We present HST Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph observations of five quasi stellar objects that probe the prominent high-velocity cloud (HVC) Complex C, covering ∼10% of the northern sky. Based upon a single sight-line measurement (Mrk 290), a metallicity [S/H] = -1.05 ± 0.12 has been associated with Complex C by Wakker et al. When coupled with its inferred distance (5 ≲ d ≲ 30 kpc) and line-of-sight velocity (v ∼ -100 to -200 km s-1), Complex C appeared to represent the first direct evidence for infalling low-metallicity gas onto the Milky Way, which could provide the bulk of the fuel for star formation in the Galaxy. We have extended the abundance analysis of Complex C to encompass five sight lines. We detect S n absorption in three targets (Mrk 290, 817, and 279); the resulting [S II/H I] values range from -0.36 (Mrk 279) to -0.48 (Mrk 817) to -1.10 (Mrk 290). Our preliminary O I FUSE analysis of the Mrk 817 sight line also supports the conclusion that metallicities as high as 0.3 times solar are encountered within Complex C. These results complicate an interpretation of Complex C as infalling low-metallicity Galactic fuel. Ionization corrections for H II and S III cannot easily reconcile the higher apparent metallicities along the Mrk 817 and Mrk 279 sight lines with that seen toward Mrk 290, since Hα emission measures preclude the existence of sufficient H II. If gas along the other lines of sight has a similar pressure and temperature to that sampled toward Mrk 290, the predicted Hα emission measures would be ∼900 mR. It may be necessary to reclassify Complex C as mildly enriched Galactic waste from the Milky Way or processed gas torn from a disrupted neighboring dwarf, as opposed to low-metallicity Galactic fuel.

Effective field theory (EFT) provides a framework to exploit separation of scales in the physical system in order to perform systematic model-independent calculations. There has been significant interest in applying the methods of EFT to halo nuclei. Using halo effective field theory, I provide a model-independent calculation of the radiative neutron capture on lithium-7 over an energy range where the contribution from the 3+ resonance becomes important. This reaction initiate the sequence in the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle in the inhomogeneous BBN models, and determine the amount of heavy element production from its reaction rate. One finds that a satisfactory description of the capture reaction, in the present single-particle approximation, suggests the use of a resonance width about three times larger than the experimental value. Power counting arguments that establish a hierarchy for the electromagnetic one- and two-body currents is also presented. The neutron capture of Lithium7 calculation has direct impact on the proton capture on beryllium7 which plays an important role in the neutrino experiments studying physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. As a further study of halo nuclei interactions, the cross section of radiative capture of a neutron by carbon-14 is calculated by considering the dominant contribution from electric dipole transition. This is also a part of the CNO cycle and as the slowest reaction in the chain it limits the flow of the production of heavier nuclei A > 14. The cross section is expressed in terms of the elastic scattering parameters of an effective range expansion. Contributions from both the resonant and non-resonant interactions are calculated. Significant interferences between these leads to a capture contribution that deviates from a simple Breit-Wigner resonance form. Using EFT, I present electromagnetic form factors of several halo nuclei. The magnetic dipole moment and the charge radii of carbon-15, beryllium-11, and carbon-19 halo systems are considered. Prediction is made for the magnetic moment in the leading order. I can only provide some estimates for the form factors in next-to-leading order where two-body currents appear. The estimates are based on power counting unless the effective range and the magnetic moment are known. Charge radii for three systems have also been estimated at LO and NLO.

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New halo-carbon precursor, CH3Cl, is used in this work to replace the traditional C3H8 gas as a carbon precursor for the homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC. The traditional SiH4-C3H8-H2 systems require high growth temperatures to enable the desirable steplow growth for high-quality epilayers. A well known problem of the regular-temperature growth is the homogeneous gas-phase nucleation caused by SiH4 decomposition. However, the degree of Si cluster formation in the gas phase and its influence on our low-temperature epitaxial growth was unknown prior to this work. Growth at temperatures below 1400°C was demonstrated previously only for a limited range of substrate surface orientations and with poor quality. Mirror-like epilayer surface without foreign polytype inclusions and with rare surface defects was demonstrated at temperatures down to 1280-1300°C for our halo-carbon growth. Quantitatively different growth-rate dependences on the carbon-precursor flow rate suggested different precursor decomposition kinetics and different surface reactions in CH3Cl and C3H8 systems. Photoluminescence measurement indicated the high quality of the epilayers grown at 1300°C. A mirror-like surface morphology with rare surface defects was demonstrated for the growth on low off-axis substrates at 1380°C. The most critical growth-rate limiting mechanism during the low-temperature epitaxial growth is the formation of Si clusters, which depleted the Si supply to the growth surface, in the gas phase. Presence of chlorine in the CH3Cl precursor significantly reduces but does not completely eliminate this problem. The addition of HCl during growths improved the growth rate and surface morphology drastically but also brought up some complex results, suggesting more complex mechanisms of HCl interaction with the gas-phase clusters. These complicated results were explained partly by an additional mechanism of precursor depletion enhanced in presence of HCl. Complex changes in the effective silicon to carbon ratio in the growth zone indicated that the supply of carbon species may also be enhanced at least at low HCl flow rates. This fact allowed us to suggest that the gas-phase clusters may contain a significant amount of carbon. The new model assuming coexistence of the silicon and carbon in the gas-phase clusters enabled the explanation of the complex experimental trends reported in this work.

With the low-temperature halo-carbon epitaxial growth technique developed at MSU prior to this work, use of a halo-carbon growth precursor enabled low-temperature homoepitaxial process for 4H-SiC at temperatures below 1300 °C with good quality. Investigations of the nitrogen doping dependence are reported. It has been demonstrated that the efficiency of the nitrogen incorporation may be different for different substrate orientations, with the Cace showing the higher value of doping. The Si/C ratio is known to influence the doping during the epitaxial growth due to the site-competition mechanism. The doping on the Cace showed weak dependence on the Si/C ratio. On the Siace, the doping dependence follows the site-competition trend. At high Si/C ratio, the doping trend on Siace shows strong deviation. Both of the investigated trends are suggested for use as the main process dependencies for achieving a wide range of n type doping of SiC during the low-temperature halo-carbon homoepitaxial process.

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In this work, the radiative capture reactions 7Li(n, γ)8Li, 7Be(p, γ)8B, 3He(α, γ)7Be, and 3H(α, γ)7Li are studied using halo effective field theory (EFT). These capture reac- tions are some of the key nuclear reactions for the solar neutrino production and heavy element production in stellar and primordial nucleosyntheses. At low energy, halo EFT provides a model independent framework to describe physical observable as an expansion of a low momentum scale over a high momentum scale with well-defined error estimates. In this dissertation, electric dipole (E1) capture cross section of 7Li(n, γ)8Li reaction is calculated as a coupled channel using EFT with excited 7Li⋆ core and is compared with EFT without the excited 7Li⋆ core. Then we extend our coupled channel treatment to 7Be(p, γ)8B reaction which is the iso-spin mirror of 7Li(n, γ)8Li by adding the Coulomb force in the calculation. Similar to 7Li(n,γ)8Li calculation, we calculate the astrophys- ical Sactor for 7Be(p,γ)8B reaction using the two halo EFTs, one halo EFT without excited 7Be⋆ core and the other halo EFT with the excited 7Be⋆ core as an explicit degree of freedom. We present a formalism to compare different EFT power countings using Bayesian analysis. This is useful when the EFT couplings are poorly known, and one has competing power counting proposals. The Sactor for 3He(α,γ)7Be reaction was calculated for two competing power countings in halo EFT approach. The two power countings defer in the contribution of the two body currents. In one power counting, the two body currents contribute at the leading order and in the other power counting, the two body currents contribute at higher orders. Bayesian inference is drawn to estimate EFT parameters and calculate the posterior odds in order to do the model comparison. The posterior odds is used to propose the best power counting. We extend our calculation to the iso-spin mirror 3H(α,γ)7Li reaction using the same expressions by making the appropriate changes in masses, charges, and binding momenta. We estimate the EFT parameters and calculate the posterior odds using Bayesian analysis. The best power counting is proposed using the posterior odds.

L'étude détaillée des distributions transverses du halo du faisceau est importante du point de vue des pertes de faisceau et du contrôle du bruit de fond dans ATF2 et les futurs collisionneurs linéaires (FLC). Un nouveau type de capteur diamant sous vide (DSv) déplacable, avec quatre pistes, a été conçu et développé pour la mesure des distributions transverses du halo du faisceau et la détection du spectre des électrons de recul Compton après le point d'interaction (IP) d'ATF2, qui est un prototype à basse énergie (1.3 GeV) de la section de focalisation finale pour les projets de collisionneurs linéaires ILC et CLIC.Cette thèse présente les études du halo du faisceau et des électrons de recul Compton, ainsi que la caractérisation, les études de performance et les tests des capteurs diamant (DS), tant sur PHIL, un photo-injecteur à basse énergie (<10 MeV) au LAL, que sur ATF2. Les résultats des premières mesures du halo du faisceau, utilisant des wire scanner (WS) et un DSv, sur ATF2 sont également présentés et comparés dans cette thèse.Des simulations utilisant Mad-X et CAIN ont été réalisées afin d'estimer le nombre d'électrons composant le halo du faisceau ainsi que le nombre d'électrons de recul Compton. Les résultats des simulations ont indiqué qu'une grande gamme dynamique, supérieure 10⁶ , est nécessaire pour une mesure simultanée du cœur du faisceau, du halo du faisceau et des électrons de recul Compton. Un DSv mono-cristallin, fabriqué par CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), a été développé dans ce but.Avant l'installation du capteur diamant, une première tentative de mesure du halo du faisceau a été effectuée en 2013, en utilisant les wire scanners (WS) actuellement installés sur ATF2. En raison de leur dynamique limitée de ~10³ , la distribution du halo du faisceau a été mesurée seulement jusqu'à ~±6σ dans la ligne d'extraction (EXT). Un paramétrage des distributions mesurées du halo du faisceau a montré que les distributions mesurées sont cohérentes avec des mesures faites précédemment, en 2005, sur l'ancienne ligne faisceau d'ATF. Durant ces mesures, une distribution asymétrique du halo vertical du faisceau a été observée pour la première fois en utilisant le WS situé après l'IP, son origine est actuellement sous investigation en utilisant le DSv.Des études pour caractériser des capteurs diamants de dimensions 4.5x4.5x0.5 mm³ ont été réalisées en utilisant des sources α et β. Les paramètres de transport des porteurs de charge (durée de vie, vitesse de saturation, etc.) ont été obtenus en utilisant la technique des courants transitoires (TCT). Par ailleurs, la linéarité de la réponse du DS a été testée sur PHIL avec différentes intensités de faisceau après la fenêtre de sortie de d'accélération. Un signal maximum de 10⁸ électrons a été mesuré, avec une réponse linéaire jusqu'à 10⁷ électrons. Des études similaires de la linéarité ont été faites pour le DSv sur ATF2. Nous avons pu y exploiter avec succès, pour la première fois une gamme dynamique de ~10⁶ , permettant de mesurer simultanément le cœur du faisceau (~10⁹ électrons) et le halo du faisceau (~10³ électrons). Le pick-up électromagnétique induit par le passage du cœur du faisceau et des effets de saturation, qui sont les limitations empêchant actuellement le DSv d'atteindre une gamme dynamique supérieure à 10⁶ , ont également été identifiés et étudiés.Les premières mesures de la distribution horizontale du halo, en utilisant le DSv, ont été effectuées jusqu'à ~±20σx , et ont permis de prouver que le halo du faisceau est collimaté par les ouvertures de la ligne ATF2. Une distribution horizontale du halo compatible avec les paramétrages de 2005 et 2013 a été confirmée. La possibilité de détecter les électrons de recul Compton a été étudiée. Différentes solutions pour accroître la sensibilité des mesures ont été proposées. / The investigation of beam halo transverse distributions is an important issue for beam losses and background control in ATF2 and in Future Linear Colliders (FLC). A novel in vacuum diamond sensor (DSv) scanner with four strips has been designed and developed for the investigation of beam halo transverse distributions and also for the diagnostics of Compton recoil electrons after the interaction point (IP) of ATF2, a low energy (1.3 GeV) prototype of the final focus system for ILC and CLIC linear collider projects. This thesis presents the beam halo and Compton recoil electrons studies as well as the characterization, performance studies and tests of the diamond sensors (DS) both at PHIL, a low energy (<10 MeV) photo-injector at LAL, and at ATF2. First beam halo measurement results using wire scanners (WS) and DSv at ATF2 are also presented and compared in this thesis. Simulations using Mad-X and CAIN were done to estimate the rate of the beam halo and Compton recoil electrons. Simulation results have indicated that a large dynamic range of more than 10⁶ is needed for a simultaneous measurement of the beam core, beam halo and Compton recoil electrons. A single crystalline Chemical Vapor-Deposition (sCVD) based DSv was developed for this purpose. Prior to the diamond detector installation, first attempt of beam halo measurements have been performed in 2013 using the currently installed WS. With a limited dynamic range of ~10³ , the beam halo distribution was measured only up to ~±6σ in the extraction (EXT) line. Parametrizations of the measured beam halo distribution showed a consistent distribution with previous measurements done in 2005 at the old ATF beam line. Meanwhile, an asymmetric vertical beam halo distribution was observed for the first time using the post-IP WS, the origin of which is currently under investigation using the DSv.Studies to characterize DS pads with dimensions of 4.5x4.5x0.5 mm³ were carried out using the α and β sources. Charge carrier transport parameters (lifetime, saturation velocity etc.) were obtained using the transient-current technique (TCT). Furthermore, the linearity of the DS response was tested at PHIL with different beam intensities in air: a maximum signal of 108 electrons was measured with a linear response up to 10⁷ electrons. Similar linearity studies were done for the DSv at ATF2, where we have successfully demonstrated and confirmed for the first time a dynamic range of ~10⁶ by a simultaneous beam core (~10⁹ e-) and beam halo (~10³ e-) measurement using the DSv. Present limitations due to signal pick-up and saturation effects, which prevent the DSv from reaching a dynamic range higher than 10⁶ , were also studied.First measurements of the horizontal beam halo distribution using the DSv were performed up to ~±20σx, where the beam halo was proved to be collimated by the apertures. Horizontal beam halo distributions consistent with the 2005 and 2013 parametrizations were confirmed. The possibility of probing the Compton recoil electrons has been investigated and different ways to increase their visibility have been proposed.