No / The acceleration of electrons and protons caused by a super-Dreicer electric field directed along the longitudinal component By of the magnetic field is investigated. The three-component magnetic field in a nonneutral current sheet occurring at the top of the reconnecting flaring loops on the charged particle trajectories and energies is considered. Particle trajectories in the reconnecting current sheet (RCS) and their energy spectra at the point of ejection from the RCS are simulated from the motion equation for different sheet thicknesses. A super-Dreicer electric field of the current sheet is found to accelerate particles to coherent energy spectra in a range of 10-100 keV for electrons and 100-400 keV for protons with energy slightly increasing with the sheet thickness. A longitudinal By component was found to define the gyration directions of particles with opposite charges toward the RCS midplane, i.e., the trajectory symmetry. For the ratio By/Bz < 10-6 the trajectories are fully symmetric, which results in particle ejection from an RCS as neutral beams. For the ratio By/Bz > 10-2 the trajectories completely lose their symmetry toward the RCS midplane, leading to the separation of particles with opposite charges into the opposite halves from an RCS midplane and the following ejection into different legs of the reconnecting loops. For the intermediate values of By/Bz the trajectories are partially symmetric toward the midplane, leading to electrons prevailing in one leg and protons in the other.

O principal objetivo desse trabalho foi investigar a possibilidade da detecção sub-ppb (10-9 g/g) de elementos químicos presentes em amostras líquidas, analisadas por meio da espectrometria de raios-X, seja por STXRF (Synchrotron Total reflection X-ray Fluorescence), ou PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission). Na ausência de padrões certificados, foram preparados em laboratório padrões líquidos multielementares com concentrações variando de 1 a 20 ppm, posteriormente micropipetados sobre substrato de Lucite, constituindo assim amostras adequadas para análises STXRF. Visando controlar a manipulação volumétrica, foi utilizado como padrão interno ítrio, em função do qual foi determinada a curva de sensibilidade relativa para o método. Após pré-concentração das amostras, estas foram micropipetadas sobre substratos de Lucite, Mylar e Kimfoil e as análises foram realizadas no Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncontron LNLS, em Campinas, SP e no Laboratório de Análise de Materiais por feixes Iônicos LAMFI, no IFUSP. Os limites de detecção para ambos os métodos foram determinados e comparados. Como esperado, a STXRF apresenta limites de detecção uma ordem de grandeza inferior ao PIXE para elementos com 20<Z<40, alcançando, após pré-concentração, um limite inferior de 0,3 ppb para o Zn. A comparação entre medidas elementares absolutas de mesmas amostras pelos métodos STXRF e PIXE indicou substantiva sub avaliação das incertezas analíticas, mas apenas um pequeno desvio sistemático entre resultados de ambos os métodos. Para demonstrar o método, foram analisadas amostras de água do Rio Toledo, afluente do Rio S. Francisco e fonte de água da cidade de Toledo no oeste do estado do Paraná (24°43´S; 53°44´W), trabalho realizado em colaboração com o Núcleo de Biotecnologia e Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos NBQ da Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná UNIOESTE. Finalmente foi verificada a possibilidade de preparar as amostras micropipetadas para a STXRF sobre substratos de filme fino (Mylar com 2,4 m de espessura e Kimoil com 2 m) ao invés dos tradicionais discos espessos de acrílico, resultando na redução de um fator 3 no limite de detecção. / The main goal of this work was to investigate the feasibility of sub-ppb (10-9 g/g) detection of trace elements in liquid samples analyzed by STXRF (Synchrotron Total reflection X-ray Fluorescence) and by PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission). For STXRF calibration, and due to the absence of certified liquid standards, a set of multielementary liquid standards was prepared in house, with concentrations varying from 1 to 20 ppm in water, and then micro-pipetted on regular 30 mm diameter Lucite discs. Ytrium was used as an internal standard and the relative sensitivity curves were found relative to it. Real water samples for trace element analysis, were first preconcentrated (to a factor of 5) and then micropipetted on Lucite and also on Lylar and Kimfoil thin films. All the STRXF and PIXE analysis were made respectively in the Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron LNLS , in Campinas, SP, and in the Laboratório de Análise de Materiais por feixes Iônicos LAMFI, USP. As expected, the minimum elementary detection limits for STXRF for elements with 20<Z<40, were one order of magnitude lower than the PIXE ones, reaching, after pre-concentration, 0.3 ppb for Zn. Comparison of STXRF and PIXE data of the same samples, showed some slight differences in absolute concentrations, but an overall and important underestimation of the experimental uncertainties. To exemplify the use of trace-element analysis in liquids, several samples from Toledo River, the main water supply of Toledo City (24°43´S; 53°44´W), were collected and analyzed over one year, in a collaboration with the Núcleo de Biotecnologia e Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos NBQ from the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná UNIOESTE. The STXRF analysis of samples pipetted on Mylar and Kimfol, though not dense substrates, showed to be possible, and resulted in a 3 fold reduction of the minimum detection limits for STXRF analysis.

O principal objetivo desse trabalho foi investigar a possibilidade da detecção sub-ppb (10-9 g/g) de elementos químicos presentes em amostras líquidas, analisadas por meio da espectrometria de raios-X, seja por STXRF (Synchrotron Total reflection X-ray Fluorescence), ou PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission). Na ausência de padrões certificados, foram preparados em laboratório padrões líquidos multielementares com concentrações variando de 1 a 20 ppm, posteriormente micropipetados sobre substrato de Lucite, constituindo assim amostras adequadas para análises STXRF. Visando controlar a manipulação volumétrica, foi utilizado como padrão interno ítrio, em função do qual foi determinada a curva de sensibilidade relativa para o método. Após pré-concentração das amostras, estas foram micropipetadas sobre substratos de Lucite, Mylar e Kimfoil e as análises foram realizadas no Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncontron LNLS, em Campinas, SP e no Laboratório de Análise de Materiais por feixes Iônicos LAMFI, no IFUSP. Os limites de detecção para ambos os métodos foram determinados e comparados. Como esperado, a STXRF apresenta limites de detecção uma ordem de grandeza inferior ao PIXE para elementos com 20<Z<40, alcançando, após pré-concentração, um limite inferior de 0,3 ppb para o Zn. A comparação entre medidas elementares absolutas de mesmas amostras pelos métodos STXRF e PIXE indicou substantiva sub avaliação das incertezas analíticas, mas apenas um pequeno desvio sistemático entre resultados de ambos os métodos. Para demonstrar o método, foram analisadas amostras de água do Rio Toledo, afluente do Rio S. Francisco e fonte de água da cidade de Toledo no oeste do estado do Paraná (24°43´S; 53°44´W), trabalho realizado em colaboração com o Núcleo de Biotecnologia e Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos NBQ da Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná UNIOESTE. Finalmente foi verificada a possibilidade de preparar as amostras micropipetadas para a STXRF sobre substratos de filme fino (Mylar com 2,4 m de espessura e Kimoil com 2 m) ao invés dos tradicionais discos espessos de acrílico, resultando na redução de um fator 3 no limite de detecção. / The main goal of this work was to investigate the feasibility of sub-ppb (10-9 g/g) detection of trace elements in liquid samples analyzed by STXRF (Synchrotron Total reflection X-ray Fluorescence) and by PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission). For STXRF calibration, and due to the absence of certified liquid standards, a set of multielementary liquid standards was prepared in house, with concentrations varying from 1 to 20 ppm in water, and then micro-pipetted on regular 30 mm diameter Lucite discs. Ytrium was used as an internal standard and the relative sensitivity curves were found relative to it. Real water samples for trace element analysis, were first preconcentrated (to a factor of 5) and then micropipetted on Lucite and also on Lylar and Kimfoil thin films. All the STRXF and PIXE analysis were made respectively in the Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron LNLS , in Campinas, SP, and in the Laboratório de Análise de Materiais por feixes Iônicos LAMFI, USP. As expected, the minimum elementary detection limits for STXRF for elements with 20<Z<40, were one order of magnitude lower than the PIXE ones, reaching, after pre-concentration, 0.3 ppb for Zn. Comparison of STXRF and PIXE data of the same samples, showed some slight differences in absolute concentrations, but an overall and important underestimation of the experimental uncertainties. To exemplify the use of trace-element analysis in liquids, several samples from Toledo River, the main water supply of Toledo City (24°43´S; 53°44´W), were collected and analyzed over one year, in a collaboration with the Núcleo de Biotecnologia e Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos NBQ from the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná UNIOESTE. The STXRF analysis of samples pipetted on Mylar and Kimfol, though not dense substrates, showed to be possible, and resulted in a 3 fold reduction of the minimum detection limits for STXRF analysis.

We develop a simple one-zone model of the steady-state Crab nebula spectrum encompassing both the radio/soft X-ray and the GeV/multi-TeV observations. By solving the transport equation for GeV-TeV electrons injected at the wind termination shock as a log-parabola momentum distribution and evolved via energy losses, we determine analytically the resulting differential energy spectrum of photons. We find an impressive agreement with the observed spectrum of synchrotron emission, and the synchrotron self-Compton component reproduces the previously unexplained broad 200-GeV peak that matches the Fermi/Large Area Telescope (LAT) data beyond 1 GeV with the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) data. We determine the parameters of the single log-parabola electron injection distribution, in contrast with multiple broken power-law electron spectra proposed in the literature. The resulting photon differential spectrum provides a natural interpretation of the deviation from power law customarily fitted with empirical multiple broken power laws. Our model can be applied to the radio-to-multi-TeV spectrum of a variety of astrophysical outflows, including pulsar wind nebulae and supernova remnants, as well as to interplanetary shocks.

The extreme temperatures and nonthermal nature of the solar corona and solar wind arise from an unidentified physical mechanism that preferentially heats certain ion species relative to others. Spectroscopic indicators of unequal temperatures commence within a fraction of a solar radius above the surface of the Sun, but the outer reach of this mechanism has yet to be determined. Here we present an empirical procedure for combining interplanetary solar wind measurements and a modeled energy equation including Coulomb relaxation to solve for the typical outer boundary of this zone of preferential heating. Applied to two decades of observations by the Wind spacecraft, our results are consistent with preferential heating being active in a zone extending from the transition region in the lower corona to an outer boundary 20-40 solar radii from the Sun, producing a steady-state super-massproportional a-to-proton temperature ratio of 5.2-5.3. Preferential ion heating continues far beyond the transition region and is important for the evolution of both the outer corona and the solar wind. The outer boundary of this zone is well below the orbits of spacecraft at 1 au and even closer missions such as Helios and MESSENGER, meaning it is likely that no existing mission has directly observed intense preferential heating, just residual signatures. We predict that the Parker Solar Probe will be the first spacecraft with a perihelion sufficiently close to the Sun to pass through the outer boundary, enter the zone of preferential heating, and directly observe the physical mechanism in action.

Significant X-ray variability and flaring has been observed from Sgr A* but is poorly understood from a theoretical standpoint. We perform general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations that take into account a population of non-thermal electrons with energy distributions and injection rates that are motivated by PIC simulations of magnetic reconnection. We explore the effects of including these non-thermal electrons on the predicted broadband variability of Sgr A* and find that X-ray variability is a generic result of localizing non-thermal electrons to highly magnetized regions, where particles are likely to be accelerated via magnetic reconnection. The proximity of these high-field regions to the event horizon forms a natural connection between IR and X-ray variability and accounts for the rapid timescales associated with the X-ray flares. The qualitative nature of this variability is consistent with observations, producing X-ray flares that are always coincident with IR flares, but not vice versa, i.e., there are a number of IR flares without X-ray counterparts.

The main results of this work are the contribution to find the following results: <br />• The most general GRB is made by an early emission (P-GRB or Proper-GRB), with a time-scale not larger than 1 or 2 seconds and an afterglow, whose light curve is characterized by an increasing phase followed by a peak and a decreasing phase. This peak has been identified with the long GRBs prompt emission. In this scenario short GRBs are not but P-GRB, while long GRBs present both a peak and a decreasing late time emission, which is the observed afterglow.<br />• A possible GRB/SuperNova connection is based on the process of induced gravitational collapse of a companion star of the black hole originating the GRB. <br />• A thermal distribution in the comoving frame of the expanding system is assumed for X and γ bands of the spectrum. This assumption leads to a natural bending of the late time light curves making not necessary the hypothesis of a beamed emission within a collimated jet from the inner engine, which has been introduced in literature essentially to reduce the energy requirements.

Dans cette thèse nous avons présenté un modèle probabiliste auto cohérent décrivant la relaxation d'un faisceau d'électrons dans un vent solaire dont les fluctuations aléatoires de la densité ont les mêmes propriétés spectrales que celles mesurées à bord de satellites. On a supposé que, le système possédait différentes échelles caractéristiques en plus de l'échelle caractéristique des fluctuations de densité. Ceci nous a permis de décrire avec précision l'interaction onde-particule à des échelles inférieures à l'échelle caractéristique des fluctuations de densité en supposant que des paramètres d'onde sont connus: notamment, la phase, la fréquence et l'amplitude. Cependant, pour des échelles suffisamment plus grandes que l'échelle caractéristique des irrégularités de densité, l'interaction des ondes et des particules ne peut être caractérisée déterminé que par des quantités statistiques moyennes dans l'espace des vitesses à savoir: le taux de croissance/amortissement et le coefficient de diffusion des particules. En utilisant notre modèle, nous décrivons l'évolution de la fonction de distribution des électrons et d'énergie des ondes de Langmuir. Le schéma 1D suggérée est applicable pour des paramètres physiques de plasma du vent solaire à différentes distances du Soleil. Ainsi, nous pouvons utiliser nos calculs pour décrire des émissions solaires de Type III, ainsi que les interactions de faisceau avec le plasma, à des distances d'une Unité Astronomique du Soleil dans l'héliosphère et au voisinage des chocs planétaires. / This thesis is dedicated to effects of plasma density fluctuations in the solar wind on the relaxation of the electron beams ejected from the Sun. The density fluctuations are supposed to be responsible for the changes in the local phase velocity of the Langmuir waves generated by the beam instability. Changes in the wave phase velocity during the wave propagation can be described in terms of probability distribution function determined by distribution of the density fluctuations. Using these probability distributions we describe resonant wave particle interactions by a system of equations, similar to well known quasi-linear approximation, where the conventional velocity diffusion coefficient and the wave growth rate are replaced by the averaged in the velocity space. It was shown that the process of relaxation of electron beam is accompanied by transformation of significant part of the beam kinetic energy to energy of the accelerated particles via generation and absorption of the Langmuir waves. We discovered that for the very rapid beams the relaxation process consists of two well separated steps. On first step the major relaxation process occurs and the wave growth rate almost everywhere in the velocity space becomes close to zero or negative. At the seconde stage the system remains in the state close to state of marginal stability enough long to explain how the beam may be preserved traveling distances over 1 AU while still being able to generate the Langmuir waves.

We present new evidence that the bright nonthermal X-ray emission features in the interior of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant are caused by inward-moving shocks, based on Chandra and NuSTAR observations. Several bright inward-moving filaments were identified using monitoring data taken by Chandra in 2000-2014. These inward-moving shock locations are nearly coincident with hard X-ray (15-40 keV) hot spots seen by NuSTAR. From proper-motion measurements, the transverse velocities were estimated to be in the range of similar to 2100-3800 km s(-1) for a distance of 3.4 kpc. The shock velocities in the frame of the expanding ejecta reach values of similar to 5100-8700 km s(-1), which is slightly higher than the typical speed of the forward shock. Additionally, we find flux variations (both increasing and decreasing) on timescales of a few years in some of the inward-moving shock filaments. The rapid variability timescales are consistent with an amplified magnetic field of B similar to 0.5-1 mG. The high speed and low photon cut-off energy of the inward-moving shocks are shown to imply a particle diffusion coefficient that departs from the Bohm regime (k(0) = D-0/D-0,D-Bohm similar to 3-8) for the few simple physical configurations we consider in this study. The maximum electron energy at these shocks is estimated to be similar to 8-11 TeV, which is smaller than the values of similar to 15-34 TeV that were inferred for the forward shock. Cassiopeia A is dynamically too young for its reverse shock to appear to be moving inward in the observer frame. We propose instead that the inward-moving shocks are a consequence of the forward shock encountering a density jump of 5-8 in the surrounding material.

Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects may play a significant role in determining the dynamics, thermal properties, and observational signatures of radiatively inefficient accretion flows onto black holes. In particular, particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection events may influence black hole spectra and flaring properties. We use representative general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of black hole accretion flows to identify and explore the structures and properties of current sheets as potential sites of magnetic reconnection. In the case of standard and normal evolution (SANE) disks, we find that in the reconnection sites, the plasma beta ranges from 0.1 to 1000, the magnetization ranges from 10(-4) to 1, and the guide fields are weak compared with the reconnecting fields. In magnetically arrested (MAD) disks, we find typical values for plasma beta from 10(-2) to 10(3), magnetizations from 10(-3) to 10, and typically stronger guide fields, with strengths comparable to or greater than the reconnecting fields. These are critical parameters that govern the electron energy distribution resulting from magnetic reconnection and can be used in the context of plasma simulations to provide microphysics inputs to global simulations. We also find that ample magnetic energy is available in the reconnection regions to power the fluence of bright X-ray flares observed from the black hole in the center of the Milky Way.