In the year of 2017 in October a strange object with a hyperbolic trajectory was observed in our solar system. There were several hypotheses that scientists used to try to explain what kind of an object it was, but no one could, according to the scientific community as a whole, perpetuate any of these explanations as accepted consensus. One of the scientists who had an interest in this object is Professor Avi Loeb at Harvard University. He wrote and published a popular scientific book called “Extraterrestrial”. In this book Loeb make quite a few arguments that are backing up his hypothesis that this object is no ordinary asteroid or comet, it is in fact a relic from an advanced, technological, alien civilization which originates from a solar system far away from our own. Many people in the scientific community have not accepted these views by Loeb and one of them is Jonathan I. Katz who challenges Loeb’s hypothesis directly. Loeb on the other hand believes that the general resistance to his views is founded in the usual conservatism and that many scientists are afraid to advocate for something like this and risk their credibility and careers. / I oktober 2017 blev ett intressant objekt observerat i vårt solsystem. Det presenterades flera olika hypoteser av forskare som försökte förklara vad för typ av objekt detta var men ingen av dessa kunde ena hela den vetenskapliga gemenskapen och ingen konsensus kunde således uppnås. En av vetenskapsmännen som uppvisade ett intresse för detta objekt är en professor från Harvard University vid namn Avi Loeb.  Han skrev en populärvetenskaplig bok som heter ”Utomjordiskt”. I denna bok presenterar Loeb flera argument som har som syfte att stärka hypotesen att detta inte är någon vanlig asteroid eller komet, det är en kvarleva från en avancerad, teknologisk, utomjordisk civilisation, som härstammar från ett solsystem långt ifrån vårt eget. Den här ståndpunkten som Loeb uppvisar har blivit utmanad av flera fysiker inom vetenskapsvärlden inte minst av astrofysikern Jonathan. I Katz. Själv menar Loeb att detta generella motstånd beror på gammal konservatism hos flera vetenskapsmän som inte vågar sticka ut hakan och således riskera att skada anseende såväl som karriär.

The rate at which stars have formed throughout the history of theuniverse is not constant, it started out slow, increased until around redshift ∼ 2 when it reversed and became slower again. The reason for this behaviour is still being investigated with various models and simulations usually based upon dark matter halos. The aim of this study is to instead investigate whether there is a correlation between the cosmic star formation rate and the evolution of cosmic voids. This is achieved by comparing the total mass flow from voids with the amount of matter forming stars. A simple model of void mass flow is created and compared with observational data of star formation. The model is shown to exhibit the same behaviour as the star formation rate indicating that there is indeed a correlation between void evolution and star formation. This suggests it to be fruitful to create a more involved, alternative model of star formation based upon void evolution as opposed to the common halo evolution / Hur snabbt stjärnor bildas har genom universums historia förändrats över tid, det började långsamt och ökade sedan fram till rödförskutning ∼ 2 då trenden vände och saktade ner igen. Förklaringen till detta beteende utforskas fortfarande genom diverse modeller och simularingar som vanligtvis bygger på mörk materia halos. Syftet med detta arbete är att istället undersöka ifall det finns en korrelation mellan tomrumsutveckling och den kosmiska stjärnbildningen. Detta åstadkoms genom att jämföra det totala massflödet från tomrum med den massa som bildar stjärnorna. En simpel model för tomrumsutveckling skapas och jämförs med observationell data för stjärnbildningshastighet. Denna modell visar samma beteende som stjärnbildningen och tyder på att det finns en korrelation mellan denna och tommrumsutveckling. Som slutsats pekar denna studie på att det kan vara fruktbart att utveckla en mer anancerad modell för den kosmiska stjärnbildningen som bygger på tomrumsutveckling istället för mörk materia halos.

The cosmic neutrino background (CNB) can be composed of both active and hypothetical sterileneutrinos. At approximately one second after big bang, neutrinos decoupled from radiationand matter at a temperature of approximately one MeV. Neutrinos played an important role inthe origin and evolution of our universe and have been indirectly verified by cosmological dataon the BBN (Big Bang nucleosynthesis) of the Big Bang.It was Steven Weinberg in 1962 that first theorized on the direct detection of relic neutrinos.The signal of the relic neutrino capture on a tritium target can be observed by studying theendpoint of the electrons kinetic energy that are above the endpoint energy of the beta decayspectrum. The PTOLEMY project aims to archive direct detection of the relic neutrinobackground with a large tritium target of 100 gram, MAC-E-Filter, RF-tracking, Time of flighttracking and a cryogenic calorimetry.In this thesis the MAC-E-Filter have been simulated in two filter configurations. In the firstconfiguration, the electron were simulated five times in the filter. Two in the opposite sideof the detector, one in the middle, and two at the detector. In the second configuration theelectrons was simulated in the entrance solenoid at a fixed position of y = -0.19634954 m fromthe center of the filter and in random positions. Both multiple electrons and single electronswere simulated in the second configuration.In the single electron configuration the electron had a starting position of y = -0.19634954 mfrom the center of the filter, and an initial kinetic energy of 18.6 KeV. The first filter configurationsuccessfully accomplished to simulate the electron track, as the electron was reflectedback and forth between the entry and detector solenoid. The electric and magnetic field profilediered at the entry and detector solenoid. The second filter configuration successfully showedthat the electron will reach the end solenoid, when the filter length was 0.5 m. When the filterlength was increased to 0.7 m, then the electron was reflected in the middle of the filter. Thesimulation showed that the electron energy dropped below 1 eV from 18.6 KeV as the electronpropagated through the filter. The magnetic and electric fields decreased exponentially in thedirection of the detector solenoid. The Simulation of multiple electrons showed mixed resultsand would need more modifications in order to come to a final conclusion.

This thesis uses theoretical studies, and numerical simulations to provide results of the experimental reach to detect the QCD axion as dark matter in a Non-standard cosmological background. Assuming that the QCD axion constitutes the full CDM abundance of the universe, this thesis elaborates on its potential detection from experimental setups for the mass window of the axion. The set of results that is obtained here are the relic CDM energy density of axions produced by the vacuum realignment mechanism and the CDM energy density of axions produced from the decay of a network of cosmic strings. This thesis provides results regarding the possibility to detect a primordial gravitational wave relic, which is possible within some favorable cosmological scenarios for the background.

Analyzing stellar spectra plays a big role in understanding the evolution of our galaxy. Having good data for spectral line properties is very important when analyzing these spectra. One part of the Gaia-ESO public spectroscopic survey (GES) is to gather data for spectral line properties from stellar spectra. The scope of this project is to study one of these properties, the spectral line width caused by collisional broadening by hydrogen. Collisional broadening by hydrogen occurs when a hydrogen atom collides with a particle. The goal of this project is to successfully calculate the collisional spectral line broadening of iron lines where new data is missing from the GES using modern quantum mechanical calculations. These calculations are done using the ABO theory, which is more advanced than previously established theory.A table of Fe-I (Neutral iron) spectral lines without collisional broadening data in the GES has been provided. Using the ABO theory and the accompanying ABO cross section calculator code, estimates of collisional broadening by hydrogen have been calculated for these lines. The new calculations predict that the line width of the spectral lines are typically twice as large compared to older estimates calculated using simpler theory. This new data can be expected to improve stellar spectrum analysis in the Gaia-ESO survey spectra. / Analys av stjärnspektran spelar en stor roll i vår förståelse av vintergatans utveckling. Att ha bra data för spektrallinjers egenskaper är oerhört viktigt vid analys av dessa spektran. En del i Gaia-ESO public spectroscopic survey (GES) är att samla in data för dessa spektrallinjers egenskaper ur stjärnspektran. Omfattningen av detta projekt innefattar att titta närmare på en av dessa egenskaper, spektrallinjebreddning orsakad av kollisionsbreddning av väte. Kollisionsbreddning av väte uppstår när en väteatom kolliderar med en annan partikel. Målet med projektet är att med framgång beräkna kollisionsbreddningen av spektrallinjer från järn där ny data saknas ur GES genom att använda moderna kvantmekaniska beräkningar. Dessa beräkningar är gjorda med den så kallade ABO-teorin, vilken är mer avancerad än tidigare etablerade teorier. En tabell med Fe-I (neutralt järn) spektrallinjer utan kollisionsbreddningsdata i GES har tillhandahållits. Med hjälp av ABO-teorin och den medföljande ABO-tvärsnittsräknar-koden har beräkningar av kollisionsbreddning med väte utförts för dessa linjer. De nya beräkningarna förutser att spektrallinjernas bredd blir typiskt två gånger så stor jämfört med de äldre beräkningarna gjorda med enklare teori. Denna nya data kan förväntas att förbättra analysen av stjärnspektrum ur Gaia-ESO kartläggningen.

Study of the time variable sources and phenomena in Astrophysics provides us with important insights into the stellar evolution, galactic evolution, stellar population studies and cosmological studies such as number density of dark massive objects. Study of these sources and phenomena forms the basis of Time Domain surveys, where the telescopes while scanning the sky regularly for a period of time provides us with positional and temporal data of various Astrophysical sources and phenomena happening in the Universe. Our vantage point within the Milky Way galaxy greatly limits studying our galaxy in its entirety. In such a scenario our nearest neighbour The Andromeda galaxy (M31) proves to be an excellent choice as its proximity and inclination allows us to resolve millions of stars using space based telescopes. Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is a new optical time domain survey at Palomar Observatory, which has collected data in the direction of M31 for over 6 months using multiple filters. This Thesis involves exploitation of this rich data set. Stars in M31 are not resolved in ZTF as it is a ground based facility. This requires us to use the large public catalogue of stars observed with Hubble Space Telescope (HST): The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT). The PHAT catalogue provides us with stellar coordinates and observed brightness for millions of resolved stars in the direction of the M31 in multiple filters. Processing of the large volumes of data generated by the time domain surveys, requires us to develop new data processing pipelines and utilize statistical techniques for determining various statistical features of the data and using machine learning algorithms to classify the data into different categories. End result of such processing of the data is the astronomical catalogues of various astrophysical sources and phenomena and their light curves. In this thesis we have developed a data processing and analysis pipeline based on Forced Aperture Photometry Technique. Since the stars are not resolved in ZTF, we performed photometry at pixel level. Only small portion of the ZTF dataset has been analyzed and photometric light curves have been generated for few interesting sources. In our preliminary investigations we have used a Machine Learning Algorithm to classify the resulting time series data into different categories. We also performed cross comparison with data from other studies in the region of the Andromeda galaxy.

The Milky Way has undergone several mergers with other galaxies during its lifetime. The mergers have been identified via stellar debris in the Halo of the Milky Way. The practice of mapping these mergers is called galactic archaeology. To perform this archaeologic inspection, three stellar features must be mapped: chemistry, kinematics and age. Historically, the latter has been difficult to determine, but can today to high degree be determined through asteroseismology. Red giants are well fit for these analyses. In this thesis, the red giant HE1405-0822 is completely characterized, using spectroscopy, asteroseismology and orbit integration, to map its origin. HE1405-0822 is a CEMP-r/s enhanced star in a binary system. Spectroscopy and asteroseismology are used in concert, iteratively to get precise stellar parameters, abundances and age. Its kinematics are analyzed, e.g. in action and velocity space, to see if it belongs to any known kinematical substructures in the Halo. It is shown that the mass accretion that HE1405-0822 has undergone has given it a seemingly younger age than probable. The binary probably transfered C- and s-process rich matter, but how it gained its r-process enhancement is still unknown. It also does not seem like the star comes from a known merger event based on its kinematics, and could possibly be a heated thick disk star. / Vintergatan har genomgått flera sammanslagningar med andra galaxer under sin livstid. Dessa sammanslagningar har identifierats genom rester av stjärnor i Vintergatans Halo. Arbetssättet för att kartlägga dessa sammanslagningar kallas galaktisk arkeologi. För att kunna göra en arkeologisk undersökning krävs tre egenskaper hos de undersökta stjärnorna: kemi, kinematik och ålder. Historiskt sett har den sistnämnda varit svår att bestämma, men kan idag bestämmas med hög precision m.h.a. asteroseismologi. Röda jättar lämpar sig väl för dessa analyser. I denna uppsats undersöks den röda jätten HE1405-0822. Den kartläggs helt m.h.a. spektroskopi, asteroseismologi och bananalys. HE1405-0822 är en CEMP-r/s-förhöjd stjärna i ett binärt system. Spektroskopi och asteroseismologi används tillsammans, iterativt, för att få precisa stjärnparametrar, kemiskt innehåll och ålder. Dess kinematik analyseras, t.ex. i verkan- och hastighetsrummet, för att se om den tillhör någon känd kinematisk substruktur i Halon. Det visas att massöverföringen som HE1405-0822 genomgått har gett den en skenbart yngre ålder än vad som är troligt. Denna binära kompanjon har troligtvis övertfört C- och s-process-rikt material, men hur den fick sin mängd r-processämnen är fortfarande okänt. Det verkar inte som att stjärnan kommer från någon tidigare kartlagd sammanslagning baserat på dess kinematik, och skulle kunna vara en stjärna med upphettad kinematik från Vintergatans tjocka disk.

Neutrino astronomy is expanding into the ultra-high energy (>1017eV) frontier with the use of in-ice detection of Askaryan radio emission from neutrino-induced particle showers. There are already pilot arrays for validating the technology and the next few years will see the planning and construction of IceCube-Gen2, an upgrade to the current neutrino telescope IceCube. This thesis aims to facilitate that planning by providing faster simulations using deep learning surrogate models. Faster simulations could enable proper optimisation of the antenna stations providing better sensitivity and reconstruction of neutrino properties. The surrogates are made for two parts of the end-to-end simulations: the signal generation and the signal propagation. These two steps are the most time-consuming parts of the simulations. The signal propagation is modelled with a standard fully connected neural network whereas for the signal generation a conditional Wasserstein generative adversarial network is used. There are multiple reasons for using these types of models. For both problems the neural networks provide the speed necessary as well as being differentiable -both important factors for optimisation. Generative adversarial networks are used in the signal generation because of the inherent stochasticity in the particle shower development that leads to the Askaryan radio signal. A more standard neural network is used for the signal propagation as it is a regression task. Promising results are obtained for both tasks. The signal propagation surrogate model can predict the parameters of interest at the desired accuracy, except for the travel time which needs further optimisation to reduce the uncertainty from 0.5 ns to 0.1 ns. The signal generation surrogate model predicts the Askaryan emission well for the limited parameter space of hadronic showers and within 5° of the Cherenkov cone. The two models provide a first step and a proof of concept. It is believed that the models can reach the required accuracies with more work.

Neutrinos are the perfect cosmic messengers when it comes to investigating the most violent and mysterious astronomical and cosmological events in the Universe. The interaction probability of neutrinos is small, and the flux of high-energy neutrinos decreases quickly with increasing energy. In order to find high-energy neutrinos, large bodies of matter needs to be instrumented. A proposed detector station design called ARIANNA is designed to detect neutrino interactions in the Antarctic ice by measuring radio waves that are created due to the Askaryan effect. In this paper, we present a method based on state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to reconstruct the direction of the incoming neutrino, based on the radio emission that it produces. We trained a neural network with simulated data, created with the NuRadioMC framework, and optimized it to make the best possible predictions. The number of training events used was on the order of 106. Using two different emission models, we found that the network was able to learn and generalize on the neutrino events with good precision, resulting in a resolution of 4-5°. The model could also make good predictions on a dataset even if it was trained with another emission model. The results produced are promising, especially due to the fact that classical techniques have not been able to reproduce the same results without having prior knowledge of where the neutrino interaction took place. The developed neural network can also be used to assess the performance of other proposed detector designs, to quickly and reliably give an indication of which design might yield the most amount of value to the scientific community. / Neutriner är de perfekta kosmiska budbärarna när det kommer till att undersöka de mest våldsamma och mystiska astronomiska och kosmologiska händelserna i vårt universum. Sannolikheten för en neutrinointeraktion är dock liten, och flödet av högenergetiska neutriner minskar kraftigt med energin. För att hitta dessa högenergetiska neutriner måste stora volymer av materia instrumenteras. Ett förslag på en design för en detektorstation kallas ARIANNA, och är framtagen för att detektera neutrinointeraktioner i den antarktiska isen genom att mäta radiopulser som bildas på grund av Askaryan-effekten. I denna rapport presenterar vi en metod baserad på toppmoderna maskininlärningstekniker för att rekonstruera riktningen på en inkommande neutrino, utifrån den radiostrålning som produceras. Vi tränade ett neuralt nätverk med simulerade data, som skapades med hjälp av ramverket NuRadioMC, och optimerade nätverket för att göra så bra förutsägelser som möjligt. Antalet interaktionshändelser som användes för att träna nätverket var i storleksordningen 106. Genom att undersöka två olika emissionsmodeller fann vi att nätverket kunde generalisera med god precision. Detta resulterade i en upplösning på 4-5°. Modellen kunde även göra goda förutsägelser på en datamängd trots att nätverket var tränat med en annan emissionsmodell. De resultat som metoden framtog är lovande, särskilt med avseende på att tidigare klassiska metoder inte har lyckats reproducera samma resultat utan att metoden redan innan vet var i isen som neutrinointeraktionen skedde. Nätverket kan också komma att användas för att utvärdera prestandan hos andra designförslag på detektorstationer för att snabbt och säkert ge en indikation på vilken design som kan tillhandahålla mest vetenskapligt värde.

Mars’ climate has undergone many massive changes over the course of it’s lifetime. In order toestablish how Mars lost the vast majority of its water, we must be able to understand how Marsis losing its atmosphere today. By understanding the current escape rates of H and D and theprocesses that control them, we can extrapolate back in time to model the escape rates under pastconditions. By using the Exospheric General Model (EGM) developed by researchers at LATMOS,Sorbonne University, I have simulated the density profiles and escape rates of H, D, related isotopesand particles due to collisions with hot oxygen particles in the Martian exosphere at the currentepoch at mean solar activity. By adding H and D to the model and implementing changes to theprogram between simulations, I have improved the accuracy of the escape rate of these particlesfrom Mars in the EGM. While my results for H, H2 and HD reflect what has been observed fromin-situ Martian Satellite, MAVEN, future work is needed to include the solar wind interaction for Din the model, as it has been shown to be significant and has been left out of this work.