In this thesis we investigate selection effects in astrophysical observations. We demonstrate that the determination of the quasar black hole mass function and Eddington ratio distribution via observations are biased. By modelling the quasar selection function and the black hole mass measurement process we show that one is able to infer the true distribution of physical quantities from observations. We present the intrinsic accretion rates of AGN, the intrinsic accretion rates and the black hole mass function for optically selected quasars up to redshift of two. The results show that the Eddington limit continues to be a real physical limit to black hole accretion. We present a new upper limit of black hole masses from the inferred intrinsic black hole mass function and demonstrate the need of a mass dependent accretion rate in accordance with down sizing. Finally we investigate correlations between radio luminosity and observed black hole mass for optically selected quasars. We first show that mixing of fiat and steep spectrum quasars leads to results that are dependent on the observing frequency, and therefore should be treated with caution. We demonstrate that beaming of the radio core together with an orientation dependent optical selection effect can give rise to a bimodal distribution in the radio luminosities of optically selected quasars.

We develop two new methods to measure the structure of matter around the Milky Way using stellar tidal streams from disrupting dwarf galaxies and globular clusters. The dark matter halo of the Milky Way is expected to be triaxial and filled with substructure, but measurements of the shape and profile of dark matter around the Galaxy are highly uncertain and often contradictory. We demonstrate that kinematic data from near-future surveys for stellar streams or shells produced by tidal disruption of stellar systems around the Milky Way will provide precise measures of the gravitational potential to test these predictions. We develop a probabilistic method for inferring the Galactic potential with tidal streams based on the idea that the stream stars were once close in phase space and test this method on synthetic datasets generated from N-body simulations of satellite disruption with observational uncertainties chosen to mimic current and near-future surveys of various stars. We find that with just four well-measured stream stars, we can infer properties of a triaxial potential with precisions of order 5--7 percent. We then demonstrate that, if the Milky Way's dark matter halo is triaxial and is not fully integrable (as is expected), an appreciable fraction of orbits will be chaotic. We examine the influence of chaos on the phase-space morphology of cold tidal streams and show that streams even in weakly chaotic regions look very different from those in regular regions. We discuss the implications of this fact given that we see several long, thin streams in the Galactic halo; our results suggest that long, cold streams around our Galaxy must exist only on regular (or very nearly regular) orbits and potentially provide a map of the regular regions of the Milky Way potential. We then apply this understanding of stream formation along chaotic orbits to the interpretation of a newly-discovered, puzzling stellar stream near the Galactic bulge. We conclude that the morphology of this stream is consistent with forming along chaotic orbits due to the presence of the time-dependent Galactic bar. These results are encouraging for the eventual goal of using flexible, time-dependent potential models combined with larger data sets to unravel the detailed shape of the dark matter distribution around the Milky Way.

Over much of the last century evidence has been building for a new component of our universe that interacts primarily through gravitation. Known as cold dark matter, this non-luminous source is predicted to constitute 83% of matter and 26% of mass-energy in the universe. Experiments are currently searching for dark matter via its possible creation in particle colliders, annihilation in high-density regions of the universe, and interactions with Standard Model particles. So far dark matter has eluded detection so its composition and properties remain a mystery. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are hypothetical elementary particles that interact on the scale of the weak nuclear force. They naturally satisfy predictions from extensions of the Standard Model, and are one of the most favored dark matter candidates. A number of direct detection experiments dedicated to measuring their predicted interactions with atomic nuclei have been constructed over the last 25 years. Liquid xenon dual phase time projection chambers (TPCs) have led the field for spin-independent WIMP searches at WIMP masses of >10 GeV/c^2 for most of the last decade. XENON1T is the first tonne-scale TPC, and with 278.8 days of dark matter data has set the strictest limits on WIMP-nucleon interaction cross sections above WIMP masses of 6 GeV/c^2, with a minimum of 4.1 x10^{-47} cm^2 at 30 GeV/c^2. XENON1T and the analysis that led to this result are discussed, with an emphasis on electronic and nuclear recoil calibration fits, which help discriminate between background and WIMP-like events. Interactions in liquid xenon produce light and charge that are measured in TPCs. These signals are attenuated by electronegative impurities including O_2 and H_2O, which are homogeneously distributed throughout the liquid xenon. The decrease in observables enlarges the uncertainty in our analysis, and can decrease our sensitivity. Methods on measuring the charge loss are presented, and a physics model that describes the behavior of the electronegative impurity concentration over the lifetime of XENON1T is derived. The model is shown to successfully explain the more than two years of data.

No description available.

In this study I present two N-body computer simulations of the Bullet Cluster (1E 0657-56) merging system. The models are fully self-consistent, meaning that all gravitational forces are determined by the distribution of the particles. Initial positions and velocities of the two clusters are determined by solving a two-body problem. Post-collision time period shows an increase in the line-of-sight velocity dispersion in both clusters, and is consistent with previous Bullet Cluster studies. I also investigate the temporal evolution of the average cluster radial velocities of the galaxies located in the inner, middle, and outer regions of the clusters. I show that the orbital trajectories differ in pre- and post-collision periods. Inner region galaxies receive an impulse that moves them outward from the cluster center immediately after collision, while at the same time the outer region galaxies are pulled back towards the cluster center. / Department of Physics and Astronomy

Inorganic scintillators are playing an ever increasing role in the search for rare events. Progress in the use of cryogenic phonon-scintillation detectors (CPSD) has allowed for a rapid increase in sensitivity and resolution of experiments using this technique. It is likely that CPSD will be used in future dark matter searches with multiple scintillator materials. Further improvements in the performance of CPSD can be expected if the amount of light collected is increased. In this thesis, two approaches are used to look at ways of maximising the amount of light collected in CPSD modules. The first approach is to obtain a detailed understanding of the spectroscopic properties in the crystal to identify ways of increasing their scintillation intensity. The second is to simulate the light collection properties using a Monte-Carlo simulation program. This requires a detailed understanding of the optical properties of inorganic scintillators and obtaining this information is the focus of the current work. Two new methods have been developed to evaluate the scintillation decay time and the intrinsic light yield of scintillators. These methods are tested on CRESST CaWO₄ crystals so that all the input parameters necessary for the simulation of CRESST modules is available. These input parameters are used to successfully explain features of the light collection in CRESST CPSD modules and to suggest possible improvements to the design of the modules. In summary, the current work has contributed to the development of a standardised method to maximise the light yield that can be obtained from CPSD for application to rare event searches.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 160-175).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:51:38Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 otalorapatino_g_me_ift.pdf: 425269 bytes, checksum: 54b8759a6432f649d63ed61ba3345593 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Na última década várias observações indicam que o universo está expandindo aceleradamente. Essa expansão acelerada pode ser explicada em um universo composto de 70% de energia escura e 30% de matéria (25% de matéria escura e 5% de matéria bariônica). A energia escura proporciona a pressão negativa necessária para produzir a aceleração em grandes escalas. Nesse trabalho faz-se uma revisão do modelo de um campo escalar como fonte da energia escura, conhecido genericamente como modelo de quintessência. Estuda-se o modelo de quintessência acoplada à matéria escura / In the previous decade many observations indicate that the universe is accelerating. This rapid expansion can be explained in an universe made up of 70% of dark energy and 30% of matter (25% of dark matter and 5% of baryonic matter). The dark energy provides negative pressure to produce acceleration. In this work it is studied the model of Quintessence, a model of scalar field, as source of the dark energy. It is studied the model of Coupled Quintessence with dark matter

Orientador: Pedro Cunha de Holanda / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T10:31:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Miguez_BrunoSilvaRodriguez_D.pdf: 3341752 bytes, checksum: 929d02bdf7d42cd3826d597a0b6ceca8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Uma das grandes fronteiras da física atual é a identificação da Matéria Escura, que seria responsável por cerca de 25% da densidade do universo. Diversos candidatos a Matéria Escura foram propostos, entre eles os WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle). A Colaboração Xenon tem como objetivo a detecção direta de matéria escura através de colisões elásticas com núcleos de xenônio, monitorados em uma câmara de projeção temporal. Os primeiros detectores da colaboração Xenon (Xenon10 e Xenon100) obtiveram grande sucesso impondo os limites mais restritivos para seção de choque WIMP-nucleon quando foram publicados seus resultados. Atualmente o terceiro detector da colaboração, o Xenon1T, está em construção e é esperado que ele verifique seções de choque até duas ordens de grandeza abaixo dos limites atuais. O Xenon1T possuirá um sistema de veto ativo, o Water Tank. A câmara de projeção temporal do Xenon1T será localizada dentro de um detector que busca, através da detecção de outros produtos, identificar nêutrons rápidos produzidos através da interação de múons com as rochas ou estrutura ao redor do detector. As paredes internas do Water Tank são cobertas com uma folha refletora DF2000MA para aumentar a captação de luz. Nesta tese foi estudada a taxa de eventos gerada pela resposta da folha DF2000MA à radioatividade do aço que compõe a estrutura do Water Tank e seu impacto no funcionamento do sistema de veto. A taxa destes eventos que gerariam um sinal no Water Tank seria da ordem de 10-4 Hz, muito abaixo da taxa de operação planejada para o Water Tank (? Hz), não sendo portanto um problema. Outro estudo realizado foi sobre o sinal gerado por neutrinos de supernovas através de espalhamento coerente com os núcleos. Supernovas próximas seriam responsável por menos de 10 eventos concentrados em poucos segundos, muito distintos do fundo esperado de recuos nucleares no Xenon1T, da ordem de 0.1 por ano. Sendo o sinal de uma supernova facilmente reconhecido durante a análise / Abstract: Actually an important frontier on physics is the Dark Matter identification. The Dark Matter is responsible for 80% Universe matter density on Universe. Different Dark Matter candidates have been proposed, among them the WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle). The Xenon Collaboration have as goal the direct detection of Dark Matter by observation of elastic scattering on xenon nuclei. The first two Xenon phases achieved great sucess with the most constraining limits on WIMP-nuclei cross section at publishing time. Today the third detector (Xenon1T) is under construction and it expect to probe cross section two orders below the actual limits. One big difficult to increase the detector mass is the signal to noise ratio. The Xenon detectors keep record of excitation and ionization energy ratio to discriminate between electronic recoils and nuclear recoils. WIMPs should cause nuclear recoil by coherent elastic scattering on atomic nuclei. The nuclear recoil selection allows a huge increase on sensibility, once the background rate due to nuclear recoil on Xenon1T is five orders lower than the eletronic recoil one. Neutrinos and neutrons can produce nuclear recoils mimicating the WIMP signal. The Xenon1T will have an active veto system, the Water Tank. The Xenon1T time projection chamber will be placed inside a water tank monitored by photomultipliers. It will detect subproducts of muon interactions on rocks around the detector and tag the nuclear recoil due to fast neutrons produced by muons. To increase the light capture in the internal walls of Water Tank will be covered by a reflective foil, the DF2000MA. We studied the event rate due to the DF2000MA response to the alpha radioactivity of structural steel and its impact on veto system. The rate of these events that would generate a signal in veto system obtained by us was around 10-4 Hz, much lower than the operational planned rate (? Hz). Then this response will not be a problem to veto system. Another study was about the supernova neutrinos signal on Xenon1T. Neutrinos can produce nuclear recoils by coherent elastic scattering, mimicating the WIMP signal. We obtained ? 10 events due to a supernova at 8.5 kpc. Furthermore these events would be concentrated in seconds, much different from the Xenon1T nuclear recoil background (? 0.1/year). Then the supernova neutrino signal would be easilly recognized on analysis level / Doutorado / Física / Doutor em Ciências

Uncovering the nature of dark matter is one of the most pressing problems in 21st century cosmology. Despite overwhelming evidence that dark matter exists and vigorous experimental efforts to detect it, dark matter has evaded detection and its fundamental nature remains shrouded in mystery. Indirect dark matter detection experiments search for Standard Model byproducts of dark matter annihilation or decay. At low energies, cosmic antideuterons provide an especially clean dark matter signature, since the production of low-energy antideuterons from conventional astrophysical processes is highly suppressed. The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is an Antarctic balloon experiment designed to search for low-energy cosmic antinuclei as signatures of dark matter. GAPS is optimized to detect low-energy antideuterons, as well as to provide unprecedented sensitivity to low-energy antiprotons and antihelium nuclei. GAPS uses a novel approach to detect antinuclei, based on the formation, decay, and annihilation of exotic atoms. At least three GAPS long-duration balloon (LDB) flights are planned, with the first launch date anticipated for December 2022. The core of the GAPS instrument is a particle tracker, comprised of >1000 lithium-drifted silicon (Si(Li)) detectors, that provides particle tracking and X-ray spectroscopy capabilities. In order to preserve the long-term performance of the tracker, the Si(Li) detectors require a surface passivation coating to protect against environmental contamination. In this thesis, I cover four main areas of my research: prototype Si(Li) detector fabrication and performance evaluation; development of a surface passivation technique to ensure the long-term stability of GAPS flight detectors; calculation of the GAPS antihelium sensitivity using particle tracking; and prediction of the antihelium exotic atom X-ray energies and yields for future identification studies. I discuss the prototype fabrication work that was carried out at Columbia, which led to the successful mass-production of large-area Si(Li) detectors for the GAPS LDB flights. I report the research and development of a surface passivation method to protect the GAPS flight detectors from environmental contamination. I then describe the calibration scheme for the GAPS Si(Li) detectors, and a simulation study that I conducted to disentangle the contribution of Compton scattering and intrinsic detector performance on the observed spectra. I then move on to discuss the simulation studies used to determine the performance capabilities of GAPS. I describe the benchmarking of the hadronic annihilation products in antinucleus-nucleus annihilations in Geant4. I review the exotic atom cascade model used to determine the X-rays produced by antiprotonic and antideuteronic exotic atoms, and discuss my work extending this model to describe the de-excitation of antihelium exotic atoms. Finally, I present the first GAPS antihelium nuclei sensitivity study, based on full instrument simulation, event reconstruction, and realistic atmospheric influence simulations.