5 Summary and conclusions

Optical and near infrared photometric data of a sample of 110 highly-inclined/edge-on disk galaxies are presented. This sample consists of two subsamples of 61 non-interacting galaxies and 49 minor merging candidates. Additionally, 41 of these galaxies were observed in the near infrared.

The sample selection, observations, and data reduction are described. We show that - although the subsamples are naturally slightly polluted due to unavoidable selection effects - the distribution of their morphological types is almost indistinguishable, covering the range between $0 \le T \le 9$. This is important for the forthcoming detailed statistical study focused on the influence of interaction and minor merger on the radial and vertical disk structure of spiral galaxies.

Moreover, a 3-dimensional disk modelling- and fitting procedure is described in order to analyze and to compare the disk structure of our sample galaxies by using characteristical parameters. We find that the vertical brightness profiles of modelled galaxy disks respond very sensitive even to small changes of inclination around perfect edge-on orientation. Therefore, projection effects of highly-inclined disks must be considered.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG, under grant No. GRK 118/2.
This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED).