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This Thesis is concerned with the physical nature of the outer atmospheres of the 'hybrid' bright giants. These stars show C IV emission and evidence of cool, fast winds - unlike giants of similar effective temperature, which possess only cool chromospheres. The K3 II star ι Aur is studied in detail. Chapter 1 discusses the importance of these stars in the context of the HR diagram. Chapter 2 examines the evolutionary status of the 'hybrid' bright giants and sets out the physical parameters which are adopted in the atmospheric modelling. In Chapter 3, the high and low resolution IUE data extracted for ι Aur are discussed. In Chapter 4, the emission line fluxes and profiles are analysed and an emission measure distribution is calculated. Simple hydrostatic models of the transition region and corona are constructed. Chapter 5 describes the methodology employed to construct model chromospheres using non-LTE radiative transfer. In Chapter 6, computations of the chromospheric structure of a 'hybrid' star are presented for the first time. Calculations made for the first time show that the excitation of the Fe I y⁵G^o₃ level by the Mg II k line can produce the observed emission in other transitions from the J = 3 level. In Chapter 7, non-isothermal Alfvén wave driven wind models are calculated. It is shown that ι Aur proves to be a severe test of these models and that the transition region and the cool wind are physically separate. A brief resumé, and possible future research topics are given Chapter 8.

Observations of rotational modulations of brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets allow the characterization of condensate cloud properties. As of now, rotational spectral modulations have only been seen in three L-type brown dwarfs. We report here the discovery of rotational spectral modulations in LP261-75B, an L6-type intermediate surface gravity companion to an M4.5 star. As a part of the Cloud Atlas Treasury program, we acquired time-resolved Wide Field Camera 3 grism spectroscopy (1.1-1.69 mu m) of LP261-75B. We find gray spectral variations with the relative amplitude displaying only a weak wavelength dependence and no evidence for lower-amplitude modulations in the 1.4. mu m water band than in the adjacent continuum. The likely rotational modulation period is 4.78 +/- 0.95. hr, although the rotational phase is not well sampled. The minimum relative amplitude in the white light curve measured over the whole wavelength range is 2.41% +/- 0.14%. We report an unusual light curve, which seems to have three peaks approximately evenly distributed in rotational phase. The spectral modulations suggests that the upper atmosphere cloud properties in LP261-75B are similar to two other mid-L dwarfs of typical infrared colors, but differ from that of the extremely red L-dwarf WISE0047.

This work investigates molecular opacities under conditions appropriate to the atmospheres of late-type stars. Given a specified initial abundance of the chemical elements, the equations of atomic ionization and molecular dissociation are solved by iteration for various temperatures and densities. With the abundances of the atomic and molecular species so determined at a particular temperature and density, the continuous absorption coefficient due to a number of processes is first computed, then the molecular band absorption coefficient is computed line-by-line superimposed for diatomic and triatomic molecules considered separately. The band calculations for the diatomic molecules include all possible isotopic variants, but computing resources did not permit this degree of detail for triatomic molecules, nor diatomic and triatomic molecules to be considered together. These calculations are performed for a number of different temperatures and densities. The theory for calculating the spectral lines due to molecules is discussed in some detail, with various methods being investigated for computing opacities including the contributions from these spectral lines. With the computing resources available, the best method for the calculation of the opacity due to the molecular absorption is found to be that of opacity sampling, sampling is adequate, provided the frequency of sampling is adequate. From the results presented in this thesis, a number of important conclusions can be drawn. At low temperatures and high densities, pressure-induced absorption due to molecular hydrogen is an important source of continuous opacity. Isotopic variants of at least diatomic molecules pave to be considered in any calculations, as they can significantly affect the contribution that diatomic molecules make to the Rosseland mean opacities. Also at low temperatures, water is a major source of absorption. Finally, tables of some thermodynamic quantities for the molecular gas are given for a number of temperatures and densities.

L-band spectroscopy is a powerful probe of cool low-gravity atmospheres: the P, Q, and R branch fundamental transitions of methane near 3.3 mu m provide a sensitive probe of carbon chemistry; cloud thickness modifies the spectral slope across the band; and H-3(+) opacity can be used to detect aurorae. Many directly imaged gas-giant companions to nearby young stars exhibit L-band fluxes distinct from the field population of brown dwarfs at the same effective temperature. Here we describe commissioning the L-band spectroscopic mode of Clio2, the 1-5 mu m instrument behind the Magellan adaptive-optics system. We use this system to measure L-band spectra of directly imaged companions. Our spectra are generally consistent with the parameters derived from previous near-infrared spectra for these late M to early L type objects. Therefore, deviations from the field sequence are constrained to occur below 1500 K. This range includes the L-T transition for field objects and suggests that observed discrepancies are due to differences in cloud structure and CO/CH4 chemistry.

We present Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera Ch1 and Ch2 monitoring of six brown dwarfs during eight different epochs over the course of 20 months. For four brown dwarfs, we also obtained simulataneous Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/WFC3 G141 grism spectra during two epochs and derived light curves in five narrowband filters. Probing different pressure levels in the atmospheres, the multiwavelength light curves of our six targets all exhibit variations, and the shape of the light curves evolves over the timescale of a rotation period, ranging from 1.4 to 13 hr. We compare the shapes of the light curves and estimate the phase shifts between the light curves observed at different wavelengths by comparing the phase of the primary Fourier components. We use state-of-the-art atmosphere models to determine the flux contribution of different pressure layers to the observed flux in each filter. We find that the light curves that probe higher pressures are similar and in phase, but are offset and often different from the light curves that probe lower pressures. The phase differences between the two groups of light curves suggest that the modulations seen at lower and higher pressures may be introduced by different cloud layers.

Context. Post-extreme horizontal branch stars (post-EHB) are helium-shell burning objects evolving away from the EHB and contracting directly towards the white dwarf regime. While the stars forming the EHB have been extensively studied in the past, their hotter and more evolved progeny are not so well characterized. Aims. We perform a comprehensive spectroscopic analysis of four such bright sdO stars, namely Feige 34, Feige 67, AGK+81 degrees 266, and LS II + 18 degrees 9, among which the first three are used as standard stars for flux calibration. Our goal is to determine their atmospheric parameters, chemical properties, and evolutionary status to better understand this class of stars that are en route to become white dwarfs. Methods. We used non-local thermodynamic equilibrium model atmospheres in combination with high quality optical and UV spectra. Photometric data were also used to compute the spectroscopic distances of our stars and to characterize the companion responsible for the infrared excess of Feige 34. Results. The four bright sdO stars have very similar atmospheric parameters with T-eff between 60 000 and 63 000 K and log g (cm s(-2)) in the range 5.9 to 6.1. This places these objects right on the theoretical post-EHB evolutionary tracks. The UV spectra are dominated by strong iron and nickel lines and suggest abundances that are enriched with respect to those of the Sun by factors of 25 and 60. On the other hand, the lighter elements, C, N, O, Mg, Si, P, and S are depleted. The stars have very similar abundances, although AGK + 81 degrees 266 shows differences in its light element abundances. For instance, the helium abundance of this object is 10 times lower than that observed in the other three stars. All our stars show UV spectral lines that require additional line broadening that is consistent with a rotational velocity of about 25 km s(-1). The infrared excess of Feige 34 is well reproduced by a M0 main-sequence companion and the surface area ratio of the two stars suggests that the system is a physical binary. However, the lack of radial velocity variations points towards a low inclination and/or long orbital period. Spectroscopic and HIPPARCOS distances are in good agreement for our three brightest stars. Conclusions. We performed a spectroscopic analysis of four hot sdO stars that are very similar in terms of atmospheric parameters and chemical compositions. The rotation velocities of our stars are significantly higher than what is observed in their immediate progenitors on the EHB, suggesting that angular momentum may be conserved as the stars evolve away from the EHB.

The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) provides spectroscopic information of regions of the inner Milky Way, which are inaccessible to optical surveys. We present the first large study of the metallicity distribution of the innermost Galactic regions based on high-quality measurements for 7545 red giant stars within 4.5 kpc of the Galactic center, with the goal to shed light on the structure and origin of the Galactic bulge. Stellar metallicities are found, through multiple Gaussian decompositions, to be distributed in several components, which is indicative of the presence of various stellar populations such as the bar or the thin and the thick disks. Super-solar ([Fe/H] = +0.32) and solar ([Fe/H] = +0.00) metallicity components, tentatively associated with the thin disk and the Galactic bar, respectively, seem to be major contributors near the midplane. A solar-metallicity component extends outwards in the midplane but is not observed in the innermost regions. The central regions (within 3 kpc of the Galactic center) reveal, on the other hand, the presence of a significant metal-poor population ([Fe/H] = -0.46), tentatively associated with the thick disk, which becomes the dominant component far from the midplane (vertical bar Z vertical bar >= +0.75 kpc). Varying contributions from these different components produce a transition region at +0.5 kpc <= vertical bar Z vertical bar <= +1.0 kpc, characterized by a significant vertical metallicity gradient.

Limb darkening is a fundamental ingredient for interpreting observations of planetary transits, eclipsing binaries, optical/infrared interferometry and microlensing events. However, this modeling traditionally represents limb darkening by a simple law having one or two coefficients that have been derived from plane-parallel model stellar atmospheres, which has been done by many researchers. More recently, researchers have gone beyond plane-parallel models and considered other geometries. We previously studied the limb-darkening coefficients from spherically symmetric and plane-parallel model stellar atmospheres for cool giant and supergiant stars, and in this investigation we apply the same techniques to FGK dwarf stars. We present limb-darkening coefficients, gravity-darkening coefficients and interferometric angular diameter corrections from Atlas and SAtlas model stellar atmospheres. We find that sphericity is important even for dwarf model atmospheres, leading to significant differences in the predicted coefficients.

Limb darkening is a fundamental ingredient for interpreting observations of planetary transits, eclipsing binaries, optical/infrared interferometry and microlensing events. However, this modeling traditionally represents limb darkening by a simple law having one or two coefficients that have been derived from plane-parallel model stellar atmospheres, which has been done by many researchers. More recently, researchers have gone beyond plane-parallel models and considered other geometries. We previously studied the limb-darkening coefficients from spherically symmetric and plane-parallel model stellar atmospheres for cool giant and supergiant stars, and in this investigation we apply the same techniques to FGK dwarf stars. We present limb-darkening coefficients, gravity-darkening coefficients and interferometric angular diameter corrections from Atlas and SAtlas model stellar atmospheres. We find that sphericity is important even for dwarf model atmospheres, leading to significant differences in the predicted coefficients.