The local universe is dominated by quiescent galaxies with little or no ongoing star formation. Once star formation has been shut down in a possible quasar phase, energy feedback in the form of outflows from a supermassive black hole (SMBH) accreting at a low rate is one of the leading candidates for heating up or removing gas accreted afterwards. In this work we performed hydrodynamic simulations of radiatively inefficient accretion flows around supermassive black holes and investigate the generation of outflows by the accretion flow. We found that hot accretion flows can produce powerful subrelativistic winds that carry considerable amounts of energy away and they can provide feedback inside the host galaxy. / O universo local é dominado por galáxias quiescentes com pouca, ou nenhuma, taxa atual de formação estelar. Uma vez que a formação estelar é suprimida numa possível fase de quasar do núcleo ativo da galáxia, o feedback de energia na forma de outflows do buraco negro supermassivo acretando a pequenas taxas é um dos principais candidatos a aquecer ou remover o gás do sistema. Nesse trabalho, executamos simulações hidrodinâmicas de escoamentos acretivos radiativamente ineficientes ao redor de buracos negros supermassivos e investigamos a geração de outflows pelo escoamento. Encontramos que escoamentos acretivos quentes podem produzir ventos subrelativísticos poderosos que carregam para fora consideráveis quantidades de energia e que podem providenciar feedback dentro da galáxia hospedeira.

Orientador: George Emanuel Avraam Matsas / Banca: Alberto Vasquez Saa / Banca: Daniel Augusto Turolla Vanzella / Banca: Nathan Jacob Berkovits / Banca: Carlos Monken / Resumo: Mesmo tratando a gravidade classicamente, a Teoria Quântica de Campos em Espaços Tempos Curvos (TQCEC) faz previsões impressionantes sobre o comportamento de campos quânticos na presença de campos gravitacionais. Entretanto, ao mesmo tempo em que nos revela efeitos surpreendentes, a TQCEC levanta uma série de questionamentos. O desenvolvimento de uma teoria na interface entre a teoria da relatividade, a mecânica quântica e a teoria da informação poderá não só lançar uma nova luz em tais questões como também nos permitir descobrir novos efeitos de gravitação quântica de baixas energias. Entretanto, os efeitos que a teoria da relatividade causa na teoria da informação quântica são não triviais já no espaço-tempo de Minkowski. Faz-se necessáaria portanto uma análise cuidadosa de tais efeitos já no contexto da relatividade especial. Sendo assim, estudamos primeiro o comportamento das desigualdades de Bell usando férmions de spin 1/2 e fótons quando os detetores que medem spin e polarização, respectivamente, movemse com certa velocidade. Além disso, usamos o limite de Holevo para estudar sistemas de comunicação quando as partes que trocam informação tem um movimento relativo. Como um desenvolvimento natural, estudamos diversos aspectos da teoria da informação quântica no contexto da teoria quântica de campos e, em particular, do efeito Unruh. Tais resultados nos permitiram prever o comportamento de qubits nas vizinhanças de um buraco negro de Schwarzschild / Abstract: Although it treats gravity classically, the Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetimes (QFTCS) makes remarkable predictions about de behavior of quantum fields in the presence of gravitational fields. However, these striking discoveries raises several issues. The development of a theory at the interface between the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and information theory could not only shed new light on such questions as well as allow us to uncover new low-energy quantum gravity effects. However, relativity affects quantum information theory in a highly non-trivial way already in Minkowski spacetime. Therefore, a careful analysis of these effects in the context of special relativity is needed. For this purpose, we begin investigating how the movement of the spin and polarization detectors influences the Bell inequalities using spin 1/2 fermions and photons, respectively. Then, we use the Holevo bound to investigate quantum communication channels when the parts that trade information have a relative motion. As a natural development, we use quantum field theory and, in particular, the Unruh effect to analyze several aspects of quantum information theory. This enables us to predict the behavior of qubits in the vicinity of a Schwarzschild black hole / Doutor

Esta dissertação visa realizar um estudo acerca dos modelos de mundo brana no contexto proposto por Randall e Sundrum. O trabalho focaliza as perturbações de spin 0 no espaço-tempo de Kerr tomado como um mundo brana 4-dimensional. Para isso apresentamos os principais aspectos da Relatividade Geral de Einstein, bem como perturbações em métricas que descrevem buracos negros. Fizemos uma revisão dos modelos de Randall-Sundrum, suas motivações e tentativas de descrever buracos negros na brana. Por m a perturbação escalar da corda negra em rotação (Kerr-Randall-Sundrum) e o fenômeno de super-radiação são analisados. / This dissertation aims at studying the braneworld models in the context proposed by Randall and Sundrum. The focus is on the spin-0 perturbations in the Kerr space-time as a 4- dimensional braneworld. The work deals the main aspects of Einstein General Relativity as well as perturbations of black holes metrics. We also review the Randall-Sundrum models and their motivations and attempts to describe braneworld black holes. In the end the Kerr-Randall-Sundrum black string scalar perturbation and superradiance are obtained.

In this work, we review three topics which are relevant on its own but which are also interconnected through the AdS/CFT correspondence: (i) black holes in AdS and its thermodynamics, (ii) nonlinear instability of AdS and (iii) scalar- tensor theory of gravity. Each one of these topics find applications in holography using the above mentioned correspondence. We review the various coordinate systems used to write the AdS metric and discuss the main black holes with AdS asymptotics as well as their thermodynamical properties. We also review current results on linear and nonlinear stability for various spacetimes, presenting a heuristic explanation for the nonlinear instability of AdS. The discussion about alternative theories of gravity is restricted to the case of scalar-tensor theories (Horndeski theories, specially). We study the multipole expansion of the electromagnetic field in the solitonic background of a shift-symmetric scalar-tensor model (up to second order in the scalar field coupling constant with the Gauss-Bonnet term). We find that the multipoles are everywhere regular and finite except for the monopole l = 0, which diverges at the origin of the spacetime coordinates. / Neste trabalho, temos como objetivo fazer uma revisão sobre três temas de grande relevância por si só mas, que também se interligam através da correspondencia AdS/CFT: (i) buracos negros em AdS e sua termodinâmica, (ii) a instabilidade não-linear de AdS e (iii) teorias escalar-tensoriais da gravidade. Cada um destes temas encontram aplicações em holografia usando a correspondencia citada acida. Revisamos as diversas formas de escrever a métrica de AdS e discutimos os principais buracos negros assintóticamentes AdS assim como suas propriedades termodinâmicas. Nós também revisamos os resultados atuais sobre a estabilidade linear e não-linear para diversos espaços-tempos, reproduzindo uma explicação heurísitca sobre a instabilidade não-linear do espaço-tempo AdS. A discussão das teorias alternativas à Relatividade Geral é restrita ao caso das teorias escalar-tensorias da gravidade (a teoria de Horndeski, especialmente). Nós estudamos a expansão multipolar do campo electromagnético em um espaço-tempo que é solução do modelo \"shift-symmetric scalar tensor gravity\" (até segunda ordem na constante de acoplamento do campo escalar com o termo de Gauss-Bonnet) com características solitônicas. Encontramos que os multipolos são regulares e finitos em todo espaço-tempo com exceção do monopolo l = 0, que diverge na origem do sistema de coordenadas.

The subject of this thesis is the description of quantum black holes as a way to probe quantum gravity. Scenarios of a lower Planck scale make quantum gravity experimentally approachable, therefore a theoretical framework is needed in order to be able to probe quantum gravitational effects. We present a field theoretical formalism for the treatment of quantum black holes and their interactions with particles of the Standard Model. We examine the properties and assumptions governing quantum black holes and develop a methodology to examine their behavior using quantum field theory language. We apply our formalism in several different cases and calculate the cross sections for the production of quantum black holes. We use our results to gain phenomenological insights to quantum gravity, such as the derivation of bounds for the Planck mass from Standard Model processes. The distinction between a continuous and a discrete mass spectrum, for a quantum black hole, is discussed and the relevant cross sections presented. Finally, we use quantum black holes as a gateway to supersymmetry and calculate the branching ratios for the decay of quantum black holes into supersymmetric particles.

It is now believed that most, if not all, galaxies contain a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and that these play a crucial role in their host galaxies' evolution. Whilst accreting material, a SMBH (known as an active galactic nucleus, AGN, during this growth phase) releases energy which may have the effect of quenching star formation and constraining the growth of the galaxy. It is believed that AGNs can be divided into two broad fundamental categories, each with its own feedback mechanism. The radiative-mode of feedback occurs in gas-rich galaxies when substantial star formation is occurring and their young AGNs are growing rapidly through efficient accretion of cold gas. A fraction of the energy released by an AGN is transferred into the surrounding gas, creating a thermal "energy-driven" wind or pressure "momentum-driven" wind. Gas and dust may be expelled from the galaxy, so halting star formation but also cutting off the fuel supply to the AGN itself. The jet-mode occurs thereafter. The SMBH has now attained a large mass, but is accreting at a comparatively low level as gas slowly cools and falls back into the galaxy. The accretion process generates two-sided jets that generate shock fronts, so heating the gas surrounding the galaxy and partially offsetting the radiative cooling. This restricts the inflow of gas into the galaxy, so slowing the growth of the galaxy and SMBH. There are several convincing theoretical arguments to support the existence of these feedback mechanisms, although observational evidence has been hard to obtain. A new radio telescope - the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) - recently started operations. LOFAR is especially suitable for investigating AGN feedback. It has been designed to allow exploration of low radio frequencies, between 10 and 240 MHz, which are particularly relevant for research into AGN activity. Also, with its large field-of-view and multi-beam capability, LOFAR is ideal for conducting extensive radio surveys. A project to image deeply the ELAIS-N1 field was started in May 2013. This thesis uses a number of surveys at different wavelengths, but particularly the low-frequency radio observations of the ELAIS-N1 field, to improve our knowledge of jet-mode AGN feedback and hence of the interplay between the complicated processes involved in galaxy formation and evolution. The more important pieces of research within the thesis are as follows: - A sample of 576 AGNs in the nearby universe was assembled and used to find a relationship between radio luminosity, X-ray luminosity and black hole mass. Moreover, the relationship is valid over at least 15 orders of magnitude in X-ray luminosity, strongly suggesting that the process responsible for the launching of radio jets is scale-invariant. - The established "Likelihood Ratio" technique was refined to incorporate colour information in order to optimally match the radio sources in the ELAIS-N1 field with their host galaxies. - The resulting catalogue was used to investigate ways in which radio sources can be matched automatically with their host galaxies (and so avoiding laborious visual examination of each source). The conclusions have helped the design of a pipeline for an extensive wide-area survey currently being conducted by the LOFAR telescope. - The catalogue was also used to investigate the evolution of jet-mode AGNs. This involved: deriving source counts; obtaining redshifts for each object; classifying the radio sources into the different populations of radiative-mode AGNs, jet-mode AGNs and star-forming galaxies; and using the above preparatory work in order to derive a luminosity function for jet-mode AGNs. - Key conclusions are that (1) feedback from jet-mode AGNs peaks at around a redshift of 0.75, (2) the space density of jet-mode AGNs declines steadily with redshift and (3) the typical luminosity of a jet-mode AGN increases steadily with redshift.

Esta dissertação visa realizar um estudo acerca dos modelos de mundo brana no contexto proposto por Randall e Sundrum. O trabalho focaliza as perturbações de spin 0 no espaço-tempo de Kerr tomado como um mundo brana 4-dimensional. Para isso apresentamos os principais aspectos da Relatividade Geral de Einstein, bem como perturbações em métricas que descrevem buracos negros. Fizemos uma revisão dos modelos de Randall-Sundrum, suas motivações e tentativas de descrever buracos negros na brana. Por m a perturbação escalar da corda negra em rotação (Kerr-Randall-Sundrum) e o fenômeno de super-radiação são analisados. / This dissertation aims at studying the braneworld models in the context proposed by Randall and Sundrum. The focus is on the spin-0 perturbations in the Kerr space-time as a 4- dimensional braneworld. The work deals the main aspects of Einstein General Relativity as well as perturbations of black holes metrics. We also review the Randall-Sundrum models and their motivations and attempts to describe braneworld black holes. In the end the Kerr-Randall-Sundrum black string scalar perturbation and superradiance are obtained.

General relativity (GR) has stood as the most accurate description of gravity for the last 100 years, weathering a barrage of rigorous tests. However, attempts to derive GR from a more fundamental theory or to capture further physical principles at high energies has led to a vast number of alternative gravity theories. The individual examination of each gravity theory is infeasible and as such a systematic method of examining modified gravity theories is a necessity. Studying generic classes of gravity theories allows for general statements about observables to be made independent of explicit models. Take, for example, those models described by the Horndeski action, the most general class of scalar-tensor theory with at most second-order derivatives in the equations of motion, satisfying theoretical constraints. But these constraints alone are not enough for a given modified gravity model to be physically viable and hence worth studying. In particular, observations place incredibly tight constraints on the size of any deviation in the solar system. Hence, any modified gravity would have to mimic GR in such a situation. To accommodate this requirement, many models invoke screening mechanisms which suppress deviations from GR in regions of high density. But these mechanisms really upon non-linear effects and so studying them in complex models is mathematically complex. To constrain the space of actions of Horndeski type to those which pass solar-system tests, a set of conditions on the four free functions of the Horndeski action are derived which indicate whether a specific model embedded in the action possesses a GR limit. For this purpose, a new and surprisingly simple scaling method is developed, identifying dominant terms in the equations of motion by considering formal limits of the couplings that enter through the new terms in the modified gravity action. Solutions to the dominant terms identify regimes where nonlinear terms dominate and Einstein's field equations are recovered to leading order. Together with an efficient approximation of the scalar field profile, one can determine whether the recovery of Einstein's field equations can be attributed to a genuine screening effect. The parameterised post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism has enabled stringent tests of static weak-field gravity in a theory-independent manner. This is through parameterising common perturbations of the metric found when performing a post-Newtonian expansion. The framework is adapted by introducing an effective gravitational coupling and defining the PPN parameters as functions of position. Screening mechanisms of modified gravity theories can then be incorporated into the PPN framework through further developing the scaling method into a perturbative series. The PPN functions are found through a combination of the scaling method with a post-Newtonian expansion within a screened region. For illustration, we show that both a chameleon and cubic galileon model have a limit where they recover GR. Moreover, we find the effective gravitational constant and all PPN functions for these two theories in the screened limit. To examine how the adapted formalism compares to solar-system tests, we also analyse the Shapiro time delay effect for these two models and find no deviations from GR insofar as the signal path and the perturbing mass reside in a screened region of space. As such, tests based upon the path light rays such as those done by the Cassini mission do not constrain these theories. Finally, gravitational waves have opened up a new regime where gravity can be tested. To this end, we examine how the generation of gravitational waves are affected by theories of gravity with screening to second post-Newtonian (PN) order beyond the quadrupole. This is done for a model of gravity where the black hole binary lies in a screened region, while the space between the binary's neighbourhood and the detector is described by Brans-Dicke theory. We find deviations at both 1.5 and 2 PN order. Deviations of this size can be measured by the Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detector highlighting that our calculation may allow for constraints to be placed on these theories. We model idealised data from the black hole merger signal GW150914 and perform a best fit analysis. The most likely value for the un-screened Brans-Dicke parameter is found to be ω = -1:42, implying on large scales gravity is very modified, incompatible with cosmological results.

This analysis is an expansion of research done by Rollin Hotchkiss during his Ph.D work. The research uses fluid flow, sediment transport, and perturbation theory to predict where scour will occur in a variable-width channel. The resulting equations also determine equilibrium scour depth based upon the stream bed elevation derived from a dimensionless bed slope equation. Hotchkiss perturbed the width of the channel using a second order Taylor Series perturbation but neglected second order terms. The present work follows the same procedures as Hotchkiss but maintains the second order terms. The primary purpose is to examine how the additional terms impact the final equilibrium scour depth and location results. The results of this research show a slight variation from the previous work. With respect to a hypothetical case, there was not a significant amount of change, thereby verifying that scour migrates downstream with an increase in discharge. Interestingly, the comparison shows a slight increase in sediment discharge through the test reach analyzed. Supplementary to previous research, values of scour depth and location in terms of distance from the start of channel-width perturbation are provided; at the lowest discharge maximum scour occurs 4% of a wavelength upstream of the narrowest portion, and at the highest discharge maximum scour occurs at the narrowest point. Additionally, a one-dimensional HEC-RAS sediment transport model and a two- dimensional SRH flow model were compared to the analytical results. Results show that the model output of the HEC-RAS model and the SRH model adequately approximate the analytical model studied. Specifically, the results verify that maximum scour depth transitions downstream as discharge increases.

The motion of neutral test particles, both massive and massless, in the space time of a charged source described by the Reissner-Nordström solution is studied. This solution is characterized by two parameters, mass and charge, which defines the horizons of the source. When the mass is larger than the charge, the solution describes a black hole, with two distinct horizons. When the mass and charge are equal there is an extremal black hole, and both horizons merge to one. Finally, when the charge is larger than the mass there is a naked singularity, with no horizon. The structure and properties of these different type of solution are presented and discussed. A general solution of the equations of motion is presented in function of the Weierstrass elliptic function ℘. In addition, the possible orbits for test particles are discussed, and the conditions for existence of closed, circular or escape orbits are presented. The classifications is made based on the particles energy, and the mass and charge of the source. We find that all mentioned orbits are allowed for the three different type of solutions. In particular, for extremal black holes and naked singularities, we find stable circular orbits located outside the event horizon and hence being visible for an external observer. / O movimento de partículas teste neutras, ambas massivas e sem massa, no espaço-tempo de uma fonte carregada descrita pela solução de Reissner-Nordström é estudada. Essa solução é caracterizada por dois parâmetros, massa e carga, que definem os horizontes da fonte. Quando a massa é maior que a carga tal solução descreve um buraco negro com dois horizontes distintos. Quando a massa e a carga são iguais há um buraco negro extremo, e ambos os horizontes se unem em um. Finalmente, quando a carga é maior que a massa, há uma singularidade nua, sem horizontes. A estrutura e as propriedades dessas diferentes soluções são apresentadas e discutidas. Uma solução geral da equação de movimento é apresentada em termos da função elíptica de Weierstrass, ℘. Além do mais as possiveis órbitas para uma partícula teste são discutidas, e as condições para existência de órbitas fechadas, circulares e de escape são apresentadas. A classificação é feita a partir da energia da partícula, e da massa e carga da fonte. Encontramos que todas as orbitas mencionadas são permitidas nos três diferentes tipos de soluções. Em partícular, para buracos negros extremos e singularidades nuas, encontramos órbitas circulares estáveis localizadas fora do horizonte de eventos e, consequentemente, sendo visível para observadores externos.