An important research area in modern astrophysics is understanding how molecular clouds form stars and star clusters. These rich clusters within molecular clouds are the dominant mode of star formation in our galaxy, but we know very little about these areas of space due to incomplete observational data. The MYStIX (Massive Young Star-Forming Complex Study in Infrared and X-Ray) project was started to create a detailed catalogue of these regions and the rich star clusters embedded within them. Once the observational data was available, the evolution of these clusters could be investigated in more detail. Current cluster simulations investigate the stars in detail but usually ignore the gas entirely which can be inaccurate, especially in gas mass dominated clusters. We use AMUSE (Astrophysical Multi-purpose Software Environment) to model embedded young clusters with stars and gas, similar to those found by the MYStIX project, and track their evolution over the first few million years of their lifespan while allowing the stars and gas to interact. We are particularly interested in non-spheroidal subclusters and how they can evolve into the spherical structures that we see today. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The focus of this thesis is the study of stellar populations of extra-galactic glob- ular clusters (GCs) by measuring spectral indices and comparing them to simple stellar population models. We present the study of GCs in the context of tracing elliptical galaxy star formation, chemical enrichment and mass assembly. In this thesis we set out to test how can be determined about a galaxy's formation history by studying the spectra of a small sample of GCs. Are the stellar population parameters of the GCs strongly linked with the formation history of the host galaxy? We present spectra and Lick index measurements for GCs associated with 3 el- liptical galaxies, NGC 1052, NGC 3379 and NGC 4649. We derive ages, metallicities and a-element abundance ratios for these GCs using the x2 minimisation approach of Proctor & Sansom (2002). The metallicities we derive are quite consistent, for old GCs, with those derived by empirical calibrations such as Brodie & Huchra (1990) and Strader & Brodie (2004). For each galaxy the GCs observed span a large range in metallicity from approximately [Z/H]=�2 to solar. We find that the majority of GCs are more than 10 Gyrs old and that we can- not distinguish any finer, age details amongst the old GC populations. However, amongst our three samples we find two age distributions contrary to our expecta- tions. From our sample of 16 GCs associated with the 1-2 Gyr old merger remnant NGC 1052, we find no young GCs. If a significant population of GCs formed during this merger we would expect those GCs to have low mass-to-light ratios and be included in our sample of bright GCs. We find 4 young GCs in our sample of 38 around NGC 4649, an old massive cluster elliptical. There are no signs of recent star formation and therefore we do not expect any GCs to have formed within the galaxy. These results seem to indicate that the GC systems of elliptical galaxies are not strongly associated with recent field star formation. We find a correlation between the α-element abundance ratio and the metallicity for all three samples. Using Thomas, Maraston & Korn (2004) models, we measure much higher α abundance ratios for low metallicity GCs than high metallicity GCs. With current data and models we are limited in both the accuracy and the detail with which we can probe this relationship. We suggest that there are some difficulties reconciling measured GC parameters with our expectations and propose some future work which could help to resolve these and other issues.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第20898号 / 理博第4350号 / 新制||理||1624(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 田中 貴浩, 准教授 樽家 篤史, 教授 川合 光 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第23704号 / 理博第4794号 / 新制||理||1686(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 嶺重 慎, 教授 長田 哲也, 准教授 細川 隆史 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

abstract: Most stars form in groups, and these clusters are themselves nestled within larger associations and stellar complexes. It is not yet clear, however, whether stars cluster on preferred size scales within galaxies, or if stellar groupings have a continuous size distribution. I have developed two methods to select stellar groupings across a wide range of size-scales in order to assess trends in the size distribution and other basic properties of stellar groupings. The first method uses visual inspection of color-magnitude and color-color diagrams of clustered stars to assess whether the compact sources within the potential association are coeval, and thus likely to be born from the same parentmolecular cloud. This method was developed using the stellar associations in the M51/NGC 5195 interacting galaxy system. This process is highly effective at selecting single-aged stellar associations, but in order to assess properties of stellar clustering in a larger sample of nearby galaxies, an automated method for selecting stellar groupings is needed. I have developed an automated stellar grouping selection method that is sensitive to stellar clustering on all size scales. Using the Source Extractor software package on Gaussian-blurred images of NGC 4214, and the annular surface brightness to determine the characteristic size of each cluster/association, I eliminate much of the size and density biases intrinsic to other methods. This automated method was tested in the nearby dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 4214, and can detect stellar groupings with sizes ranging from compact clusters to stellar complexes. In future work, the automatic selection method developed in this dissertation will be used to identify stellar groupings in a set of nearby galaxies to determine if the size scales for stellar clustering are uniform in the nearby universe or if it is dependent on local galactic environment. Once the stellar clusters and associations have been identified and age-dated, this information can be used to deduce disruption times from the age distribution as a function of the position of the stellar grouping within the galaxy, the size of the cluster or association, and the morphological type of the galaxy. The implications of these results for galaxy formation and evolution are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Astrophysics 2011

Voilà plus d'un siècle que Victor Hess a montré l'origine cosmique de ce mystérieux rayonnement ionisant, et pourtant ce dernier n'a pas fini de livrer tous ces secrets. En deçà d'une énergie de l'ordre du PeV, les vestiges de supernovae sont les candidats les plus sérieux pour rendre compte de l'accélération de ces particules cosmiques. Si toutefois cette hypothèse demeure toujours d'actualité, alors qu'auparavant on le considérait comme un événement isolé dans la Galaxie, on constate plutôt aujourd'hui que ces explosions d'étoiles massives surviennent majoritairement au sein de grandes structures galactiques nommées superbulles. Ces objets sont formés par la combinaison des forts vents stellaires issus des étoiles massives ainsi que de plusieurs supernovae, tout ceci regroupé dans un espace de quelques dizaines ou centaines de parsecs.On peut dès lors se poser la question suivante : est-il possible que des amas d'étoiles jeunes, n'ayant pas encore connu d'épisode de supernova, puissent être des accélérateurs cosmiques.Pour ce type d'investigation, l'astronomie gamma est aux premières loges puisque contrairement au rayonnement cosmique chargé, ce type de messager céleste n'est pas dévié dans son voyage depuis la source jusqu'à nous.L'objet de ce travail est ainsi d'évaluer la possibilité pour ces amas d'étoiles jeunes, de recycler une partie de l'énergie mécanique transférée au milieu interstellaire dans l'accélération de particules et partant, dans l'émission d'un rayonnement non-thermique. Cette étude propose, à partir d'un spectre d'injection pour des particules chargées (proton et/ou électrons), de modéliser l'émission non-thermique attendue considérant les pertes que celles-ci subissent. Un catalogue d'amas potentiellement prometteurs est dressé ainsi qu'un classement de ceux-ci au regard du flux de gamma attendu. Une analyse des données des télescopes H.E.S.S. est conduite pour un certain nombre d'amas sélectionnés. Ce réseau de télescopes Cherenkov situé en Namibie est le plus performant dans sa catégorie. Il est dédié à l'observation des rayons gamma de très haute énergie.Une analyse des données du Fermi-LAT ont également été effectuées. Il s'agit cette fois d'un satellite dédié à la partie des hautes énergies du rayonnement gamma.Enfin, on contraint les paramètres de notre modèle grâce aux résultats issus de ces analyses.L'expérience H.E.S.S., qui a fonctionné à 4 télescopes dès 2003, est depuis 2012 au tout début de sa deuxième phase consistant en l'ajout d'un cinquième télescope de plus grand diamètre. On montre ici, grâce à des simulations de gerbes, la nécessité pour ce télescope de disposer d'un système de focus permettant l'ajustement de la distance caméra-miroirs conduisant à de meilleures performances (taux de déclenchement, résolution angulaire). / More than one century ago, Victor Hess discovered the cosmical origin of the mysterious ionizing radiation. Yet, nowadays it still has a lot of secrets for us. Roughly below the PeV energy, the best candidates already proposed in 1934 were the supernovae remnants (SNR). These candidates still remain ; in the past we considered isolated SNRs, while today we rather think about SNRs inside big structures as superbubbles. These objects are formed by powerful stellar winds from massive stars combined with several SNRs gathered in a space of some decades or hundreds of parsecs. Observations show that the majority of the SNRs occurs in such regions. The point for us is to know if star clusters or associations of massive stars, not hosting any SNR, could also accelerate particles to very high energies and consequently emit gamma-rays.The gamma-ray astronomy is relevant in order to solve this type of riddle because the Very High Energy photons do not suffer of any deviation due to the Galactic magnetic field. It means that we can get informations from the source itself by detecting the gamma-ray radiation.In our study we assume that a part of the mechanical energy transferred to the interstellar medium can be used to accelerate charged particles, which will emit non-thermal radiations.First we assume a given injection spectrum (for electrons and/or protons), then we model the non-thermal emission expected considering particles losses.We deliver a catalogue of promising clusters and we rank them according to the expected strength of the gamma-ray flux.We conducted the analysis of H.E.S.S. data collected toward some selected clusters. The H.E.S.S. experiment is situated in Namibia and is the most efficient array of Cherenkov telescopes. We also used the Fermi-LAT public data. Fermi is a space-based telescope for High Energy gamma ray.Then we constrain our model with the obtained analysis results.The H.E.S.S. experiment had initially 4 telescopes in operation since 2003. In 2012, the second phase of the experiment started when a fifth larger one was added. We show here that it is relevant for this telescope to use a focus system in order to move the camera and change the distance camera-mirrors. The simulations show that the focus system leads to better performances (trigger rate, angular resolution).

No description available.

Les fusions sont un évènement essentiel dans la formation des grandes structures de l’Univers; elles jouent un rôle important dans l’histoire de formation et l’évolution des galaxies. Outre une transformation morphologique, les fusions induisent d’importants sursauts de formation d’étoiles. Ces sursauts sont caractérisés par des Efficacités de Formation Stellaire (EFS) et des Taux de Formation Stellaire Spécifiques (TFSS), i.e., respectivement, des Taux de Formation Stellaire (TFS) par unité de masse gazeuse et des TFS par unité de masse stellaire, plus élevés que ceux des galaxies spirales. A toutes les époques cosmiques, les galaxies à sursaut de formation d’étoiles sont des systèmes particuliers, en dehors de la séquence définie par les galaxies spirales. Nous explorons l’origine du mode de formation stellaire par sursaut, à travers trois systèmes in interaction: Arp 245, Arp 105 et NGC 7252. Nous avons combiné des observations JVLA haute résolution de la raie à 21-cm, traçant le gaz Hi diffus, avec des observations GALEX dans l’UV, traçant les jeunes régions de formation d’étoiles. Nous sommes ainsi en mesure de sonder les conditions physiques locales du Milieu InterStellaire (MIS) pour des régions de formation d’étoiles indépendantes, et d’étudier la transformation du gaz atomique en gaz dense dans différents environnements. Le rapport SFR/HI apparaît bien plus élevé dans les régions centrales que dans les régions externes, indiquant une fraction de gaz dense plus élevée (ou une fraction de gaz HI moins élevée) dans les régions centrales. Dans les régions externes des systèmes, i.e., les queues de marées, où le gaz est dans une phase principalement atomique, nous observons des rapports SFR/ HI plus élevés que dans les environnements standards dominés par le HI, i.e., les régions externes des disques de spirales et les galaxies naines. Ainsi, notre analyse révèle que les régions externes de fusions sont caractérisées par des EFS élevées, par comparaison au mode de formation stellaire standard. Observer des fractions de gaz dense élevées dans les systèmes en interaction est en accord avec les prédictions des simulations numériques; ceci résulte d’une augmentation de la turbulence du gaz durant une fusion. La fusion affecte les propriétés de formation stellaire du système probablement à toutes les échelles, depuis les grandes échelles, avec une turbulence augmentant globalement, jusqu’aux petites échelles, avec des modifications possibles de la fonction de masse initiale. A partir d’une simulation numérique haute résolution d’une fusion majeure entre deux galaxies spirales, nous analysons les effets de l’interaction des galaxies sur les propriétés du MIS à l'échelle des amas stellaires. L’accroissement de la turbulence du gaz explique probablement la formation de Super Amas Stellaire dans le système. Notre étude de la relation SFR–HI dans les fusions de galaxies sera complétée par des données HI haute résolution pour d’autres systèmes, et poussée vers des échelles spatiales encore plus petites. / Mergers are known to be essential in the formation of large-scale structures and to have a significant role in the history of galaxy formation and evolution. Besides a morphological transformation, mergers induce important bursts of star formation. These starburst are characterised by high Star Formation Efficiencies (SFEs) and Specific Star Formation Rates, i.e., high Star Formation Rates (SFR) per unit of gas mass and high SFR per unit of stellar mass, respectively, compared to spiral galaxies. At all redshifts, starburst galaxies are outliers of the sequence of star-forming galaxies defined by spiral galaxies. We have investigated the origin of the starburst-mode of star formation, in three local interacting systems: Arp 245, Arp 105 and NGC 7252. We combined high-resolution JVLA observations of the 21-cm line, tracing the HI diffuse gas, with UV GALEX observations, tracing the young star-forming regions. We probe the local physical conditions of the Inter-Stellar Medium (ISM) for independent star-forming regions and explore the atomic-to-dense gas transformation in different environments. The SFR/HI ratio is found to be much higher in central regions, compared to outer regions, showing a higher dense gas fraction (or lower HI gas fraction) in these regions. In the outer regions of the systems, i.e., the tidal tails, where the gas phase is mostly atomic, we find SFR/HI ratios higher than in standard HI-dominated environments, i.e., outer discs of spiral galaxies and dwarf galaxies. Thus, our analysis reveals that the outer regions of mergers are characterised by high SFEs, compared to the standard mode of star formation. The observation of high dense gas fractions in interacting systems is consistent with the predictions of numerical simulations; it results from the increase of the gas turbulence during a merger. The merger is likely to affect the star-forming properties of the system at all spatial scales, from large scales, with a globally enhanced turbulence, to small scales, with possible modifications of the initial mass function. From a high-resolution numerical simulation of the major merger of two spiral galaxies, we analyse the effects of the galaxy interaction on the star forming properties of the ISM at the scale of star clusters. The increase of the gas turbulence is likely able to explain the formation of Super Star Clusters in the system. Our investigation of the SFR-HI relation in galaxy mergers will be complemented by high-resolution HI data for additional systems, and pushed to yet smaller spatial scales.