For this project, a historical statistical analysis of the Amplitude of Mass Fluctuations ($\sigma_8$) and Hubble's Constant ($H_0$) parameters in the Standard Cosmological Model was carried out to determine whether or not the given error bars truly represent the dispersion of values. It was found through analysis of the Chi-Squared ($\chi^2$) values of the data that for $\sigma_8$ (60 data points and $\chi^2$ between 183.167 and 189.037) that the associated probability Q is extremely low, with $Q = 1.5597*10^{-15}$ for the weighted average and $Q = 1.2107*10^{-14}$ for the best fit of the data. This was also the case for the $\chi^2$ values (163 data points and $\chi^2$ between 484.3977 and 575.655) of $H_0$, where $Q = 4.2176*10^{-34}$ for the linear fit of the data and $Q = 1.0342*10^{-47}$ for the weighted average of the data. Through further analysis, it is shown in question, a linear fit is a better estimate of the data than the weighted average. The general conclusion is that the statistical error bars have been underestimated (in around 20\% of the measurements), or the systematic errors were not properly taken into account.

This project aims to determine the solar Mg abundance with two infrared spectral lines: MgI λ10811 and λ10965. Downloaded line data from VALD are updated with modern values for the oscillator strengths and van der Waals damping parameters, the latter obtained through ABO theory. Utilizing SME, the Mg abundances of synthetic spectra are fitted with respect to a solar atlas. The derived abundance for varied turbulence configurations is found to be between logAMg+12 = 7.40–7.52, which is slightly lower than meteoric and 3D-modeled values. Suggested improvements would be to consider the effects of NLTE and line blending.

The current cosmological paradigm of an accelerating cosmic expansion issupported by observations of Type Ia supernovae. However, the light emittedby these and other cosmological sources is not only redshifted by cosmicexpansion but will also interact with matter along the light path. Especiallyintergalactic dust can lead to additional reddening and dimming of distantsources due to light scattering or absorption. This yields systematiccontaminations to cosmological measurements. This project builds afoundation and some of the tools that will be used in a master’s thesis withthe aim of analysing the spatial distribution and the properties of this cosmicdust. While previous studies assumed cosmic dust to be homogeneouslydistributed, it is expected to follow the spatial distribution of galaxies fromwhich it was expelled. This project also starts to recreate previous models ofhomogeneous dust models and measurements which will be used the futuremaster’s thesis. An analysis of the methods and tools used, along with some ofthe dust properties, is also made in this project.

The complex interactions between the Sun and Earth are referred to as Space Weather. Key parameters include magnetic indices which quantitatively describe geomagnetic activity by determining a baseline that removes the background magnetic field and allows quantification of the remaining activity during geomagnetic events. However, most used indices have a low temporal resolution and rely on a sparse and frozen network of ground magnetic observatories. This thesis introduces a novel way of determining the baseline for future high temporal and spatial resolution magnetic indices. Firstly, the main phenomena and effects of Space Weather are outlined, followed by a review of currently used magnetic indices and their derivation. The computation of a novel baseline introduced in this work relies on basic statistical methods which are applied on magnetic data from a dense and flexible network of ground observatories for the period 1991-2016. The focus is on the investigation of geomagnetic quiet periods for which average annual activity at each observatory is determined. A global latitudinal normalisation function with dependency on solar activity for quiet periods is found. The analysis of the newly derived baseline shows that it provides the temporal, spatial and amplitudinal resolution needed to characterise geomagnetic disturbances adequately. The residual signal has the capability of being used as the basis for further quiet period studies. A first attempt of new indices based on the introduced derivation shows a good agreement with already existing high temporal and spatial resolution magnetic indices. Future indices derived with this baseline lay a favourable fundament for the application of articial intelligence methods.

20 supernovae that spectroscopically match the peculiar, superluminous type Ia supernova 2003fg are studied in this project. SN2003fg is thought to have erupted at a super-Chandrasekhar mass, thus breaching the theoretical mass limit for a white dwarf. By analysing the lightcurves of these 20 supernovae, this work aims to understand what the progenitor binary systems from which the supernovae erupt looked like. A lightcurve fitting using the software snpy is performed for each supernova. Using the produced models, time of maximum luminosity, stretch and maximum magnitudes in the g-, r- and i-bands are found. It is found that subluminous supernovae might be a sign of circumstellar material surrounding the progenitor star, though some of the supernovae were superluminous and some adhered to Phillip's relationship. Substructures were found in the lightcurves, as the sampled supernovae showed clearly different behaviours in each of the three bands.

Localized structures of the magnetic field strength depression are often observed in the interplanetarymedium, and they are called ‘magnetic holes’ after the original work of Turner et al. 1977. A numberof observations of similar features have been reported, while the mechanisms of their origin have notfully understood yet. The scale size of their structures varies from several to a few thousand of the protongyro radii, and their characteristic orientations of the magnetic field also vary, and therefore differenttypes of the magnetic holes have been suggested. To date, the magnetic holes are classified into Mirrormode and magnetic decreases (Tsurutani et al. 2011). Despite a large number of papers that report theobservational characteristics of the magnetic holes, many identify the feature using only the magneticfield data. This is due to the scale size of the structure at a large speed of the solar wind medium, thespatial resolution of the plasma instruments is often insufficient while the magnetic field instrument canusually obtain the data in high enough time resolution.The Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn for almost 17 years and obtained a large amount of data in/near theKronian magnetosphere, where the series of the magnetic depletions have been also observed (Smith et al.1980). The Langmuir Probe (LP) onboard Cassini measures the spacecraft potential and, in turn, measuresthe electron density in in-situ in the outer magnetosphere and solar wind region. This measurement hasbeen done using the LP sweep mode which samples the current-voltage curve of the probe every 10 minin the outer magnetosphere. The LP has also been operated in the continuous mode that measures theprobe current at a fixed bias potential every 16 s allowing to calculate the electron density in a smallerscale that is required for the studies magnetic holes. However, there is no general calibration so far inorder to conduct a statistical study in the outer magnetosphere region. The goal of this project is toinvestigate the possibility to use the LP data for the magnetic hole study, calibrate the LP continuousmode to derive the plasma density near the magnetospheric of Saturn, and investigate the scale size of theplasma density structure in the magnetic holes, i. e. plasma β, the field strength and density.The calibration of the continuous data was done by finding a relation between the current at 11 V, whichis a typical bias voltage of continuous mode, and the spacecraft potential obtained by the LP the sweepmode data. Is is expected that the current at 11V is linearly proportional to the floating potential andtherefore can be used to derive the electron density with the potential and density relationship presentedby Morooka et al. 2009. I found that the spacecraft attitude against the sun has a strong effect on therelation, and derived 11V current-floating potential relationship depending on the different spacecraftattitude.Using the LP continuous data calibration above, I investigated the electron density characteristics aroundthe magnetic hold structure, and confirmed that they are generally in anticorrelation relationship. I estim-ated also the plasma β assuming a constant temperature of 100 eV and investigated their characteristicsfor the different types of magnetic holes (linear and rotational holes) both in the magnetosheath and theholes in the solar wind for the year 2011. For the Cassini dataset during 2011, various different shapeand sizes of magnetic hole events have been found. Most (80%) of the MHs appeared within a groupedstructure, while the rest (20%) are found as isolated type holes in the magnetosheath. Among the isolatedMHs, about 30% had "Gaussian shape" and about 40% had a substructure. The scale size for the electrondensity for the isolated holes were on average 50 s in the solar wind, and 75 s (the rotational holes) and120 s (the linear holes) in the magnetosheath. Therefore, I confirmed that the LP can obtain enough datapoints to resolve the magnetic holes structure in the magnetosheath. The Cassini LP data resolution isalso capable to resolve some of the magnetic hole structure in the solar wind.In summary, I confirmed that the Cassini LP continuous data calibrated in this study is capable toinvestigate the different types of magnetic hole structures. Using this calibrated electron data statisticallyfor the large number of Cassini orbit would helpful to further identify the MHs structures in the solar wind and the magnetosheath that can be a key to understand the generation mechanisms of the magneticholes. / Lokaliserade strukturer med låg magnetfältstyrkan ses ofta i interplanetära mediet och de kallas ’mag-netiska hål’ (MH) (Turner et al. 1977). Trots et antal observationer av sådana strukturer har observeratsär deras generationsmekanism ännu förstådd. Storleken av strukturerna varierar från ett fåtal till någratusen protongyroradier och även deras kännetecknande inriktningar i magnetfältet varierar. På grund avdetta har olika typer av MH förslagits. Idag klassificerar man MH som ’mirror mode’ och magnetiskaminskningar (Tsurutani et al. 2011). Många studier har undersökt de magnetiska hålens egenskaper,men tyvärr oftast baserats endast på magnetfältsdata. Detta kan bero på strukturernas storlek vid en storsolvindshastighet, där plasmainstrumenten oftast inte har tillräckligt hög tidsupplösning för mätningar,medan magnetfältsinstrumenten kan oftast tillhandahålla data i hög tidsupplösning.Cassini-rymdfarkosten kretsade runt Saturnus i nästan 17 år och erhöll stora mängder data i och näraSaturnus magnetosfär. Langmuir-sonden (LP) ombord Cassini mäter rymdfarkostens potential ochdärmed mäter den elektrontätheten i rymden. Instrumentet fungerar som en slags väderstation för rym-dplasma och möjliggör mätningen av fundamentala plasmaparametrar såsom elektrontäthet, jontäthet,elektrontemperatur och jonmassa i en tät plasmaområdet av nära Saturnus. I den yttre magnetosfären därden plasmatätheten är låg, kan LP mäta rymdfarkosts potential och plasmatätheten. Mätningen, så kallade’sweep mode’ kan skaffades var 10:e minuter. LP:en mäter också i ’kontinuerlig mode’ som möjligenkan mäta plasmatätheten i mer frekventa men den behöver allmän kalibrering. I detta projekt undersökerjag möjligheten att använda LP kontinuerlig data för att studera MH, skapa kalibraring funktion för’kontinuerlig mode’ för att uppskatta plasmatätheten i Saturnus magnetosfär, och även att undersökastorleken och karaktär av plasmatäthetenstrukturen i MH.Jag undersökte först relationen mellan LP ström vid 11V och rymdfarkostens potential i sweep mode data.De härledda funktionerna användes vidare för att uppskatta densiteten med användning av relationenmellan rymdfarkostens potential och elektrontätheten (Morooka et al. 2009). Jag upptäckte också attden kontinuerlig mode funktionen är olika beroende på LP sensors läge i förhållande till solen ochrymdfarkosten. Hur Cassini är inriktad har en stor effekt på relationen och därför beskriva jag fyra olikarelationer för olika inriktningsregioner. Med den kontinuerlig mode funktionen jag härlett, undersöktejag struktur av magnetiska hålen som har listats av Tomas Karlsson på KTH. År 2011 innehåller MH medmycket olika former och storlekar. Den mest (80%) MH identifierades som grupp och resten (20%) varsom isolerade MH i magnetosheath. Av dessa isolerande hål har ca. 30% en Gauss-form och nästan 40%av MH verkar ha en understruktur. Genom att jämföra magfältdatan med elektrontätheten bekräftadejag den allmänna antikorrelationen mellan magnetfältstyrkan och elektrontätheten i MH-strukturerna.Dessutom hittar jag en ökning av elektron β som beräknas med en temperatur av 100 eV för linjära ochroterade MH i den magnetosheath samt MH i solvinden under 2011. Storleken av de isolerade magnetiskahålen är i genomsnitt 50 s i solvinden, 75 s (roterade magnetiska hål) och 120 s (linjära magnetiska hålen)i magnetosheath:en. Därför kan Cassini LP ha tillräcklig många datapoäng för att upplösa struktur avMH i magnetosheath. I solvinden kan LP upplösa en del av relativt stora MH.Sammanfattningsvis kan LP:s kontinuerlig kalibreringen från detta projekt användas för att analyserade olika strukturerna och storlekar av MH. Med denna kalibrerade plasmatäthet data är det möjligt attidentifiera olika MH karaktär i statistiskt för det stora antalet Cassini data. Det skulle vara en stor hjälpför att förstå genereringsmekanismerna av de magnetiska hålen.

The presence of a magnetic field is shown to affect the evolution and properties of stars. Hence, it is necessary to observe different types of stars to explore these effects. The detached eclipsing binary UV Piscium is the object of interest in this study, where a first step of analyzing its global magnetic field is done. The observational data was collected during 2016, at the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The analysis of the magnetic field is based on the line-addition technique least-squares deconvolution (LDS) of the polarisation signatures, and the aim is to search for circular polarisation signals produced by the Zeeman effect. The result shows a strong circular polarisation signature for the primary star of the binary, which is a direct evidence for the presence of a magnetic field. In contrast to this, the secondary star only shows a weak signal of circular polarisation in one of the analysed observations and further analysis of its magnetic field is needed. The secondary goal of the project was to calculate the stellar masses of the binary. This is done by measuring the radial velocities of the two stars via the line profiles, and preforming an orbital fit. The results gave: M1= 1.0211 ± 0.0040 Msol and M2 = 0.7728 ± 0.0028 Msol.

This thesis aims to give an introduction to quintessence models as well ascomparing those models with the currently accepted ΛCDM model. We willconsider quintessence in a spatially flat and isotropic Universe and useregular dynamical systems on a bounded three dimensional phase spacewhere we perform numerical calculations. This enables a globalunderstanding of these models and makes it possible to give thoroughdescriptions of the dynamics. We will discuss the three different types ofquintessence: Thawing, Scaling and Tracking quintessence and comparethem with the ΛCDM model. This thesis is based on several scientific papersand contains new numerical calculations and associated analysis. / Denna kandidatuppsats syfte är att ge en första inblick i kvintessens samtatt jämföra sådana modeller med den nuvarande accepterade ΛCDMmodellen. Vi studerar kvintessens i ett rumshomogent, isotropt och plantUniversum och använder reguljära dynamiska system i ett begränsattredimensionellt fasrum där vi utför numeriska beräkningar. Detta tillåter englobal undersökning av dessa modeller och gör det möjligt att noggrantbeskriva dynamiken. Vi diskuterar de tre olika typerna av kvintessens:”Thawing”, ”Scaling” och ”Tracking” kvintessens och jämför dessa medΛCDM modellen. Uppsatsen är baserad på flertalet vetenskapliga artiklaroch innehåller nya numeriska beräkningar med tillhörande analys.

An analysis is made on the Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar PKS 0426-380 using two sets of data. The first set of data is the Fermi-LAT data collected over the time 54682.66 − 59317.66 in Modified Julian Date within the energy range of 100 MeV to 500 GeV. The second set of data is a multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution within the approximate frequencies of <img src="http://www.diva-portal.org/cgi-bin/mimetex.cgi?%0A%0A%5Cleft%5B10%5E%7B10%7D,%2010%5E%7B27%7D%20%5Cright%5D" data-classname="equation" data-title="" />. First, the Fermi-LAT data were analysed and after modelling a lightcurve over the entire available time, a period of interest was located. The next step was to obtain a multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution of said period. Then, using JetSeT modelling, the data were analysed and a model of the Synchrotron Self-Compton, External-Compton and Synchrotron curves was fitted to the data. The final model which contained the best fit provided a set of physical parameters that described the source. These parameters were finally compared to two other Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars and conclusions regarding the properties of PKS 0426-380 were eventually drawn. A discussion comparing a related work on the same source to the results in this thesis followed. With the large differences in the constrained data between the Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars as background, three predictions concluded the thesis. These are, firstly, a cautioned approach to future searches for periodicity in AGN's. Secondly, in time, local periodicity for AGN's might be more common and interesting for future research. Finally, no certain values for the physical parameters of the AGN can be assessed and the results can only be wived as indications of the actual properties. / <p>Passed</p>

Clusters of Galaxies are amongst the largest gravitationally bound structures in our Universe and consist of thousands of galaxies. It is in these gigantic systems where Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) are found, the most massive galaxies in our Universe. A BCG, as its name indicates, is the brightest galaxy in a cluster. These enormous galaxies exhibit special properties, suggesting that they experience a different evolutionary path than a normal galaxy. It is widely accepted that their evolution involves merger events, when the BCG accrete another galaxy, as well as interaction events, like tidal stripping and/or removal of star-forming gas. However, the moment when those interactions happen in the life of the BCG and the extent of their impact on the BCG properties are still under discussion. This thesis aims to explore the later stages of BCG evolution by studying the merger/interaction fraction of BCGs in the local Universe. In particular, this research will explore the significance of correlations between the merger/interaction fraction with a variety of BCG properties (Metric Luminosity, α Parameter, BCG distance from the cluster center, BCG offset from the cluster mean redshift) and with a variety of cluster properties (cluster velocity dispersion, luminosity difference between the BCG and the second ranked galaxy in the cluster). The dependence of the merger/interaction fraction on the kinematics of BCGs is also investigated, using data for the BCG stellar velocity dispersion and for the local normalised velocity dispersion of galaxies within 50 kpc of the BCG. To accomplish these analyses, this thesis uses a sample of 432 BCGs at z ≤ 0.08 imaged as part of the Warpfire survey - an all-sky imaging and spectroscopic survey of BCGs in the nearby universe. Interacting and Non Interacting candidates are classified via a visual inspection of the residual images. This classification is performed by three independent people to ensure its robustness and to minimize classification bias. A merger/interaction fraction of fm/i = 0.220 ± 0.025 (stat) ± 0.040 (sys) at z ≤ 0.08 is found, with a lower limit of fmin ≥ 0.07 ± 0.01 (stat) ± 0.04 (sys). Significant correlations between the interaction status of BCG and its Metric Luminosity and α Parameter are also revealed. Specifically, the BCG merger/interaction fraction more than doubles in amplitude from ∼0.2 to ∼0.5 as the α Parameter increases from 0.4 to 0.9. However, those correlations do not appear to alter the Lm – α relationship, which remains robust against BCG interaction status. No significant correlation is found between the interaction status and the location of the BCG in the cluster, nor between the interaction status and the difference between the Metric Luminosity of the BCG and that of the second brightest galaxy in the cluster. However, it is found that BCGs with strong interaction residuals have slightly higher stellar velocity dispersions. Finally, the normalised velocity dispersion of galaxies within 50 kpc of the BCG is found to be lower than the normalised velocity dispersion around random galaxies in the outskirts of the cluster. The results of this thesis clearly indicate ongoing merger activity involving BCGs. The above results are consistent with idea that while BCG stellar accretion is not a dominant process at the current epoch it is not a negligible one either. These results also support a two phased growth model of BCG where the bulk of their stellar mass is assembled prior to z = 0.5 but still continues at a low level today.