, WiFeS and MUSE are used to resolve scales of 1 kpc at the distances of HCG 16c and HCG 91c - the size of giant molecular clouds and HII regions - in an effort to tie the environment to its impact within the disks of the galaxies. HCG 16c is found to host an asymmetric, bipolar, rotating galactic wind, powered by a nuclear starburst. Emission line ratio diagnostics indicate that photoionization is the dominant excitation mechanism at the base of the wind. The asymmetry of the wind is likely caused by one of the two lobes of the wind-blown bubble bursting out of its HI envelope. The characteristics of the wind suggest that it is caught early (a few Myr) in the wind evolution sequence. The wind is also quite different to the galactic wind in the partner galaxy HCG 16d which contains a symmetric, shock-excited wind. Given that both galaxies have (likely) similar interaction histories, the different wind characteristics must be a consequence of the intrinsic properties of HCG 16c and HCG 16d. In HCG 91c, WiFeS and MUSE reveal HII regions with kinematic and abundance offsets in this otherwise unremarkable star-forming spiral. Specifically, at least three HII regions harbor an oxygen abundance 0:15 dex lower than expected from their immediate surroundings and from the overall abundance gradient present in the disk of this galaxy. The same star forming regions are also associated with a small kinematic offset in the form of a lag of 5-10kms1 with respect to the local circular rotation of the gas. HI observations of HCG 91 from the VLA and broadband optical images from Pan-STARRS suggest that HCG 91c is caught early in its interaction with the compact group HCG 91. Altogether, evidence point towards infalling and collapsing extra-planar halo gas clouds at the disk-halo interface of the galaxy. As such, HCG 91c provides evidence that some of the perturbations possibly associated with the early phase of galaxy evolution in compact groups impact the star forming disk locally, and on sub-kpc scales. Finally, this thesis also describes a series of new tools developed for the processing, analysis and visualization of these integral field spectroscopy datasets. These comprise a new data reduction pipeline for the WiFeS instrument, interactive PDF & HTML documents for multi-dimensional data visualization and publication, 3-D printing of astrophysical datasets, the pyqz code to derive oxygen abundances & ionization parameters from strong emission line ratios, and 3-D line ratio diagnostic diagrams.

In galaxies like the Milky Way, baryons cycle between the disk, the halo, and the intergalactic environment in ways that have profound consequences for galaxy growth and evolution. The vertical structure, support, and kinematics of gaseous, disk-halo interfaces are thus indicative of the processes driving galaxy growth at low redshift. We use observations of nearby disk galaxies viewed from a range of inclination angles to develop a three-dimensional picture of the kinematics of extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (eDIG) layers. These layers challenge our understanding of the dynamical state of disk-halo interfaces, as their observed exponential electron scale heights, h_z ∼ 1 kpc, exceed their thermal scale heights by factors of a few. For the edge-on galaxies NGC 891 and NGC 5775, we pair optical emission-line spectroscopy with radio continuum observations from Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies - an EVLA Survey to constrain the turbulent, magnetic field, and cosmic-ray pressure support at the disk-halo interface. A dynamical equilibrium model is only stably satisfied at large galactocentric radii where the gravitational field is relatively weak (R ≥ 8 kpc and R ≥ 10 kpc for NGC 891 and NGC 5775, respectively), suggesting that bulk flows are present in the warm ionized phase of disk-halo interfaces. We directly detect evidence of such flows in the nearby, low-inclination galaxy M83 by developing a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to separate planar and extraplanar emission. We find indications of a galactic fountain near star-forming regions, as well as a vertical velocity dispersion ([small sigma]_z ∼ 100 km/s) that greatly exceeds the horizontal dispersions in edge-on galaxies ([small sigma]_y = 40 − 60 km/s). This suggests that a disk-halo circulation as well as anisotropic, random motions play a role in supporting the eDIG layer at its observed scale height. This work favors a non-hydrostatic, disk-halo flow model for eDIG layers in which the gas both originates in and returns to the disk. It also raises new questions about the dependence of eDIG kinematics on star-formation rate and the multiphase nature of disk-halo flows, motivating future work to further illuminate the disk-halo connection in the present-day universe.

The evolution of galaxies is closely linked to the exchange of gas between their disk and the circumgalactic medium (CGM) - the massive, extended, diffuse halo of gas in which galaxies are embedded. Recent advances in high-resolution spectroscopy have enabled observers to firmly establish the key role played by the CGM in the life cycle of galaxies: it is the hiding place of at least half of all galactic baryons, acting as a massive reservoir that replenishes the supply of fuel for star formation via gas accretion onto the disk. However, this nearly-invisible halo gas is challenging to observe, and we are still missing a complete picture of its distribution, kinematics, and multiphase structure. In this thesis, I use the Milky Way as a case study to shed light on the nature of cool and warm CGM gas flows, taking advantage of the abundance of quasar and stellar sightlines which probe the Galactic CGM. In particular, I focus on the behavior of low-velocity gas, which is often overlooked by CGM studies because it is difficult to measure in isolation. I show that local CGM gas is predominantly inflowing, place constraints on the inflowing cloud sizes, and determine that these clouds lie close to the disk. I use a novel spectral differencing technique to correct for foreground absorption along sightlines through the Galactic halo, and present the first unobscured measurements of the Milky Way's extended low-velocity CGM. The results demonstrate that either the warm CGM does not have a spherical morphology, as is often assumed for star-forming galaxies, or that the Milky Way is not a typical star-forming galaxy. Finally, I find that inflow velocities are higher for warmer gas, suggesting a picture in which warm accreting gas slows down and cools as it approaches the disk. The mass accretion rates of these inflows indicate that a significant fraction of star-formation fuel may accrete onto the disk at low velocities.

Galaxies have a history. This has become clear from recent sky surveys showing that distant galaxies, formed early in the life of the Universe, differ from the nearby ones. This book contains the proceedings of a 2000 conference addressing observational clues in this area.

This volume contains the updated and expanded lecture notes of the 37th Saas-Fee Advanced Course organised by the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy. It offers the most comprehensive and up to date review of one of the hottest research topics in astrophysics - how our Milky Way galaxy formed. Joss Bland-Hawthorn & Ken Freeman lectured on Near Field Cosmology - The Origin of the Galaxy and the Local Group. Francesca Matteucci’s chapter is on Chemical evolution of the Milky Way and its Satellites. As designed by the SSAA, books in this series – and this one too – are targeted at graduate and PhD students and young researchers in astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. Lecturers and researchers entering the field will also benefit from the book.