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Le champ magnétique vertical joue un rôle prépondérant dans la dynamique des disques d'accrétion. L'émission de jet par un disque ainsi que la turbulence qu'on suppose y exister sont tous deux fortement contraints par l'intensité de ce champ vertical. Ce champ évolue lui même suivant les mécanismes d'advection par la matière et de diffusion par la turbulence. Depuis plus de vingt ans, la question de l'évolution d'un tel champ dans un disque fait l'objet de nombreuses études, mais une modélisation globale de disque prenant en compte tous ces ingrédients n'avait encore jamais été réalisée. Je propose ici un modèle, considérant le transport d'un champ magnétique vertical par le disque, mais également la rétroaction de ce champ sur la dynamique du disque. Une résolution analytique de configurations homogènes est réalisée. Elle confirme les résultats des études précédentes, à savoir qu'en l'état actuel des connaissances des processus de transport, un disque turbulent ne peut advecter significativement le champ vertical pour permettre l'émission d'un jet. Elle met cependant en avant une configuration nouvelle de disque, mixte, dans laquelle les conditions d'éjection sont réunies non pas à l'intérieur du disque mais dans ses régions externes. La stabilité des configurations homogènes calculée a été réalisée, et de nouvelles instabilités sont mises en avant. L'effectivité de ces instabilités dépend des dépendances fonctionnelles employées pour quantifier la dynamique du disque. Une caractérisation, via des simulation locales, des ces dépendances fonctionnelles, permettrait de savoir si ces instabilités peuvent être effectives dans un disque d'accrétion. Enfin, les outils numériques développé permettent d'étudier les configurations envisagées. Les configurations homogènes stationnaires sont récupérées, et une étude dynamique de la configuration mixte permet de caractériser les conditions d'advection de la limite disque éjectant/disque standard. / The vertical magnetic field plays a fundamental role in the dynamics of accretion discs. The jet launching, so as the turbulence that is supposed to exist in these discs are strongly constrained by the intensity of this field. This field evolves following the mechanisms of advection by the mater and diffusion by turbulence. The question of the evolution of such a field has been studied since more than 20 years, but a global modelisation, involving all these méchanisms wasn't done yet. I propose a model, taking into account the transport of a vertical magnetic field by the disc, and also the feedback of this field on the dynamics of the disc. Analytical solutions for standard configurations a calculated. It confirms previous studies in the sense that considering the state of the art, a turbulent disc can not advect a vertical field in order to allow a jet launching. However, a new configuration is rised, in wich the ejection conditions are realised in the outer radius of the disc. The stability of the standard configurations is calculated, and new instabilities are rised. The effectivity of such instabilities depends on the functionnal dependancies used to quantify the disc dynamics. A determination of such dependancies, via local simulations, would clarify if such instabilities could be effective in accretion discs. At last, the numerical tools developped allows to study the configurations. Standard one are found, and a dynamical study of the new configuration is done to determine the advection conditions for the limit ejecting disc/ standard disc.

The reflection of the X-rays emitted from a corona of energetic particles surrounding an accreting black hole from the accretion disc is investigated in the context of probing the structure of the central regions as well as the physical processes that power some of the brightest objects seen in the Universe. A method is devised to measure the emissivity profile of the accretion disc, that is the reflected flux as a function of radius in the disc. This method exploits the variation in the Doppler and gravitational redshift of emission from different radii in the disc to fit the observed reflection spectrum as the sum of contributions from successive radii and is applied to X-ray spectra of the narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies 1H 0707-495, IRAS 13224-3809 and MCG-6-30-15 as well as the Galactic X-ray binary, Cygnus X-1. This illumination pattern of the accretion disc is a sensitive probe of the geometry of the corona that is illuminating the disc. A formalism is developed in which systematic ray tracing simulations can be run between X-ray emitting coronae and the accretion disc for a range of source geometries and other physical parameters, allowing observable data products to be simulated that can be directly compared to data from astrophysical black holes, in order to determine how these parameters affect the observed data, allowing them to be constrained observationally. The measured emissivity profiles are found to be in agreement with those expected theoretically and it is also discovered that the measured emissivity profile can be used to determine the radial extent of the X-ray emitting corona above the accretion disc. The X-ray emitting coronae are located and their radial extents constrained in 1H 0707-495, IRAS 13224-3809 and MCG-6-30-15, while the insight gained into accretion disc emissivity profiles from ray tracing simulations allows the low flux state that 1H 0707-495 was seen to drop in to in January 2011 to be explained in terms of a collapse of the X-ray emitting corona to a confined region around the central black hole. The rapid variability of the X-ray emission from accreting black holes is exploited in the use of reverberation time lags, where variability in the continuum is seen to lead that in its reflection from the accretion disc, to measure the distances between the X-ray emitting corona and the reflector. Ray tracing calculations are developed to simulate lag spectra that can be measured in X-ray observations to provide a means of constraining the extent and geometry of the corona, complimentary to the use of the emissivity profiles. Combining these methods, the X-ray emitting coronae are constrained to extend radially outward a few tens of gravitational radii over the accretion disc, while extending vertically a few gravitational radii above the plane of the disc. Furthermore, it is demonstrated how measured lag spectra can be used to understand the propagation of luminosity fluctuations through the extent of the corona and techniques are developed for analysing energy-resolved variability analysis that will be possible with future generations of X-ray telescopes. Finally, these methods, along with theoretical insight gained form ray tracing simulations, are applied to X-ray spectra extracted from 1H 0707-495 during periods of low and high flux during the observations. Evidence is found for the expansion of the corona along with a drop in the average energy density as the X-ray luminosity increases followed by its contraction as the luminosity decreases on timescales of hours.

The consequences of two key approximations of accretion-disc physics near black holes are studied in this thesis. First, the question of effective ``pseudo-Newtonian" potentials mimicking a black hole is investigated both through numerical simulations and analytical means, and second, the neglect of additional gravitating matter near accreted-upon black holes and its consequences are put to test. After some broader discussion of integrability, resonance and chaos, a general "pseudo-Newtonian" limit for geodesic motion is derived, and applied for the case of null geodesics near a glowing toroid and for time-like geodesics in the Kerr metric. Afterwards, a new Newtonian gravitational potential for non- singular toroids is proposed and its usefulness for the so-called Weyl space-times is discussed. Finally, a new pseudo-Newtonian potential is introduced and applied alongside already known potentials in models of free test particle motion in the field of a black hole with a disc or ring, in complete analogy with previous exact-relativistic studies, and the previous conclusion of chaos in disc/ring-hole models is confirmed. Overall, the pseudo-Newtonian framework is able to reproduce a number of key features of the original systems with notable differences arising only as a consequence of extremely strong or...

Stars can be stretched and ripped apart by the super-massive black hole at the core of a galaxy. The remnant gaseous trail gradually circularizes in a ring of mass that spreads by the viscous forces into an accretion disc. In this thesis we have studied the spectral line profle time evolution of radiation refected by the accretion disc located around a super-massive black hole. We assume the central body to be a slowly rotating or non-rotating super-massive black hole with no charge, in the frst approximation represented by the Schwarzschild solution. In a sense of Shakura-Sunyaev standard accretion disc model with the kinematic viscosity parameter α ≈ 1 we allow the accretion disc evolution to be guided by the angular momentum transfer equation with the initial mass ring located at the tidal radius being the product of tidal disruption of a star passing by a super-massive black hole. During the simulations we keep varying the mass of the central body while we keep the mass and the radius of the star constant (M = 1M⊙ and R = 1R⊙), i.e. taking into account the solar-type stars only. We defer the prospects of the full analysis involving spin (and charge) of the central body for the future study as it will be necessary to use the equations for the redshift factor and the accretion disc evolution...

Black hole jets and accretion discs are the most extreme objects in modern astrophysics whilst dark energy is undoubtedly the most mysterious. This thesis focuses on understanding these three topics. The majority of this thesis is dedicated to investigating the structure and properties of black hole jets by modelling their emission. I develop an inhomogeneous jet model with a magnetically dominated parabolic accelerating base, transitioning to a slowly decelerating conical jet, with a geometry set by radio observations of M87. This model is able to reproduce the simultaneous multiwavelength spectra of all 38 Fermi blazars with redshifts in unprecendented detail across all wavelengths. I constrain the synchrotron bright region of the jet to occur outside the BLR and dusty torus for FSRQs using the optically thick to thin synchrotron break. At these large distances their inverse-Compton emission originates from scattering CMB photons. I find an approximately linear relation between the jet power and the transition region radius where the jet first comes into equipartition, transitions from parabolic to conical and stops accelerating. The decreasing magnetic field strength and increasing bulk Lorentz factor with jet power are the physical reasons behind the blazar sequence. I calculate the conditions for instability in a thin accretion disc with an α parameter which depends on the magnetic Prandtl number, as suggested by MHD simulations. The global behaviour of the instability induces cyclic flaring in the inner regions of the disc, for parameters appropriate for X-ray binary systems, thereby offering a potential solution to a long standing problem. Finally, I calculate the effect of an interacting quintessence model of dark energy on cosmological observables. I find that a scalar-tensor type interaction in the dark sector results in an observable increase in the matter power spectrum and integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect at horizon scales.

The local universe is dominated by quiescent galaxies with little or no ongoing star formation. Once star formation has been shut down in a possible quasar phase, energy feedback in the form of outflows from a supermassive black hole (SMBH) accreting at a low rate is one of the leading candidates for heating up or removing gas accreted afterwards. In this work we performed hydrodynamic simulations of radiatively inefficient accretion flows around supermassive black holes and investigate the generation of outflows by the accretion flow. We found that hot accretion flows can produce powerful subrelativistic winds that carry considerable amounts of energy away and they can provide feedback inside the host galaxy. / O universo local é dominado por galáxias quiescentes com pouca, ou nenhuma, taxa atual de formação estelar. Uma vez que a formação estelar é suprimida numa possível fase de quasar do núcleo ativo da galáxia, o feedback de energia na forma de outflows do buraco negro supermassivo acretando a pequenas taxas é um dos principais candidatos a aquecer ou remover o gás do sistema. Nesse trabalho, executamos simulações hidrodinâmicas de escoamentos acretivos radiativamente ineficientes ao redor de buracos negros supermassivos e investigamos a geração de outflows pelo escoamento. Encontramos que escoamentos acretivos quentes podem produzir ventos subrelativísticos poderosos que carregam para fora consideráveis quantidades de energia e que podem providenciar feedback dentro da galáxia hospedeira.

High-mass stars play a significant role in the evolution of the Universe and the process that leads to the formation of such objects is still an open question in Astrophysics. The details of the structures connected to the central sources, such as the circumstellar disks and the morphology of the jets at their launching points, still lack of observational evidence. In this thesis, the high-mass star forming process is investigated in terms of the evolution of high-mass clumps selected from the ATLASGAL survey based on their CO emission in the sub-millimetre. While single-dish sub-millimetre observations provide a large-scale view of the high-mass star formation process, higher angular resolution observations are required to disentangle the details of the protostars within the clumps. For this, three-dimensional infrared spectroscopy was obtained for a group of RMS sources to characterise the circumstellar environment of high-mass YSOs in linear scales of ~100-1000 AU. The ATLASGAL TOP100 sample offers a unique opportunity to analyse a statistically complete sample of high-mass clumps at different evolutionary stages. APEX data of three rotational J transitions of the CO (the CO(4-3), CO(6-5) and CO(7-6)) were used to characterise the properties of their warm gas (~155 K) content and to derive the relations between the CO and the clump properties. The CO line luminosities were derived and the analysis indicated that the CO emission increases as a function of the evolutionary stage of the clumps (from infrared-weak to HII regions) and as a function of the bolometric luminosity and mass of the sources. The comparison of the TOP100 with low-mass objects observed in the CO(6-5) and CO(7-6), together with CO(10-9) data observed for a complementary sample of objects indicated that the dependency of the CO luminosity with the bolometric luminosity of the sources gets steeper towards higher-J transitions. Although the CO luminosity of more luminous clumps are systematically larger than the values obtained for the less luminous sources, the individual analysis of each subsample suggests a similar dependency of the CO luminosity versus the bolometric luminosity for each luminosity regime. Finally, the presence of high-velocity CO emission observed for the TOP100 suggests that ~85% of the sources are driving molecular outflows. The selection of isolated high-mass objects undergoing mass accretion is fundamental to investigate if these objects are formed through an accretion disc or if they are formed by merging of low-mass YSOs. The near-infrared window provides one of the best opportunities to investigate the interior of the sub-mm clumps and study in details their individual members. Thanks to the relatively high-resolution obtained in the K-band and the moderate reddening effects in the K-band, a sample of eight (8) HMYSOs exhibiting large-scale H2 outflows were selected to follow-up K-band spectroscopic observations using the NIFS spectrometer (Gemini North). All sources exhibit extended continuum emission and exhibit atomic and molecular transitions typical of embedded objects, such as Brackett-gama, H2 and the CO lines. The H2 lines are tracing the launching point of the large-scale jets in scales of ~100 AU in five of eight sources (63%). The identification of jets at such small scales indicates that these objects are still undergoing mass accretion. The Brackett-gama emission probes the ionised gas around the HMYSOs. The analysis of the Brackett-gama spectro-astrometry at sub-pixel scales suggests that the line arises from the cavity of the outflows or from rotating structures perpendicular to the H2 jets (i.e., disc). Five sources also exhibit CO emission features (63%), and three HMYSOs display CO absorption features (38%), indicating that they are likely associated with circumstellar discs. By further investigating the kinematics of the spatially resolved CO absorption features, the Keplerian mass of three sources was estimated in 5±3, 8±5 and 30±10 solar masses. These results support that high-mass stars are formed through discs, similarly as observed towards low-mass stars. The comparison between the collimation degree of the molecular jets or outflows detected in the NIFS data with their large-scale counterparts indicate that these structures present a relatively wide range of collimation degrees. / Estrelas de alta massa têm grande impacto na evolução do Universo e o processo de formação destes objetos ainda é um problema em aberto na Astrofísica. Os detalhes das estruturas associadas às regiões mais próximas dos objetos centrais, tais como os discos circunstelares e a morfologia dos jatos próximos à base de lançamento, ainda não foram estudados em detalhe e carecem de evidências observacionais. Esta tese apresenta um estudo da formação de estrelas de alta massa em termos da evolução de glóbulos de alta massa (clumps), selecionados a partir do levantamento ATLASGAL, a partir de observações da molécula do CO na faixa espectral do sub-milimétrico. Enquanto observações \"single-dish\" no sub-milimétrico possibilitam o estudo em larga escala do processo de formação de estrelas de alta massa, observações com maior resolução angular são necessárias para investigar os detalhes das protoestrelas no interior dos glóbulos. Para isso, espectroscopia tri-dimensional no infra-vermelho próximo foi obtida para um grupo de fontes RMS para caracterizar o meio circunstelar de objetos estelares jovens e de alta massa (HMYSOs) em escalas lineares de ~100-1000 UA. A amostra TOP100 oferece uma oportunidade ímpar de analisar um conjunto estatisticamente completo de glóbulos de alta massa em diversas fases evolutivas. Observações realizadas com o radiotelescópio APEX de três transições rotacionais da molécula do CO (CO(4-3), CO(6-5) e CO(7-6)) foram utilizadas para estudar as propriedades do gás morno (~155 K) associado aos glóbulos, e obter as relações entre a emissão do CO e as propriedades físicas dos glóbulos. A luminosidade das diferentes transições do CO foi obtida e sua análise mostrou que a emissão do gás aumenta em função do estágio evolutivo dos glóbulos (de glóbulos com emissão fraca no infravermelho longínquo a regiões HII) e em função da luminosidade bolométrica e massa dos glóbulos. A comparação entre os glóbulos de alta massa presentes na amostra TOP100 com fontes de menor massa observadas nas transições do CO(6-5) e CO(7-6), juntamente com a análise de uma amostra complementar de fontes observadas na transição do CO(10-9) mostrou que a dependência da luminosidade do CO com a luminosidade bolométrica aumenta em função do número quântico J associado à transição do CO. Este estudo também mostrou que as relações entre a luminosidade do CO e dos clumps são dominadas pelas fontes de alta luminosidade presentes na amostra analisada. A análise individual de fontes de baixa e alta luminosidade sugerem que a dependência entreas luminosidades do CO e bolométrica é a mesma em ambos os regimes de luminosidade, embora as luminosidades do CO sejam sistematicamente maiores para os glóbulos de alta massa. Por fim, a análise da emissão do CO em altas-velocidades mostrou que ~85% dos glóbulos presentes na amostra TOP100 apresentam jatos moleculares. A seleção de objetos de alta massa isolados em estágio de acreção ativa é crucial para decidir se ela ocorre através de um disco de acreção e/ou via fusão de YSOs de menor massa. Para isso, observações no infra-vermelho próximo são ideais para se investigar o conteúdo dos glóbulos sub-milimétricos e resolver seus membros individuais. Devido a alta resolução espacial na banda K e a extinção interestelar moderada nesta faixa espectral, um conjunto de oito (8) HMYSOs associados a jatos em H2 em larga-escala foram selecionados para observações espectroscópicas na banda K utilizando o espectrômetro NIFS no Gemini Norte. Todos os objetos investigados com o NIFS apresentam emissão extendida no contínuo, bem como nas linhas espectrais típicas de fontes jovens, tais como o Brackett-gama, transições do H2 e a emissão nas bandas moleculares do CO. A emissão em H2 está associada aos jatos moleculares em escalas de ~100 UA em cinco das oito fontes (63%). A indentificação de jatos moleculares em escalas tão próximas ao objeto central indica que o processo de acreção de massa ainda está ativo nestes objetos. A emissão do Brackett-gama provém do gás ionizado nas regiões mais próximas das fontes centrais ou regiões de choque próximas aos jatos. A espectro-astrometria da linha do Brackett-gama em escalas de sub-píxeis, indica que a emissão do gás ocorre nas cavidades dos jatos moleculares ou delineiam estruturas alinhadas perpendicularmente aos jatos, tais como os discos de acreção. Cinco fontes também apresentam emissão nas bandas do CO (63%), e três HMYSOs apresentam linhas do CO em absorção (38%), indicando que estes objetos apresentam discos de acreção. A massa total do sistema \"disco e protoestrela\" foi determinada a partir do estudo da cinemática das linhas de absorção do CO, detectadas em três objetos. A partir de modelos de rotação Kepleriana, as massas das fontes foram estimadas em 5±3, 8±5 e 30±10 massas solares. Os resultados obtidos a partir da espectroscopia tri-dimensional no infravermelho corroboram a hipótese de que estrelas de alta massa são formadas a partir de acreção por discos, de maneira similar ao observado para estrelas de baixa massa. A comparação entre a morfologia dos jatos moleculares identificados nos campos do NIFS e das correspondentes contrapartidas em escalas maiores indicam que os jatos apresentam diferentes graus de colimação ao longo de suas estruturas, explicadas pela multiplicidade de fontes nas proximidades da base de lançamento dos jatos ou efeitos de precessão no objeto central.

High-mass stars play a significant role in the evolution of the Universe and the process that leads to the formation of such objects is still an open question in Astrophysics. The details of the structures connected to the central sources, such as the circumstellar disks and the morphology of the jets at their launching points, still lack of observational evidence. In this thesis, the high-mass star forming process is investigated in terms of the evolution of high-mass clumps selected from the ATLASGAL survey based on their CO emission in the sub-millimetre. While single-dish sub-millimetre observations provide a large-scale view of the high-mass star formation process, higher angular resolution observations are required to disentangle the details of the protostars within the clumps. For this, three-dimensional infrared spectroscopy was obtained for a group of RMS sources to characterise the circumstellar environment of high-mass YSOs in linear scales of ~100-1000 AU. The ATLASGAL TOP100 sample offers a unique opportunity to analyse a statistically complete sample of high-mass clumps at different evolutionary stages. APEX data of three rotational J transitions of the CO (the CO(4-3), CO(6-5) and CO(7-6)) were used to characterise the properties of their warm gas (~155 K) content and to derive the relations between the CO and the clump properties. The CO line luminosities were derived and the analysis indicated that the CO emission increases as a function of the evolutionary stage of the clumps (from infrared-weak to HII regions) and as a function of the bolometric luminosity and mass of the sources. The comparison of the TOP100 with low-mass objects observed in the CO(6-5) and CO(7-6), together with CO(10-9) data observed for a complementary sample of objects indicated that the dependency of the CO luminosity with the bolometric luminosity of the sources gets steeper towards higher-J transitions. Although the CO luminosity of more luminous clumps are systematically larger than the values obtained for the less luminous sources, the individual analysis of each subsample suggests a similar dependency of the CO luminosity versus the bolometric luminosity for each luminosity regime. Finally, the presence of high-velocity CO emission observed for the TOP100 suggests that ~85% of the sources are driving molecular outflows. The selection of isolated high-mass objects undergoing mass accretion is fundamental to investigate if these objects are formed through an accretion disc or if they are formed by merging of low-mass YSOs. The near-infrared window provides one of the best opportunities to investigate the interior of the sub-mm clumps and study in details their individual members. Thanks to the relatively high-resolution obtained in the K-band and the moderate reddening effects in the K-band, a sample of eight (8) HMYSOs exhibiting large-scale H2 outflows were selected to follow-up K-band spectroscopic observations using the NIFS spectrometer (Gemini North). All sources exhibit extended continuum emission and exhibit atomic and molecular transitions typical of embedded objects, such as Brackett-gama, H2 and the CO lines. The H2 lines are tracing the launching point of the large-scale jets in scales of ~100 AU in five of eight sources (63%). The identification of jets at such small scales indicates that these objects are still undergoing mass accretion. The Brackett-gama emission probes the ionised gas around the HMYSOs. The analysis of the Brackett-gama spectro-astrometry at sub-pixel scales suggests that the line arises from the cavity of the outflows or from rotating structures perpendicular to the H2 jets (i.e., disc). Five sources also exhibit CO emission features (63%), and three HMYSOs display CO absorption features (38%), indicating that they are likely associated with circumstellar discs. By further investigating the kinematics of the spatially resolved CO absorption features, the Keplerian mass of three sources was estimated in 5±3, 8±5 and 30±10 solar masses. These results support that high-mass stars are formed through discs, similarly as observed towards low-mass stars. The comparison between the collimation degree of the molecular jets or outflows detected in the NIFS data with their large-scale counterparts indicate that these structures present a relatively wide range of collimation degrees. / Estrelas de alta massa têm grande impacto na evolução do Universo e o processo de formação destes objetos ainda é um problema em aberto na Astrofísica. Os detalhes das estruturas associadas às regiões mais próximas dos objetos centrais, tais como os discos circunstelares e a morfologia dos jatos próximos à base de lançamento, ainda não foram estudados em detalhe e carecem de evidências observacionais. Esta tese apresenta um estudo da formação de estrelas de alta massa em termos da evolução de glóbulos de alta massa (clumps), selecionados a partir do levantamento ATLASGAL, a partir de observações da molécula do CO na faixa espectral do sub-milimétrico. Enquanto observações \"single-dish\" no sub-milimétrico possibilitam o estudo em larga escala do processo de formação de estrelas de alta massa, observações com maior resolução angular são necessárias para investigar os detalhes das protoestrelas no interior dos glóbulos. Para isso, espectroscopia tri-dimensional no infra-vermelho próximo foi obtida para um grupo de fontes RMS para caracterizar o meio circunstelar de objetos estelares jovens e de alta massa (HMYSOs) em escalas lineares de ~100-1000 UA. A amostra TOP100 oferece uma oportunidade ímpar de analisar um conjunto estatisticamente completo de glóbulos de alta massa em diversas fases evolutivas. Observações realizadas com o radiotelescópio APEX de três transições rotacionais da molécula do CO (CO(4-3), CO(6-5) e CO(7-6)) foram utilizadas para estudar as propriedades do gás morno (~155 K) associado aos glóbulos, e obter as relações entre a emissão do CO e as propriedades físicas dos glóbulos. A luminosidade das diferentes transições do CO foi obtida e sua análise mostrou que a emissão do gás aumenta em função do estágio evolutivo dos glóbulos (de glóbulos com emissão fraca no infravermelho longínquo a regiões HII) e em função da luminosidade bolométrica e massa dos glóbulos. A comparação entre os glóbulos de alta massa presentes na amostra TOP100 com fontes de menor massa observadas nas transições do CO(6-5) e CO(7-6), juntamente com a análise de uma amostra complementar de fontes observadas na transição do CO(10-9) mostrou que a dependência da luminosidade do CO com a luminosidade bolométrica aumenta em função do número quântico J associado à transição do CO. Este estudo também mostrou que as relações entre a luminosidade do CO e dos clumps são dominadas pelas fontes de alta luminosidade presentes na amostra analisada. A análise individual de fontes de baixa e alta luminosidade sugerem que a dependência entreas luminosidades do CO e bolométrica é a mesma em ambos os regimes de luminosidade, embora as luminosidades do CO sejam sistematicamente maiores para os glóbulos de alta massa. Por fim, a análise da emissão do CO em altas-velocidades mostrou que ~85% dos glóbulos presentes na amostra TOP100 apresentam jatos moleculares. A seleção de objetos de alta massa isolados em estágio de acreção ativa é crucial para decidir se ela ocorre através de um disco de acreção e/ou via fusão de YSOs de menor massa. Para isso, observações no infra-vermelho próximo são ideais para se investigar o conteúdo dos glóbulos sub-milimétricos e resolver seus membros individuais. Devido a alta resolução espacial na banda K e a extinção interestelar moderada nesta faixa espectral, um conjunto de oito (8) HMYSOs associados a jatos em H2 em larga-escala foram selecionados para observações espectroscópicas na banda K utilizando o espectrômetro NIFS no Gemini Norte. Todos os objetos investigados com o NIFS apresentam emissão extendida no contínuo, bem como nas linhas espectrais típicas de fontes jovens, tais como o Brackett-gama, transições do H2 e a emissão nas bandas moleculares do CO. A emissão em H2 está associada aos jatos moleculares em escalas de ~100 UA em cinco das oito fontes (63%). A indentificação de jatos moleculares em escalas tão próximas ao objeto central indica que o processo de acreção de massa ainda está ativo nestes objetos. A emissão do Brackett-gama provém do gás ionizado nas regiões mais próximas das fontes centrais ou regiões de choque próximas aos jatos. A espectro-astrometria da linha do Brackett-gama em escalas de sub-píxeis, indica que a emissão do gás ocorre nas cavidades dos jatos moleculares ou delineiam estruturas alinhadas perpendicularmente aos jatos, tais como os discos de acreção. Cinco fontes também apresentam emissão nas bandas do CO (63%), e três HMYSOs apresentam linhas do CO em absorção (38%), indicando que estes objetos apresentam discos de acreção. A massa total do sistema \"disco e protoestrela\" foi determinada a partir do estudo da cinemática das linhas de absorção do CO, detectadas em três objetos. A partir de modelos de rotação Kepleriana, as massas das fontes foram estimadas em 5±3, 8±5 e 30±10 massas solares. Os resultados obtidos a partir da espectroscopia tri-dimensional no infravermelho corroboram a hipótese de que estrelas de alta massa são formadas a partir de acreção por discos, de maneira similar ao observado para estrelas de baixa massa. A comparação entre a morfologia dos jatos moleculares identificados nos campos do NIFS e das correspondentes contrapartidas em escalas maiores indicam que os jatos apresentam diferentes graus de colimação ao longo de suas estruturas, explicadas pela multiplicidade de fontes nas proximidades da base de lançamento dos jatos ou efeitos de precessão no objeto central.

Quasar microlensing is a relatively newly explored phenomenon, which is ideally suited for studying the spatial distribution of emission from the innermost accretion disc. By now we know many macrolensed quasars, in which we can observe multiple images formed by the deflection of light in the gravitational field of an intervening galaxy. In case one of these images passes directly through the stellar population of the galaxy, it can be additionally microlensed by individual stars. The gravitational field of these stars forms a caustic network for light passing by. When a quasar accretion disc crosses behind this network, induced changes can be observed in the light curve as well as in the spectrum. In the first part of this thesis we study the statistics of the time intervals between successive caustic crossings. In the second part we use a fully relativistic Kerr-metric thin-disc model for studying the light curve of a fold-caustic crossing and its dependence on the accretion- disc parameters. In the last part we simulate changes in the X-ray iron-line profile during a fold-caustic crossing. We find characteristic spectral features formed on the line, and derive their analytical description. Finally, we map the maximum strength of microlensing-generated peaks on the spectral line for different...