Magnetic properties of Nb/Ni superconducting (SC) / ferromagnetic (FM) multilayers exhibit interesting properties near and below SC transition. A complex Field (H) – Temperature (T) phase boundary is observed in perpendicular and parallel orientation of ML with respect to DC field. We address the critical need to develop methods to make reliable magnetic measurements on SC thin films and ML, in spite of their extreme shape anisotropy and the strong diamagnetic response of the SC state. Abrupt, highly reproducible “switching” of the SC state magnetization near the normal-state FM coercive fields has been observed in Nb/Ni ML. The SC penetration depth l(Nb) > the SC coherence length xo(Nb) » 40 nm >> the FM layer thickness y(Ni) = 5 nm, abrupt magnetic reversals might be driven by strong supercurrent densities (J x M torques) that have the potential to flow into the Ni layers. Alternatively, sharp magnetization anomalies also can result from strong flux pinning by the periodic layered structure of ML, including “lock-in” of quantized flux lines (FL) parallel to the ML plane. Strong confinement of the supercurrents within ML planes might also lead to various phase transitions of the FL lattice (FLL) composed of one-dimensional chains and other unusual structures. Possible mechanisms for the switching anomalies must be evaluated while considering other experimental properties of Nb(x)/Ni(y) ML: 1) The upper critical magnetic field Hc2(T) exhibits a highly unusual anisotropy where the SC transition temperature Tc (H®0) for DC field H ^ ML plane exceeds the value for H || ML by ~ 0.5 K. 2) Nb/Ni ML samples do not consistently exhibit magnetic signatures for the onset of superconductivity, depending on the details of the sample mounting procedure and the AC or DC method used in SQUID magnetometry experiments. 3) Unusual “wiggles” or oscillations of order 10-30 mK were observed in Hc2(T) in AC SQUID experiments with H || ML and can be even larger (~0.16 K), depending upon the AC drive amplitude ho and frequency f .

One of the phenomenal results emerging from string theory is the AdS/CFT correspondence or gauge-gravity duality: In certain cases a theory of gravity is equivalent to a "dual" gauge theory, very similar to the one describing non-gravitational interactions of fundamental subatomic particles. A difficult problem on one side can be mapped to a simpler and solvable problem on the other side using this correspondence. Thus one of the theories can be understood better using the other. The mapping between theories of gravity and gauge theories has led to new approaches to building models of particle physics from string theory. One of the important features to model is the phenomenon of confinement present in strong interaction of particle physics. This feature is not present in the gauge theory arising in the simplest of the examples of the duality. However this N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills gauge theory enjoys the property of being integrable, i.e. it can be exactly solved in terms of conserved charges. It is expected that if a more realistic theory turns out to be integrable, solvability of the theory would lead to simple analytical expressions for quantities like masses of the hadrons in the theory. In this thesis we show that the existing models of confinement are all nonintegrable--such simple analytic expressions cannot be obtained. We moreover show that these nonintegrable systems also exhibit features of chaotic dynamical systems, namely, sensitivity to initial conditions and a typical route of transition to chaos. We proceed to study the quantum mechanics of these systems and check whether their properties match those of chaotic quantum systems. Interestingly, the distribution of the spacing of meson excitations measured in the laboratory have been found to match with level-spacing distribution of typical quantum chaotic systems. We find agreement of this distribution with models of confining strong interactions, conforming these as viable models of particle physics arising from string theory.

The interstellar medium (ISM) of our Galaxy, and of others, is pervaded by ultra low-density gas and dust, as well as magnetic fields. Embedded magnetic fields have been known to play an important role in the structure and dynamics of the ISM. However, the ability to accurately quantify these fields has plagued astronomers for many decades. Unfortunately, the experimental techniques for measuring the strength and direction of magnetic fields are few, and they are observationally challenging. The only direct method of measuring the magnetic field is through the Zeeman effect. The goal of this dissertation is to expand upon the current observational studies and understanding of the effects of interstellar magnetic fields across various regions of the Galaxy. Zeeman effect observations of magnetic fields in two dynamically diverse environments in the Milky Way are presented: (1) An OH and HI absorption line study of envelopes of molecular clouds distributed throughout the Galaxy, and (2) A study of OH absorption lines toward the Galactic center region in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. We have executed the first systematic observational survey designed to determine the role of magnetic fields in the inter-core regions of molecular clouds. Observations of extragalactic continuum sources that lie along the line-of-sight passing through Galactic molecular clouds were studied using the Arecibo telescope. OH Zeeman effect observations were combined with estimates of column density to allow for computation of the mass-to-flux ratio, a measurement of the gravitational to magnetic energies within a cloud. We find that molecular clouds are slightly subcritical overall. However, individual measurements yield the first evidence for magnetically subcritical molecular gas. Jansky VLA observations of 18 cm OH absorption lines were used to determine the strength of the line-of-sight magnetic field in the Galactic center region. This study yields no clear detections of the magnetic field and results that differ from a similar study by Killeen, Lo, & Crutcher (1992). Our results suggest magnetic fields no more than a few microgauss in strength.

Soluble organic semiconductors have attracted interest due to their potential in making flexible and cheap electronics. Though their use is being implemented in electronics today, the conduction mechanism is still under investigation. In order to study the charge transport, this study examines the position, voltage, and frequency dependence of charge induced changes in far infrared absorption in soluble organic semiconductors in thin-film transistor structures. Measurements are compared to a simple model of a one-dimensional conductor which gives insight into the charge distribution and timing in devices. Main results of the study are dynamic measurements of charge taken by varying the frequency of the applied gate voltage while observing signal at one position within the transistor; mobility values obtained from a comparison to the one-dimensional model compare well with standard current-voltage measurements. Two small molecule soluble organic semiconductors were studied: 6,13 bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)-pentacene and fluorinated 5,11 bis(triethylsilylethynyl) anthradithiophene.

A patient specific image planning system (IPS) was developed that can be used to assist in kV imaging technique selection during localization for radiotherapy. The IPS algorithm performs a divergent ray-trace through a three dimensional computed tomography (CT) data set. Energy-specific attenuation through each voxel of the CT data set is calculated and imaging detector response is integrated into the algorithm to determine the absolute values of pixel intensity and image contrast. Phantom testing demonstrated that image contrast resulting from under exposure, over exposure as well as a contrast plateau can be predicted by use of a prospective image planning algorithm. Phantom data suggest the potential for reducing imaging dose by selecting a high kVp without loss of image contrast. In the clinic, image acquisition parameters can be predicted using the IPS that reduce patient dose without loss of useful image contrast.

The recent discovery of a new population of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) – the Radio Loud Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (RL NLS1) galaxies – at g-ray energies by Fermi has prompted intense interest among researchers, as evidence mounts that these objects may in fact compose a new class of blazars. If RL NLS1s are indeed a new class of blazars, or at least analogous to them, then the detection of certain blazar-like properties would be expected. These properties include significant variability at all wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum and on timescales from minutes to years, significant & variable polarization in the radio and optical regimes, significant & variable high-energy emissions (especially in the g-ray regime), and a double-peaked structure of their spectral energy distributions. This dissertation seeks to characterize several of these properties for RL NLS1s as a class. These include the degree to which these objects are polarized and the variability of this property, the detection and characterization of these sources at g-ray energies with the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi spacecraft, and the degree to which these properties are interdependent. A photopolarimetric survey (the first of its kind for this class of objects) and g-ray monitoring program were conducted by the author in order to obtain the data necessary for this project. The measurements obtained via these observations are used to characterize this interesting class of objects with respect to a sample of blazars. In general, it was found that the polarizations of these objects fall between radio-quiet NLS1s and FSRQ-type blazars, and were most similar to HBL-type blazars. The 7 RL NLS1s in this sample that had been detected above a Test Statistic (TS) of 25 by Fermi/LAT were most similar to FSRQs, while 9 objects detected in the interval 9 < TS < 25 shared several properties with HBLs. Two RL NLS1s - J1443+4725 and J1644+2619 - are identified as high-confidence (TS > 25) g-ray sources for the first time, bringing the total number of members of this class firmly detected at g-ray energies to 8. The gamma-ray spectra of RL NLS1s are similar to FSRQs, though some have steeper spectra.

Recent research has lead to the possible discovery of a new class of gamma-ray emitting ac- tive galactic nuclei (AGN). These objects – the very radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLSy1s)– demonstrate observational features suggesting that they are similar to blazars. One of the key characteristics of blazars is the presence of high-amplitude optical microvariability. While this phenomenon has been investigated in individual objects, no study of the intra-night variability of radio-loud NLSy1s as a class has previously been available. This dissertation presents a sys- tematic search for optical variability in a sample of 33 radio-loud NLSy1s. It was found that 26 objects demonstrated microvariations. However, only 9 objects did so with duty cycles comparable to blazars, and only 7 of these 9 objects — J0706+3901, J0849+5108, J0948+0022, J1246+0238, PKS 1502+036, J1644+2619, and IRAS 20181-2244 — demonstrated microvariability at compa- rable amplitudes. Two objects stand out as exceptional sources. J0849+5108 was found to have a duty cycle of ~90% and was observed to undergo an enormous 4-magnitude optical flare in a two-month time span. The object has not been reported to have undergone such an event since 1975. The second object, J0948+0022, is the class prototype. High cadence data indicates that J0948+0022 has a remarkably rapid doubling time scale of ~40 minutes, and it was seen to vary by over 0.9 magnitudes within an individual night. Attempts to correlate microvariability to radio loudness, gamma-ray loudness, and other parameters were largely unsuccessful. However, it was found that only radio-loud NLSy1s that were detected at gamma-ray energies demonstrated microvariability at blazar-like duty cycles. Additionally, an analysis of the frequency of microvariations at various amplitudes suggests that the sample of radio-loud NLSy1s presented in this study share a parent population identical to low energy peaked BL Lac-type (LBL) blazars. This is in agreement with the work of astronomers such as Abdo et al. 2009, who have created spectral energy distributions for a few radio-loud NLSy1s and found them to resemble those of LBLs. Blazar-like variability was found in multiple objects with radio loudnesses of log(R) < 2, suggesting that even moderately radio-loud NLSy1s may be blazar-like objects.

Basic stellar atmospheric parameters, such as effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity plays a vital role in the characterization of various stellar populations in the Milky Way. The Stellar parameters can be measured by adopting one or more observational techniques, such as spectroscopy, photometry, interferometry, etc. Finding new and innovative ways to combine these observational data to derive reliable stellar parameters and to use them to characterize some of the stellar populations in our galaxy is the main goal of this thesis. Our initial work, based on the spectroscopic and photometric data available in literature, had the objective of calibrating the stellar parameters from a range of available flux observations from far-UV to far-IR. Much effort has been made to estimate probability distributions of the stellar parameters using Bayesian inference, rather than point estimates. We applied these techniques to blue straggler stars (BSSs) in the galactic field, which are thought to be a product of mass transfer mechanism associated with binary stars. Using photometry available in SDSS and GALEX surveys we identified 85 stars with UV excess in their spectral energy distribution (SED) : indication of a hot white dwarf companion to BSS. To determine the parameter distributions (mass, temperature and age) of the WD companions, we developed algorithms that could fit binary model atmospheres to the observed SED. The WD mass distribution peaks at 0.4M , suggests the primary formation channel of field BSSs is Case-B mass transfer, i.e. when the donor star is in red giant phase of its evolution. Based on stellar evolutionary models, we estimate the lower limit of binary mass transfer efficiency β ~ 0.5. Next, we have focused on the Canis Major overdensity (CMO), a substructure located at low galactic latitude in the Milky Way, where the interstellar reddening (E(B-V )) due to dust is significantly high. In this study we estimated the reddening, metallicity distribution and kinematics of the CMO using a sample of red clump (RC) stars. The averageE(B-V)(~0.19)is consistent with that measured from Schlegel maps (Schlegal et.al. 1998). The overall metallicity and kinematic distribution is in agreement with the previous estimates of the disk stars. But the measured mean alpha element abundance is relatively larger with respect to the expected value for disk stars.

A new neutron Electric Dipole Moment (nEDM) experiment was proposed to be commissioned at the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The underlying theme of this experiment (first conceived by Golub and Lamoreaux in 1994) is the search for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The discovery of a non-zero nEDM would be of revolutionary importance to physics, with the discovery of such providing for evidence for new-beyond-the-Standard-Model physics required for a resolution to the unresolved puzzle of why the universe is dominated by matter, as opposed to anti-matter. A first demonstration of a new magnetic field monitoring system for a neutron electric dipole moment experiment is presented. The system is designed to reconstruct the vector components of the magnetic field in the interior measurement region solely from exterior measurements. The results highlight the potential for the implementation of an improved system in an upcoming neutron electric dipole moment experiment to be carried out at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In this dissertation, we conduct a census and assessment of the nearest young Sun-like stars and investigate the potential for finding giant planets orbiting spotted stars using the radial velocity (RV) method at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. Based in part on new spectroscopic measurements conducted here, we have assembled a complete list of 129 young (<150 >Myr), nearby Sun-like stars and their fundamental parameters, including rotational and multiplicity information. We also provide a statistical analysis of their stellar parameters, including projected rotational velocity and inclination. Sixteen of these stars have no close companions and have low projected rotational velocities (vsini/s) that are ideal for precision RV planet searches. Seven of these rotate nearly edge-on and are ideal targets for upcoming transiting planet searches, assuming low obliquity. We conduct precision RV planet search of 7 young Sun-like stars using the TRES spectrograph, mounted on the 1.5-m Tillinghast Reflector at the Fred L. Whipple Observatory, and with the SOPHIE spectrograph, mounted on the 1.93-m Telescope at the Observatoire de Haute Provence; we achieve a precision of 10 m/s for both. Four stars are identified as having larger RV variations that are periodic, possibly caused by an orbiting companion. However, the RV variations are correlated with asymmetries in the spectral absorption features, which instead suggests that the variations are caused by spots. Nevertheless our observations provide new independent measures of the rotation periods of these stars. Through this analysis we tentatively confirm the planetary companion around BD+20 1790 in the presence of activity. We additionally investigate the use of comparing red orders of the optical spectrum to the blue orders in order to distinguish spots from planets; we find that this method can be effective for observations that span the full wavelength range of the optical. We also investigate our detection limits at optical wavelengths and find that we are sensitive to over 90% of short period giant planets. Next, we assemble the stellar jitter measurements of our stars with previous studies of all Sun-like stars younger than 1 Gyr to investigate how stellar jitter declines with stellar age. We find that stellar jitter decreases with stellar age as t^(0.53±0.13), similar to the relationship between stellar rotation period and stellar age. The implication is that it will be diffcult to find planets orbiting stars younger than 100 Myr without using techniques that mitigate star spot noise. Furthermore, we present a near-infrared RV search for giant planets orbiting 8 stars observed with CSHELL at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Because of the limited wavelength coverage (29 ̊A) and older (1980s) detector technology, the achieved precision of 200 m/s inhibits finding the majority of exoplanets, but is nevertheless sufficient to identify short-period brown dwarfs for these stars. We also analyze our detection limits at IR wavelengths and find that we are only sensitive to roughly 50% of short period giant planets. Finally, we present a new orbital solution for V835 Her, a spectroscopic binary with a 3 day orbital period.