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Les travaux décrits dans ce mémoire portent sur le calcul de la structure électronique de clusters homo- ou hétéro-nucléaires de métaux du groupe 11, afin d’en interpréter leur stabilité, leur structure et éventuellement leurs propriétés. Nous nous sommes tout d’abord intéressés au fait que, contrairement à leurs homologues de l’or et de l’argent, les superatomes de cuivre sont très rares. Nos calculs montrent que ces derniers sont plus stables que les superatomes d’argent. Néanmoins, les méthodes de synthèse de superatomes par réduction de complexes de Cu(I) par le borohydrure conduisent préférentiellement à la formation de polyhydrures de Cu(I) en raison de leur grande stabilité. Nous nous sommes de plus intéressés à la stabilité de clusters contenant un cœur tétraédrique M16, analogue à celui contenu dans le cluster emblématique [Au₂₀]. Notre étude des clusters organométalliques à 20 électrons. [M₁₆Ni₂₄(CO)₄₀]⁴⁻ (M = groupe 11) indiquent que les quatre entités périphériques Ni₆(CO)₁₀ font partie intégrante du superatome, suggérant que [M₁₆]⁴⁻ n’est pas viable. Des calculs sur plusieurs séries de systèmes homo- ou hétéro-nucléaires nus proposent de contourner cet écueil soit en réduisant le nombre d’électrons à 18, soit en incorporant un élément encapsulé au centre de l’entité tétraédrique. Dans une autre étude, nous avons exploré la possibilité de dopage du cluster icosaèdrique à 18 électrons [WAu₁₂] par des atomes de platine (donneurs de 0 électron), soit [WAu₁₂Pdₓ] (x = 1-4). Le calcul indique que certains isomères sont viables et présentent un large spectre d’absorption UV-vis leur conférant des applications potentielles. Enfin, nous avons étudié la structure électronique de clusters organométalliques apparemment très déficitaires en électrons, [Cu₃Zn₄Cp*5] et [Cu₂Zn₅Cp*₅]⁺ et montré que ce déficit n’est aussi important qu’il n’apparaît. / The work described in this manuscript concerns electronic structure calculations of homo- and hetero-nuclear clusters made of group 11 metals, in order to rationalize their stability, structure and in some cases properties. We have first looked at the fact that copper superatoms are very scarce, contrarily to their gold and silver counterparts. Our calculations indicate that copper superatoms are more stable than silver superatoms. However, the synthetic process based on the reduction of Cu(I) complexes by borohydride leads preferentially to the formation of very stable Cu(I) polyhydrides. On the other hand, we have looked at the stability of clusters containing a tetrahedral M₁₆ core similar to the one contained in the emblematic [Au₂₀] cluster. Our investigation of the 20-electron organometallic clusters [M₁₆Ni₂₄(CO)₄₀]⁴⁻ (M = group 11) showed that the four peripheral Ni₆(CO)₁₀ units are full part of the superatom entity, suggesting that the [M₁₆]⁴⁻ entity is not viable. Calculations on several homo- and hetero-nuclear series of bare species indicate that this instability can be avoided either in reducing the electron count to 18, or in incorporating a supplementary element in cluster center. In another investigation, we explored the possibility of doping the icosahedral 18-electron [WAu₁₂] cluster by 0-electron donor platinum atoms, namely [WAu₁₂Pdₓ] (x = 1-4). Calculations indicate that some isomers are stable and have a large spectrum of UV-vis absorption, providing them potential applications. Finally, we have investigated the electronic structure of organometallic clusters, [Cu₃Zn₄Cp*5] and [Cu₂Zn₅Cp*₅]⁺, which are apparently extremely electron-deficient and showed that this deficiency is not as large as it appears.

The properties of galaxy clusters, such as abundance and mass to light ratios, have long been used to investigate and constrain cosmology. With vast numbers of newly detected clusters, such as from the Planck mission (Planck Collaboration et al., 2013), full determination of cluster properties, particularly mass, can be hugely expensive and time consuming. Optical characterisation o ers a cheap solution, using optical data alone to estimate cluster properties such as redshift. With the abundance of current optical data, such as from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), (Ahn et al., 2012) and upcoming all sky surveys, such as the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) 3 survey (Magnier et al., 2013), optical characterisation will play a key role in the investigation of the latest clusters. Presented in this thesis is the Gaussian Mixture full Photometric Red sequence Cluster Characteriser (GMPhoRCC), which aims to provide such an analysis, o ering substantial advantages over existing algorithms. GMPhoRCC identi es and models the red sequence, early-type galaxies which dominate the cluster, and uses the properties of this to estimate cluster redshift and richness, an optical mass proxy based on the number of cluster members. The main features include, full treatment of multi-modal distributions by modelling properties with error-corrected Gaussian Mixtures, model independence by using empirical photometric redshifts rather than assumed colour-redshift relations and quality control used to identify probable catastrophic failures in order to clean the characterisations. Using a sample of 5500 clusters taken from the GMBCG (Hao et al., 2010), NORAS (Bohringer et al., 2000), REFLEX (Bohringer et al., 2004) and XCS (Mehrtens et al., 2012) catalogues, GMPhoRCC redshift estimates are compared to spectra showing low scatter ( σ∆z~ 0:042) around the actual value. In addition applying the quality control to produce a clean subset removes most outliers (|zGMPhoRCC-zspec| > 0:03) gives a much tighter agreement, σ∆z~ 0:018 showing signi cant improvement over maxBCG, σ∆z~ 0:025, and XCS, σ∆z~ 0:050. In addition to comparisons with real clusters, an extensive evaluation of the GMPhoRCC selection function is presented using mock clusters. These mocks are produced by stacking red sequence galaxies from existing clusters, analysed using the SDSS DR9, in redshift-richness bins from which new sequences are resampled. This extends the similar approach of maxBCG and GMBCG where only rich clusters are used as seeds to generate mocks with a range of properties. Comparisons with mocks agree well with real clusters attaining low redshift scatters ( σ∆z~ 0:01) with the clean subset removing the majority of outliers. In addition, with a de nitive mock value, richness comparisons are possible and although show a larger fractional scatter (σ∆z n200 ~ 0:12) are centred on the mock value. Richness estimates are shown to be more sensitive to discrepancies in redshift, background uctuations and poor modelling of the red sequence than redshift. Completeness is estimated by considering the fraction of clusters found with characterisations within given bounds. First incomplete photometry, simulated by an i-band < 21 cut, is shown to remove members for clusters with z > 0:45. Redshift completeness, the fraction of clusters within 0:03 of the mock value, is not immediately hindered by the photometry, attaining 93% for 0:05 < z < 0:62 for clusters with a richness greater than 20, showing improvement over maxBCG (with 90% for 0:1 < z < 0:3) and a larger range than GMBCG (with 96% for 0:1 < z < 0:46). Similar to results from GMBCG, richness attains lower completeness rates due to discrepancies introduced by projection e ects, background uctuations, and redshift errors. The fraction of clusters within 25% of the mock value, de ning completeness, is measured as 91% for 0:07 < z < 0:45 for clusters with richness greater than 20, 78% for those with richness between 10 and 20, and 64% for those with richnesses less than 10. The application of GMPhoRCC follows, where characterisations are found for new XCS X-ray extended sources (Lloyd-Davies et al., 2011). Applying GMPhoRCC to these preliminary DR2 candidates ( 10 times larger than the current catalogue) using the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) ATLAS catalogue (Shanks & Metcalfe, 2012) and the much deeper Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) (Heymans et al., 2012) provides characterisations beyond the SDSS footprint. Of the 13; 956 candidates, 6124 have optical coverage, 5580 in the SDSS, 523 in ATLAS and 819 in CFHTLenS with some overlap. Overall characterisations are found for 4365 candidates, 1893 of which have an associated spectroscopic redshift. The clean subset comprises 1203 candidates, 904 with spectra. Considering XCS DR1, Mehrtens et al. (2012) presented 503 optically con rmed X-ray clusters of which 258 have spectroscopic redshifts and 108 have SDSS characterisations. GMPhoRCC provides characterisations for 360, 232 of which have spectroscopic redshifts. Overall GMPhoRCC provides 260 (149 of which are clean) new SDSS characterisations and 91 (61 of which are clean) new spectroscopic redshifts. Finally this thesis concludes with a discussion of future research, focusing mainly on a preliminary analysis of a clean spectroscopic subset of XCS DR1 in order to illustrate the potential to constrain X-ray scaling relations with the upcoming XCS DR2. Additionally, potential research into the e ect of environment on the red sequence is illustrated using the dependence of the CMR slope on X-ray temperature. While a slight dependence is found, the cluster sample is insu cient to contradict the independence on environment found by Hogg et al. (2004) and Hao et al. (2009).

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I present spectroscopic imaging of the high-velocity system (HVS) towards the central cD galaxy (NGC 1275) in the Perseus Cluster at a high spectral resolution for the first time. Previous observation suggests that the HVS is a highly inclined dusty and gas-rich galaxy moving towards the center of NGC 1275 at a high speed of 3000 km/s relative to the systemic velocity of NGC 1275 through the hot intracluster medium (ICM). If this is the case, then the HVS should be undergoing intense ram-pressure stripping. However, there is tentative evidence for ram-pressure stripping in the HVS, and furthermore confined to a small region of the galaxy. Previous observations also point out that at the location where the HVS is seen, there are many star clusters seen towards the inner region of NGC 1275. The separation of young star clusters between those belong to NGC 1275 and those belong to the HVS is, however, not clearly defined. The primary scientific objectives are to (i) search for evidence for ram-pressure stripping in the HVS, as well as signs of tidal interactions between the HVS and NGC 1275; and (ii) separate the numerous young star clusters seen towards the entire NGC 1275 into those associated with the HVS and those associated with NGC 1275. NGC 1275 and the HVS were observed simultaneously with the use of Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer. The main emission lines being studied are the Hα & [NII]λ6548,6483 lines in NGC 1275 and the HVS. I present maps of intensity distribution, velocity field and velocity dispersion of the Hαemission of the HVS, as well as the line ratio of the [NII] doublets lines to the Hα line in the HVS. I find that the line ratio of [NII]/Hα is less than 0.1 throughout the entire body of the HVS, indicating metallicity is low in the HVS. I also find that the metallicity is decreasing with distance from the center, just like other normal spiral galaxies. I demonstrate that a large fraction of the young star clusters seen towards the inner regions of NGC 1275 are closely associated with bright Hα-emitting regions in the HVS, and trace the overall Hα-emitting body of the HVS, suggesting that some young star clusters are associated to the HVS. I find that there are two distributions of young star clusters in color-color space, providing a way to separate out the star clusters likely belong to the HVS. I present evidence that the HVS is experiencing intense ram-pressure stripping and also evidence suggesting that the HVS is possibly tidally interacting with NGC 1275. The results demonstrate that the HVS is a dusty, gas-rich, low-metallicity galaxy that has been disrupted by ram-pressure stripping and possibly also tidal interactions. I show that the HVS exhibit widespread and vigorous (~3.6 MM_⊙ yr^(-1)) star formation over the last at least ~0.1 Gyr. The vigorous SFR of the HVS is in contrast to what suggested by the observed low metallicity (suggestive of relatively weak star-formation activity over the recent history). The SFR of the HVS is likely to be triggered by the same process that produces global distortion on the HVS, here ram pressure stripping and possibly tidal interaction are in consideration. / published_or_final_version / Physics / Master / Master of Philosophy

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