This dissertation presents a detailed analysis of the galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses discovered by the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) survey, with the aim of providing new insight into the processes that affect the evolution of galaxies at intermediate and high redshift. First, we present evidence for a relationship between the supermassive black hole mass and the total gravitational mass of the host galaxy, by utilizing the fact that gravitational lensing allows us to accurately measure the inner mass density profile of early-type lens galaxies and their total masses within an aperture. These results confirm that the properties of the bulge component of early-type galaxies and the resulting supermassive black hole are fundamentally regulated by the properties of the dark matter halo. We then utilize the lensing magnification for a detailed study of the photometric properties (luminosity, size and shape) of SLACS background sources and determine the evolution of the disk galaxy luminosity-size relation since z ~ 1. A comparison of the observed SLACS luminosity-size relation to theoretical simulations provides strong evidence for mass-dependent evolution of disk galaxies since z ~ 1. Furthermore, a comparison of the SLACS luminosity-size relation to that of a non-lensing, broad-band imaging survey shows that one can probe a galaxy population that is ~ 2 magnitudes deeper by utilizing the lensing magnification. We continue the detailed study of SLACS background sources by combining the lensing magnification with diffraction-limited integral field spectroscopy to derive two-dimensional kinematic, star formation rate and metallicity distributions of gravitationally lensed galaxies at z > 0.78. Integral field spectroscopic observations of the Hα emission line properties of a SLACS source galaxy (SDSS J0252+0039), at z = 0.98, show that the lensing magnification and adaptive optics advantages can be effectively combined to derive spatially resolved kinematics and star formation rates of compact, sub-luminous galaxies. Finally, we summarize the results of this dissertation and discuss how the powerful advantages of strong gravitational lensing can be utilized to address various questions about galaxy evolution through upcoming surveys and new telescope facilities. / Graduate

Current research is focussed on extending our knowledge of how gravity behaves on small scales and near black hole horizons, with various modifications which may probe the low energy limits of quantum gravity. This thesis is concerned with such modifications to gravity and their implications. In chapter two thermodynamical stability analyses are performed on higher dimensional Kerr anti de Sitter black holes. We find conditions for the black holes to be able to be in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings and for the background to be stable against classical tensor perturbations. In chapter three new spherically symmetric gravastar solutions, stable to radial perturbations, are found by utilising the construction of Visser and Wiltshire. The solutions possess an anti de Sitter or de Sitter interior and a Schwarzschild (anti) de Sitter or Reissner Nordstrom exterior. We find a wide range of parameters which allow stable gravastar solutions, and present the different qualitative behaviors of the equation of state for these parameters. In chapter four a six dimensional warped brane world compactification of the Salam-Sezgin supergravity model is constructed by generalizing an earlier hybrid Kaluza Klein / Randall Sundrum construction. We demonstrate that the model reproduces localized gravity on the brane in the expected form of a Newtonian potential with Yukawa type corrections. We show that allowed parameter ranges include values which potentially solve the hierarchy problem. The class of solutions given applies to Ricci flat geometries in four dimensions, and consequently includes brane world realisations of the Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes as particular examples. Arguments are given which suggest that the hybrid compactification of the Salam Sezgin model can be extended to reductions to arbitrary Einstein space geometries in four dimensions. This work furthers our understanding of higher dimensional general relativity, which is potentially interesting given the possibility that higher dimensions may become observable at the TeV scale, which will be probed in the Large Hadron Collider in the next few years.

The Standard Model has granted exquisite power to predict the behaviour of high-energy particle collisions. It is not, however, without conceptual and empirical weaknesses. Several theories have been proposed which aim to resolve these difficulties. This thesis describes searches for two such theories: models of extra spatial dimensions, and supersymmetry. The Large Hadron Collider has extended the frontiers of energy and intensity in particle physics. In 2015, the LHC resumed proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. This increase over previous operation grants an enhancement in sensitivity to many processes beyond those of the Standard Model. Extra-dimensional theories address the hierarchical nature of the Standard Model. The lowered fundamental scale of gravity in these models allows a rich phenomenology at energies which may be accessible to the LHC. Some models predict the formation of microscopic black holes, which are the target of an analysis of collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2015. No significant deviations from Standard Model predictions were observed. The constraints inferred on the parameters of the model are a significant advance on previous results. Lepton flavour is conserved in the Standard Model. This is not the result of a known fundamental symmetry, however. The latter part of this thesis proposes a search examining asymmetries of charge and flavour in the eμ final state. Models of supersymmetry with an R-parity-violating λ'₂₃₁ coupling are taken as motivation. The strategy is developed using collision data recorded by ATLAS in 2015 and 2016, and the most significant biasing effects are addressed.

In this thesis we study the time evolution of Rényi and entanglement entropies of thermal states in Conformal Field Theory (CFT). These quantities are usually hard to compute but Ryu-Takayanagi (RT) and Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi (HRT) proposals allow us to find the same quantities using calculations in general relativity. We will introduce main concepts of holography, quantum information and conformal field theory that will be used to derive the results of this thesis. In the first part of the thesis, we explicitly compute entanglement entropy of the rotating BTZ black hole by directly applying HRT proposal and finding lengths of spacelike geodesics. Rényi entropy of thermal state perturbed by a local quantum quench is computed by mapping correlators on two glued cylinders to the plane for field theory containing a single free boson and for 2d CFTs in the large c limit. We consider Thermofield Double State (TFD) which is an entangled state in direct product of two 2D CFTs. It is conjectured to be holographically equivalent to the eternal BTZ black hole. TFD state is perturbed by a local quench in one CFT and mutual information between two intervals in two CFTs is computed. We find when mutual information vanishes and interpret this as scrambling time, i.e. time scale required for the system to thermalize. This field theory result is modelled with a massive free falling particle in the BTZ black hole. We have computed the back-reaction of the particle on the metric of BTZ and used RT proposal to find holographic entanglement entropy. Finally, we generalize this calculation to the case of rotating BTZ with inner and outer horizons. It is dual to the CFT with different temperatures for left and right moving modes. We calculate mutual information and scrambling time and find exact agreement between results in the gravity and those in the CFT.

Submitted by Emanuel Varela Cardoso (emanuel.varela@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-11-06T20:40:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GABRIELA COUTINHO LUNA – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGFísica) 2016.pdf: 715387 bytes, checksum: 874a57d0f89fb17ac576dd091e90bb48 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-06T20:40:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GABRIELA COUTINHO LUNA – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGFísica) 2016.pdf: 715387 bytes, checksum: 874a57d0f89fb17ac576dd091e90bb48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02 / O estudo do buraco negro acústico, ou análogo acústico, se assemelha ao gravitacional da seguinte forma: verifi ca-se o fenômeno da radiação Hawking, apresença de um horizonte de eventos, a possibilidade de se calcular a sua temperatura, também chamada de temperatura Hawking, e obtêm-se uma métrica que descreve a geometria do buraco negro. Inserimos na métrica acústica a teoria não-comutativa, a fim de vericar as correções que resultam desta teoria. Neste trabalho, consideramos o princípio da incerteza generalizado, no formalismo de tunelamento via método de Hamilton-Jacobi, para determinar a temperatura Hawking e a entropia quântica corrigida para buracos negros acústicos não comutativo sem 2+1 dimensões. Em nossos resultados obtemos uma entropia de área, comum termo de correção logarítmica em ordem dominante um termo, em ordem menor, proporcional à temperatura de radiação associada com os buracos negros acústicos comutativos e um termo extra que depende de uma carga conservada. Assim, como no caso gravitacional, não há necessidade de apresentar o corte ultravioleta e as divergências são eliminadas. / Acoustic black hole study resembles the gravitational black hole as follows: we verify Hawking radiation phenomenon the presence of an event horizon, the possibility to calculate its temperature, also known as Hawking temperature, and we obtain a metric that describes the black hole geometry. We insert in the acoustic metric theory the non commutative theory in order to verify the corrections that result from this theory. In this study, we consider the generalized uncertainty principle in tunneling formalism by Hamilton-Jacobi method to determine Hawking temperature and quantum entropy corrected for non commutative acoustic black holes in 2+1 dimensions. In our results, we obtain an entropy are a with a termoflogarith mic correction in ruling order a termina smaller order, proportional to the radiation temperature associated with the commutative acoustic black holes and an extra term that depends on a conserved charge. Thus as in the gravitational case, there is noneed to present the ultraviolet cut-off and differences are eliminated.

Submitted by Leonardo Cavalcante (leo.ocavalcante@gmail.com) on 2018-04-30T12:02:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 24368358 bytes, checksum: fd9b0467308dbf6dbef945eb954aa2e3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-30T12:02:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 24368358 bytes, checksum: fd9b0467308dbf6dbef945eb954aa2e3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Abstract indisponível - entregue como imagem / Resumo indisponível - entregue como imagem

ABSTRACT Wireless networks are gaining popularity day by day, as users want wireless connectivity irrespective of their geographic position. There is an increasing threat of malicious nodes attacks on the Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET). Black hole attack is one of the security threat in which the traffic is redirected to such a node that actually does not exist in the network. It’s an analogy to the black hole in the universe in which things disappear. MANETs must have a secure way for transmission and communication which is quite challenging and vital issue. In order to provide secure communication and transmission, researcher worked specifically on the security issues in MANETs, and many secure routing protocols and security measures within the networks were proposed. The scope of this thesis is to study the effects of Black hole attack in MANET using both Proactive routing protocol i.e. Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) and Reactive routing protocol Ad-Hoc on Demand Distance Vector (AODV). Comparative analysis of Black Hole attack for both protocols is taken into account. The impact of Black Hole attack on the performance of MANET is evaluated finding out which protocol is more vulnerable to the attack and how much is the impact of the attack on both protocols. The measurements were taken in the light of throughput, end-to-end delay and network load. Simulation is done in Optimized Network Engineering Tool (OPNET). Previously the works done on security issues in MANET were based on reactive routing protocol like Ad-Hoc on Demand Distance Vector (AODV). Different kinds of attacks were studied, and their effects were elaborated by stating how these attacks disrupt the performance of MANET.

Wireless networks are gaining popularity to its peak today, as the users want wireless connectivity irrespective of their geographic position. There is an increasing threat of attacks on the Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET). Black hole attack is one of the security threat in which the traffic is redirected to such a node that actually does not exist in the network. It’s an analogy to the black hole in the universe in which things disappear. The node presents itself in such a way to the node that it can attack other nodes and networks knowing that it has the shortest path. MANETs must have a secure way for transmission and communication which is quite challenging and vital issue. In order to provide secure communication and transmission, researcher worked specifically on the security issues in MANETs, and many secure routing protocols and security measures within the networks were proposed. Previously the works done on security issues in MANET were based on reactive routing protocol like Ad-Hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV). Different kinds of attacks were studied, and their effects were elaborated by stating how these attacks disrupt the performance of MANET. The scope of this thesis is to study the effects of Black hole attack in MANET using both Proactive routing protocol i.e. Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) and Reactive routing protocol Ad-Hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV). Comparative analysis of Black Hole attack for both protocols is taken into account. The impact of Black Hole attack on the performance of MANET is evaluated finding out which protocol is more vulnerable to the attack and how much is the impact of the attack on both protocols. The measurements were taken in the light of throughput, end-to-end delay and network load. Simulation is done in Optimized Network Engineering Tool (OPNET).

A direct consequence of hierarchical galaxy formation is the existence of dual supermassive black holes, which may be preferentially triggered as active galactic nuclei (AGNs) during galaxy mergers. Despite decades of searching, however, dual AGNs are extremely rare, and most have been discovered serendipitously. Using the all-sky WISE survey, we identified a population of over 100 morphologically identified interacting galaxies or mergers that display red mid-infrared colors often associated in extragalactic sources with powerful AGNs. The vast majority of these advanced mergers are optically classified as star-forming galaxies, which suggests that they may represent an obscured population of AGNs that cannot be found through optical studies. In this work, we present Chandra/ACIS observations and near-infrared spectra with the Large Binocular Telescope of six advanced mergers with projected pair separations less than similar to 10 kpc. The combined X-ray, near-infrared, and mid-infrared properties of these mergers provide confirmation that four out of the six mergers host at least one AGN, with four of the mergers possibly hosting dual AGNs with projected separations less than similar to 10 kpc, despite showing no firm evidence for AGNs based on optical spectroscopic studies. Our results demonstrate that (1) optical studies miss a significant fraction of single and dual AGNs in advanced mergers, and (2) mid-infrared pre-selection is extremely effective in identifying dual AGN candidates in late-stage mergers. Our multi-wavelength observations suggest that the buried AGNs in these mergers are highly absorbed, with intrinsic column densities in excess of similar to N-H > 10(24) cm(-2), consistent with hydrodynamic simulations.

Ce travail de thèse se concentre sur l'approche non-perturbative canonique à la formulation d'une théorie quantique de la gravitation dans le cadre de la Gravitation quantique à boucles (LQG), répondant à deux problèmes majeurs. Dans la première partie, nous étudions la possible quantification, dans le cadre de la LQG, de la gravité en trois dimensions avec constante cosmologique et nous essayons de prendre contact avec autres approches de quantification déjà existantes dans la littérature. Dans la deuxième partie, nous nous concentrons sur une application très importante de la LQG: la définition et le comptage des états microscopiques d'un ensemble en mécanique statistique qui fournit une description de l'entropie des trous noirs. Notre analyse s'appuie fortement sur et s'étend à un traitement manifestement SU(2) invariant les travaux fondateurs de Ashtekar et al. / This thesis work concentrates on the non-perturbative canonical approach to the formulation of a quantum theory of gravity in the framework of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG), addressing two major problems. In the first part, we investigate the possible quantization, in the context of LQG, of three dimensional gravity in the case of non-vanishing cosmological constant and try to make contact with alternative quantization approaches already existing in the literature. In the second part, we concentrate on a very important application of LQG: the definition and the counting of microstates of a statistical mechanical ensemble which provides a description and accounts for the black hole entropy. Our analysis strongly relies on and extends to a manifestly SU(2) invariant treatment the seminal work of Ashtekar et al.