Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 146 p.; also includes graphics (some col.) Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-146). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, March 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, August 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

The formation of stars from interstellar gas is the cornerstone of galaxy evolution. This thesis represents work undertaken in order to characterise the role of cool interstellar gas, and its relation to star formation, in galaxy evolution across cosmic time. In particular, it concentrates on star forming galaxies at the extremes of the galaxy assembly spectrum - extremely faint dwarfs, and extremely luminous starbursts - in an attempt to test the limits of galaxy evolution models. The thesis falls into two complimentary halves, addressing topics in the low redshift and high redshift Universe respectively. In the low redshift Universe, I discuss multi-wavelength studies of large samples of z rv O galaxies, which include extremely faint dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume. Using these samples, it is possible to derive a multitude of physical parameters (including star formation rates, stellar masses, and gas masses) which allow the interrelationship between star formation and gas content to be assessed in a statistically significant manner. In particular, modern wide field surveys (combined with deep, volume-limited data) allow trends to be analysed across many orders of magnitude in galaxy mass and star formation rate, shedding light on the global properties of galaxies in the local Universe. Moving to higher redshift, I discuss targeted observations of molecular gas in extreme star forming galaxies in the early Universe. These 'sub-millimetre' galaxies number amongst the most luminous objects ever discovered, and molecular gas observations have the power to uncover many of their physical properties, including their morphologies, kinematics, and star formation behaviour. I begin by presenting high-resolution observations of a small number of these galaxies at z rv 2, and discussing the implications for galaxy evolution studies. The final chapter of this thesis consists of the results of a survey for molecular gas in sub-millimetre galaxies conducted over the last decade, which represents the largest single study of molecular gas in the early Universe to date.

The interstellar medium – the space between the stars in our Galaxy – is multiphase, turbulent, and magnetic. Magnetism in the interstellar medium is difficult to observe and to simulate, and the study of interstellar magnetic fields is riddled with open questions. In this Thesis we make progress in several important areas. We use analytic theory, simulations, and observations to advance our understanding of an important plasma instability, of the diffuse neutral medium, and of prospects for uncovering cosmic inflation. We take an unusual approach to the study of the magnetorotational instability, the mechanism thought to be the primary driver of turbulence and angular momentum transport in astrophysical accretion disks. We conduct a weakly nonlinear analysis of the instability in several important geometries, and derive an envelope equation that governs the evolution of the system on long length- and timescales. We show that the saturated state of the magnetorotational instability may itself be unstable on these large spatial and temporal scales, and we demonstrate that the character of these instabilities will depend on the geometry of the background magnetic field. We posit a possible new saturation mechanism for the magnetorotational instability in a local geometry, when a particular nonideal effect is considered. We derive new insights into the diffuse interstellar medium, where we present the discovery that thin, linear neutral hydrogen structures are ubiquitous in the cold neutral medium. We demonstrate that these linear features are extremely well aligned with the interstellar magnetic field, as traced by both starlight polarization and polarized dust emission. We discuss the implications of this discovery for cosmological studies. A major goal of modern cosmology is the detection of a particular signature in the polarized cosmic microwave background that would be direct evidence for inflation. This goal has thus far been thwarted by the polarized foreground emission from magnetically aligned interstellar dust grains. We demonstrate that the alignment of neutral hydrogen with the interstellar magnetic field can be used to produce higher-fidelity maps of the foreground polarization field, and we present and test a new Bayesian method for constructing improved foreground maps.

This thesis presents an observational study of molecular abundances in the dense cores of 27 prominent molecular clouds in the southern galactic plane.The molecular abundances and physical conditions in dense condensations have been derived from millimetre-wavelength observations of molecular rotational transitions.The study has produced a comprehensive data set of transition intensities and abundances for 10 different molecules in bright southern molecular clouds, and the general characteristics of emissions from these molecules such as optical depth, excitation and relative abundances are discussed. A comparison of different methods of calculating molecular hydrogen column density from observations of carbon monoxide emission is included.Both the analysis and the data collected provide an excellent starting point for further observational and theoretical studies of molecular clouds in the southern Milky Way utilising new instruments such as the millimeter-wave upgrade to the Australia Telescope Compact Array and the Attacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA). / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-204).

Thesis (Doctoral)--Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [131]-137).

Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1999. / "A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Western Sydney Nepean" "July, 1999" Bibliography : p. 177-185.