O detector de ondas gravitacionais Mário Schenberg consiste de uma massa ressonante esférica de Cu(94%)Al(6%) com 65cm de diâmetro, pesando aproximadamente 1,15T, com um Q mecânico da ordem de 106 e todos os sistemas que possibilitam o seu funcionamento como detector de ondas gravitacionais. O projeto do detector prevê para este uma sensibilidade da ordem de 10-20 (em deformação). Para isso dependerá da eficiência dos sistemas vibracionais que utiliza. Neste trabalho os casadores mecânicos de impedância, foram simulados com um programa de elementos finitos e otimizados quanto à sua banda e acoplamento vibracional. Foi feita a análise do sistema de isolamento vibracional da nova suspensão, por meio da resposta em frequência do ruído sísmico na superfície da esfera, nos mesmos locais onde estão conectados os transdutores. Foi proposto um projeto novo para atenuar os ruídos provenientes do cabeamento que conduz os sinais de micro-ondas. Foi avaliado o efeito do ruído sísmico introduzido na suspensão e na esfera, também nos locais dos transdutores, utilizando este novo projeto. É apresentado um projeto para a conexão térmica do refrigerador por diluição, que a análise por simulação numérica demonstrou ser eficaz. A modelagem para análise vibracional é a melhor já feita para detectores esféricos, isto se comparada às que foram encontrados na literatura. Os resultados alcançados demonstraram que as atenuação em todos os sistemas analisados são adequadas às metas do projeto do detector Mário Schenberg, ou seja, os ruídos remanescentes estão abaixo do ruído térmico esperado na temperatura de 50mK. / The Gravitational Wave detector Mario Schenberg consist of a spherical resonant-mass made of CuAl(6%) with 65 cm diameter e weighting 1.15 Ton, with a Mechanical quality factor of about 106 and all the systems that allows it to word as a gravitational wave detector. The detector design was made for it to reach a sensitivity of 10-20 (strain sensitivity). To reach this goal it depends on the efficiency of the it vibrational systems. In this work the transducers mechanical impedance matchers were simulated with a finite element program and optimized in its band and vibrational coupling. A analysis of the vibrational isolation of the new suspension was made by the frequency response of the seismic noise on the sphere surface, on the same places where they will be connected to the transducers. A new design for attenuation of the noise due to microwave cabling was proposed. The seismic noise introduced on the suspension and on the sphere was simulated using this new design. A design for the dilution refrigerator thermal connection is presented, and its performance is measured in a analysis in a finite element moddeling, and showed itself efficienty. This vibration model for the detector is the best one ever made for spherical detectors, if compared to the literature. Results obtained showed that the atennuation in all the analysed systems are compatible to the Mário Schenberg detector design goals, it means that, the remaining noises are below the expected thermal noise at the temperature of 50 mK.

A existência de ondas gravitacionais foi confirmada indiretamente pela observação astronômica de pulsares binários. Detectores de ondas gravitacionais tem sido desenvolvidos desde o trabalho pioneiro de Weber nos anos 60. Esforços estão sendo realizados no sentido de aumentar a sensibilidade dos detectores e realizar uma detecção direta, que ainda não foi confirmada. O Grupo GRAVITON está aperfeiçoando e melhorando a sensibilidade de um detector de ondas gravitacionais que se encontra no Laboratório de Estado Sólido e Baixas Temperaturas do Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo (LESBT/IFUSP), na cidade de São Paulo com apoio da FAPESP (processo 2006/56041-3). Esse detector, denominado MARIO SCHENBERG, é composto por uma massa ressonante esférica de CuAl(6%) com 65 cm de diâmetro, com aproximadamente 1150 kg, que deverá atingir a sensibilidade h ~ 10-22 em uma banda passante de 50 Hz, em torno de 3200 Hz, quando estiver operando a temperaturas da ordem de 0,05 K. Atualmente o detector já tem toda a sua infraestrutura criogênica montada e testada para resfriamentos a 4 K e toda a suspensão da esfera bem como todo o sistema de filtragem mecânica construídos e montados. Já foram realizadas as primeiras corridas comissionadas em 2006, 2007 e 2008, quando foram realizados vários diagnósticos sobre o sistema e desde então vem sendo desenvolvidos os transdutores para colocar o detector novamente em operação com melhor sensibilidade. Paralelamente, foram realizadas melhorias no próprio detector em razão dos diagnósticos realizados. O trabalho aqui apresentado está associado ao projeto acima. O autor desenvolveu atividades associadas à construção e desenvolvimentos do detector, que podem ser divididas em três partes principais: na parte mecânica, foi desenvolvido, instalado e testado um novo sistema de isolamento vibracional da suspensão da esfera; na parte criogênica foram feitas novas conexões térmicas, cálculos de gastos de hélio líquido e feitos desenvolvimentos para o funcionamento do refrigerador por diluição; e na parte eletrônica foi feita a instalação da eletrônica responsável pela transdução do sinal, além do desenvolvimento de um novo par de antenas de microfita. / The existence of gravitational waves has been confirmed indirectly by astronomical observation of binary pulsars. Gravitational wave detectors have been developed since the pioneering work of Weber in the 60s. Efforts are being made to increase the sensitivity of the detectors and perform a direct detection, wich has not been confirmed yet. The GRAVITON Group is enhancing and improving the sensitivity of a gravitational wave detector which is at the Laboratório de Estado Sólido e Baixas Temperaturas of the Instituto de Física of the Universidade de São Paulo (LESBT / IFUSP), in São Paulo city and is supported by FAPESP (processo 2006/56041-3). This detector, called MARIO SCHENBERG, consists of a spherical resonant mass of CuAl (6%) with 65 cm in diameter, and approximately 1150 kg, which should reach the sensitivity of h ~ 10-22 in a bandwidth of 50 Hz around 3200 Hz, when operating at temperatures of 0.05 K. Currently the detector already has all its infrastructure assembled and tested for cryogenic cooling down to 4 K and the whole suspension of the sphere as well as all mechanical isolation system constructed and assembled. Commissioning runs have already been done in 2006, 2007 and 2008, when several diagnoses on the system were performed and since then there have been many developments on the transducers to put back the detector into operation with improved sensitivity. At the same time, improvements have been made within the detector itself due to the diagnoses. The work presented here is associated with the above project. The author has developed activities and developments associated with the detector construction, which can be divided into three main parts: the mechanical part, in which a new system of vibration isolation was designed for the sphere suspension, installed and tested; the cryogenic part, in which new connections and thermal calculations of liquid helium boil-off rate were made as well as other developments for the operation of a dilution refrigerator; and the electronic part, in which the installation of the electronic signal responsable for the transduction was made, besides the development of a new pair of micro-strip antenna.

Les trous noirs supermassifs résident dans les centres de la plupart des galaxies massives et on observe des corrélations entre leurs masses et les propriétés de leurs galaxies hôtes. De plus, on observe des trous noirs de plus d’un milliard de masses solaires quelques centaines de millions d’années seulement après le Big Bang. Ces trous noirs supermassifs présents dans l’univers jeune ne sont que le sommet de l’iceberg de l’ensemble de la population de trous noirs, mais ils mettent en question notre compréhension de la formation et de la croissance des premiers trous noirs. Notre nouvelle méthode améliorant le calcul de la densité de colonne de H2 donne des probabilités pour former des graines massives de trous noirs qui sont plus d’un ordre de grandeur plus élevées que prédit précédemment. Nous trouvons que CR7 pourrait être le premier candidat à héberger un tel trou noir formé par effondrement direct et nous démentons l’existence initialement revendiquée d’une population stellaire massive primordial dans CR7. Nous calculons la densité des taux de fusion des trous noirs binaires des premières étoiles et leurs taux de détection avec aLIGO. Notre modèle démontre que les détections des ondes gravitationnelles à venir au cours des prochaines décennies permettront d’imposer des contraintes plus strictes sur les propriétés des premières étoiles et donc sur les scénarios de formation des premiers trous noirs. Nous développons un modèle analytique en 2D de la rétroaction des noyaux actifs de galaxie pour démontrer qu’un profil de disque plus réaliste réduit la quantité de gaz qui est éjectée du halo par rapport aux modèles 1D existants. La rétroaction empêche l’accretion de gaz sur le trou noir central pendant seulement ∼1 million d’année environ, ce qui permet une accretion de gaz presque continue dans le plan du disque. Avec cette thèse, je contribue à une meilleure compréhension de la formation et la croissance des premiers trous noirs supermassifs. / Supermassive black holes reside in the centres of most massive galaxies and we observe correlations between their mass and properties of the host galaxies. Besides this correlation between a galaxy and its central black hole (BH), we see BHs more massive than one billion solar masses already a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. These supermassive BHs at high redshift are just the tip of the iceberg of the entire BH population, but they challenge our understanding of the formation and growth of the first BHs. Our improved method to calculate H2 self-shielding yields probabilities to form massive seed BHs that are more than one order of magnitude higher, than previously expected. We find that CR7 might be the first candidate to host such a direct collapse BH and we disprove the initially claimed existence of a massive metal-free stellar population in CR7. We calculate the merger rate density of binary BHs from the first stars and their detection rates with aLIGO. Our model demonstrates that upcoming detections of gravitational waves in the next decades will allow to put tighter constraints on the properties of the first stars and therefore on formation scenarios of the first BHs. We develop a 2D analytical model of active galactic nuclei-driven outflows to demonstrate that a more realistic disc profile reduces the amount of gas that is ejected out of the halo, compared to existing 1D models. The outflow prevents gas accretion on to the central BH for only about ∼1Myr, which permits almost continuous gas inflow in the disc plane. With this thesis, I contribute to a better understanding of the formation and growth of the first supermassive BHs.

Je présente ma thèse sur l'analyse des ondes gravitationnelles dans les deux domaines suivants. Pour le premier il s'agit de vérifier que les collaborations LIGO et Virgo sont prêtes pour la détection d'un fond gravitationnel stochastique astrophysique pendant l'ère des détecteurs avancés qui va démarrer à l'été 2015. Pour le deuxième il s'agit de poursuivre l'étude du potentiel scientifique, notamment pour l'astrophysique et la cosmologie, d'un détecteur de troisième génération, le Einstein Telescope. Dans les deux cas, j'utilise des "mock data and science challenges" qui consistent à simuler Les données des détecteurs gravitationnels contenant un grand nombre de sources distribuées de façon réalistes dans l'espace des paramètres. / Here I present my thesis investigating gravitational-wave data analysis in the following two areas. The first is to test the readiness of the LIGO-Virgo collaborations to the advanced detector era, which will begin in the summer of 2015, to make a detection of an astrophysical stochastic gravitational-wave background. The second is to continue an investigation into the science potential of a conceived, third generation gravitational-wave detector, the Einstein Telescope, in terms of astrophysics and cosmology. Both of these are conducted with the use of mock data and science challenges which consists of the production of expected gravitational-wave detector data, containing a large number of sources, that are simulated using realists distributions.

This thesis concerns the use of observations of gravitational waves as tools for astronomy and fundamental physics. Gravitational waves are small ripples in spacetime produced by rapidly accelerating masses; their existence has been predicted for almost 100 years, but the first direct evidence of their existence came only very recently with the announcement in February 2016 of the detection by the LIGO and VIRGO collaborations. Part I of this thesis presents an introduction to gravitational wave astronomy, including a detailed discussion of a wide range of gravitational wave sources, their signal morphologies, and the experimental detectors used to observe them. Part II of this thesis concerns a particular data analysis problem which often arises when trying to infer the source properties from a gravitational wave observation. The use of an inaccurate signal model can cause significant systematic errors in the inferred source parameters. The work in this section concerns a proposed technique, called the Gaussian process marginalised likelihood, for overcoming this problem. Part III of this thesis concerns the possibility of testing if the gravitational field around an astrophysical black hole conforms to the predictions of general relativity and the cosmic censorship hypothesis. It is expected that the gravitational field should be well described by the famous Kerr solution. Two approaches for testing this hypothesis are considered; one using X-ray observations and one using gravitational waves. The results from these two approaches are compared and contrasted. Finally, the conclusions and a discussion of future prospects are presented in part IV of this thesis.

Deux analyses sont présentées dans cette thèse. Une première analyse exploite les données du télescope à neutrino ANTARES pour sonder la présence d'un flux de neutrino diffus galactique. Cette analyse se base sur un modèle récent de propagation des rayons cosmiques dans la galaxie, le modèle KRAγ. Ce modèle prédit un flux de neutrinos particulièrement élevé et proche de la sensibilité des télescopes à neutrinos actuels. Il existe deux versions de ce modèle correspondant à différentes coupures sur l'énergie des rayons cosmiques, à 5 et 50 PeV/nucléon. Une méthode de maximisation d'une fonction de vraisemblance est utilisée pour prendre en compte les caractéristiques du modèle, autant spatiales qu'en énergie. Cette analyse a également été combinée avec les données de l'expérience IceCube dans le but d'exploiter au mieux les données actuelles. Des limites ont été mises sur ce modèle rejetant la version avec une coupure à 50 PeV et limitant la version avec une coupure à 5 PeV à moins de 1,2 fois le flux prédit par le modèle. Une deuxième analyse de suivi du signal d'ondes gravitationnelles GW170817 par le télescope à neutrino ANTARES est également présentée. Le signal d'onde gravitationnelles GW170817 résulte de la coalescence d'une binaire d'étoiles à neutrons. Cette deuxième analyse a pour objectif de sonder la présence d'un flux de neutrinos provenant de cet événement en cherchant des neutrinos corrélés spatialement et temporellement. J'ai pris part à cette analyse en y ajoutant les événement de type cascade. Aucun événement n'a été détecté en corrélation, des limites ont été mises sur le flux de neutrino attendu. / Two analyses are detailed in this thesis. A first analysis exploit the data of the ANTARES neutrino telescope to probe the presence of a Galactic diffuse neutrino flux. This analysis is based on a recent model of cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy, the KRAγ model. This model predict a neutrino flux particularly high and close to the sensitivity of the current neutrino telescopes. Two versions of this model exist corresponding to different cuts in the cosmic ray energy, one at 5 PeV/nucleon and an other one at 50 PeV/nucleon. A method of maximization of a likelihood function is used in order to account for the model characteristics in energy and space. The analysis has also been combined with the data of the IceCube experiment in order to exploit all the available data. Limits have been put on this model rejecting the version of the model with the 50 PeV cut and limiting the version with the 5 PeV cut to less than 1.2 times the predicted flux.A second analysis of gravitational wave signal follow-up by the ANTARES neutrino telescope is also presented in this work. The GW170817 gravitational wave signal results from the coalescence of a binary neutron star system. This second analysis aims at probing the presence of a neutrino flux coming from this event looking for neutrino events correlated in space and time. I took part to this analysis by adding the shower-like event sample. No event has been detected in correlation, limits have been put on the expected neutrino flux.

The work of this dissertation will study various aspects of the dynamics of compact objects using numerical simulations.We consider BH dynamics within two modified or alternative theories of gravity. Within a family of Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion theories, we find that the GW waveforms from binary black hole (BBH) mergers differ from the standard GW waveform prediction of GR for especially large axion values. For more astrophysically realistic (i.e. smaller) values, the differences become negligible and undetectable. Weestablish the existence of a well-posed initial value problem for a second alternative theory fo gravity (quadratic gravity) and demonstrate in spherical symmetry that a linear instability is effectively removed on consideration of the full nonlinear theory.We describe the key components and development of a code for studying BBH mergers for which the mass ratio of the binaries is not close to one. Such intermediate mass ratio inspirals (IMRIs) are much more difficult to simulate and present greater demands on resolution, distributed computing, accuracy and efficiency. To this end, we present a highly-scalable framework that combines a parallel octree-refined adaptive mesh with a wavelet adaptive multiresolution approach. We give results for IMRIs with mass ratios up to 100:1. We study the ejecta from BNS in Newtonian gravity. Using smoothed particle hydrodynamics we develop and present the highly scalable FleCSPH code to simulate such mergers. As part of the ejecta analysis, we consider these mergers and their aftermath as prime candidates for heavy element creation and calculate r-process nucleosynthesis within the post-merger ejecta. Lastly we consider a non-standard, yet increasingly explored, interaction between a BH and a NS that serves as a toy model for primordial black holes (PBH) and their possible role as dark matter candidates. We present results from a study of such systems in which a small BH forms at the center of a NS. Evolving the spherically symmetric system in full GR, we follow the complete dynamics as the small BH consumes the NS from within. Using numerical simulations, we examine the time scale for the NS to collapse into the PBH and show that essentially nothing remains behind. As a result, and in contradiction to other claims in the literature, we conclude that thisis an unlikely site for ejecta and nucleosynthesis, at least in spherical symmetry.

LISA Pathfinder (LPF) has been a space mission led by ESA with NASA contributions, operating between March 2016 and July 2017. LPF demonstrated the feasibility of setting bodies in space along freely-falling geodetic trajectories, complying with the residual acceleration requirements of the future gravitational-wave observatory LISA. After operations, the LPF Collaboration pointed out that two phenomena, affecting the sub-mHz performance, were not completely understood and needed deeper analyses. This, despite performing better than requirements. Such phenomena are, namely, the low-frequency acceleration noise, and the sub-pN transient acceleration glitches. This thesis work focuses entirely on analyzing these observations, in view of the future mission LISA. Regarding the low-frequency sub-mHz noise, first, we make a preliminary analysis. We investigate its evolution in time, its properties, its stability, and its nature. We find that the low-frequency noise has had a remarkably stable behavior for nearly two years, but noise fluctuations are not compatible with an overall unique noise. We develop results on multivariate spectral estimation. Implementing results from complex-variable statistics, we show that cross-power spectral density matrices follow complex-Wishart probability distributions; we develop a Bayesian tool for the posterior inference of spectral parameters. We develop decorrelation tools to understand the measured noise's physical origin. In particular, we aim at finding, if any, correlations between the main acceleration measurement and synchronously measured time series. Then, we summarize the most recent understanding of the LPF acceleration performance. We expand previous analyses about the LPF outgassing environment, through the analysis of the white "Brownian" noise, and the long-term quasi-static acceleration drift observed on LPF, proposing a physical model. We extensively analyze the second phenomenon impacting low-frequency performances, the acceleration transient glitches. We show that LPF glitches spanned a wide range of amplitudes, transferring impulses between a few fN s, to some nN s, and showing durations ranging from a few seconds to hours. We show that LPF glitches fall into two rather distinct categories: fast transients in the interferometric motion readout and long-lasting sub-pN force transient events, acting on the test masses. We present an analysis of the physical and statistical properties of both, including a cross-investigation with other time series and other dynamical variables, and examine the possible sources of glitches, identifying the most likely ones.

A colisão de buracos negros é uma das fontes mais importantes de ondas gravitacionais e, em geral, a emissão anisotrópica da radiação causa um recuo do objeto final. Este cenário já é conhecido há décadas, mas foi somente com o recente avanço na relatividade numérica que as velocidades finais dos objetos radiantes foram computadas com precisão. Os valores encontrados podem ser altos o suficiente para exercerem um importante papel no crescimento de buracos negros super massivos via coleção de galáxias e na abundância de núcleos galáticos ativos contendo buracos negros. Este é um autêntico efeito da não linearidade de Relatividade Geral e esta tese fornece uma nova metodologia estudar alguns aspectos da dinâmica da colisão de buracos negros. Consideramos o horizonte como uma tela canônica que codifica as informações da evolução temporal do espaço-tempo. Com esta hipótese, fenômenos como o anti-kick, isto é, uma súbita desaceleração do sistema antes de atingir a velocidade final, são explicado em termos da dissipação das deformações do horizonte. Estudamos primeiramente o Espaço-tempo de Robinson-Trautman. Uma das solução mais simples das equações de Einstein, esta métrica nos fornece um poderoso modelo para investigar tanto a perda de massa quanto o recuo do objeto final. Mostramos que, quando as configurações iniciais tem simetria especular, a massa do buraco negro remanescente e a energia irradiada são completamente determinadas pela condição inicial. Com isso, obtemos as expressões analíticas dos resultados numéricos obtidos anteriormente na literatura. Além disto, com o auxilio do método espectral de Galerkin, analisamos o regime não linear das equações envolvidas e verificamos que se pode estimar a velocidade de recuo final com boa precisão a partir de medidas da assimetria da condição inicial. Introduzimos na seqüência a curvatura efetiva como uma medida das deformações intrínsecas ao horizonte. Além de considerar as deformações gerais, ela também inclui as diferenças entre os hemisférios norte e sul. No espaço-tempo de Robinson-Trautman, essa quantidade se correlaciona de uma forma injetora com a velocidade final. Para superar algumas limitações dessa solução, aplicamos o mesmo procedimento nos resultados da simulação numérica de uma colisão head-on. Neste caso, a curvatura efetiva, está na realidade, correlacionada com a aceleração do sistema. Refinamentos e generalizações desta técnica são também discutidos e propostos para trabalhos futuros. / Colliding black holes are one of the most important sources of gravitational waves and the anisotropic emission of the radiation generally causes the recoil of the final hole. This scenario has been known for decades, but it is only thanks to the recent progress in numerical relativity that the final velocity have been accurately computed. The values found can be large enough to play an important role in the growth of supermassive black holes via mergers of galaxies and on the number of galaxies containing them. This is a genuine nonlinear effect of general relativity and this thesis provides a new methodology to study some features on the dynamics of the collision. We propose that the horizon is a canonical screen, which encodes he information of its surroundings. With this assumption, phenomena such as the anti-kick, namely the sudden deceleration before reaching the final velocity, are explained in terms of the dissipation of the horizons deformation. We first study the Robinson-Trautman spacetime. One of the simplest solutions of Einsteins equations, it provides us with a powerful toymodel to investigate both the mass loss of the system and the recoil of the final object. We show that, for the case of reflectionsymmetric initial configurations, the mass of the remnant black-hole and the total energy radiated away are completely determined by the initial data, allowing us to obtain analytical expressions for some numerical results that had appeared in the literature. Moreover, by using the Galerkin spectral method to analyze the non-linear regime of the equations involved, we found that the recoil velocity can be estimated with good accuracy from some symmetry measures of the initial data. Then we introduce the effective urvature as a measure of intrinsic deformations on the horizon. Not only does it account for overall deformation, but also for the differences on the north and south hemispheres. In the Robinson-Trautman spacetime, this quantity correlates in an injective way with the final velocity. To overcome some caveats of this solutions, we apply the same procedure to the results given by numerical simulations of a head-on collision. In the case, the effective curvature is actually correlated with the acceleration of the system. Further improvement and generalizations of this technic is also discussed and proposed for future work.

The present-day interest in gravitational waves, justified by the recent direct detections made by LIGO, is opening the exciting possibility to answer many questions regarding General Relativity in extreme situations. One of these questions is whether black hole are – indeed – described totally by their mass, charge and angular momentum or whether they can have additional long-range hair. This project is concerned with this question. We aim at studying the influence of additional structure on the black hole horizon in the form of long-range hair by studying linearized Einstein equation the solutions when perturbed. More precisely, we will study the Schwarzschild solution, pierced by an infinitely long and thin cosmic string such that the space-time possesses a global deficit angle. Quasi-normal modes are believed to dominate the gravitational wave emission during the ring down phase of an excited black hole that would e.g. be the result of a merger of two ultra-compact objects, therefore linearized perturbations can be considered. With the advent of gravitational wave astronomy the proposed study will be very important when reconstructing the source of the detected gravitational wave signals. / O atual interesse em ondas gravitacionais, justificado pelas detecções diretas feitas pela colaboração LIGO recentemente, está abrindo a excitante possibilidade de responder várias questões a respeito da Relatividade Geral em condições estremas. Uma dessas questões é se buracos negros são – realmente – totalmente discritos apenas por sua massa, carga e momento angular ou se eles podem ter os chamados cabelos de longo alcance adicionais. Nosso projeto se preocupa em responder esta pergunta. Nosso objetivo está em estudar a influência de uma estrutura adicional no horizonte de eventos de um buraco negro através do comportamento da equação linearizada de Einstein quando a solução é perturbada. Mais precisamente, nós estudaremos a solução de Schwarzschild atravessada por uma corda cósmica infinitamente fina, tal corda faz com que o espaço-tempo tenha um hiato angular em seu plano equatorial. Acredita-se que modos quasi-normais dominem a emissão de ondas gravitacionais durante a fase de ringing down de buracos negros excitados que podem, por exemplo, se originar da colisão de objetos ultra compactos, portanto perturbações lineares podem ser consideradas. Com o advento da astronomia através de ondas gravitacionais o estudo proposto será importante para que se possa reconstruir a origem de sinais detectados.