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Stellar structure is investigated within the framework of scalar-tensor gravity. Novel perturbative analytical results are obtained for constant-density stars and for Newtonian polytropes in the quadratic model with coupling function A(Φ) = exp(αΦ+1/2βΦ^2). They are compared to full numerical calculations, and possible applications to main-sequence stars, white dwarfs, and the Chandrasekhar mass are indicated. It is found that Buchdahl's theorem is violated in Brans-Dicke theory for stars with exponentially-decaying density profiles. However, the mass-to-radius ratio M/R tends to the constant-density value in a certain limit. It is observed that for β < 0, there exists a maximum value of η = P0/ρo for constant-density stars, where P0 and ρ0 are the central pressure and density, respectively. It is conjectured that if such a maximum value also exists for other equations of state, and is less than the constant-density maximum value, then knowledge of P/ρ in the centre of a star can be used to constrain β. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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La diffusion atomique doit être prise en compte dans les modèles d'évolution stellaire car il s'agit d'une conséquence directe du fait que les étoiles sont des sphères auto-gravitantes composées d'un mélange de différents gaz (les éléments chimiques). L'équilibre des étoiles conduit à des gradients internes de pression, de densité et de température ainsi qu'à un transfert radiatif, l'ensemble produisant un effet sélectif sur les éléments (dans la plupart des cas dominé par la compétition entre le triage gravitationnel et les accélérations radiatives).Les interactions entre la diffusion atomique et les processus hydrodynamiques tels que la convection dynamique et la perte de masse sont étudiées depuis longtemps. Un processus important a cependant été oublié dans les modèles. Il s'agit de la convection double diffusive (ou thermohaline) induite par un gradient de μ instable, qui peut être produite par une accumulation locale d'éléments lourds à l'intérieur des étoiles due aux accélérations radiatives. Contrairement aux autres processus de mélange, il s'agit d'une conséquence directe de la diffusion atomique. Un effet similaire se produit à la base de la zone convective de surface en cas d'accrétion d’éléments lourds à la surface de l'étoile.Nous avons étudié la convection thermohaline induite par l'accrétion dans le cas du système 16 Cygni et les propriétés de ces deux étoiles avec le code TGEC. Nous avons inclus la prescription de Brown et al. 2013 pour la convection thermohaline. Nous avons ensuite calculé les fréquences d'oscillations de ces modèles à l'aide du code PULSE pour les comparer aux fréquences observées par Kepler. A partir de ces modèles, nous avons pu montrer qu'en accrétant 2/3 de la masse terrestre au début de la séquence principale (sur le modèle 16 Cyg B), la convection thermohaline induite par l'accrétion mélangeait l'étoile suffisamment profondément pour atteindre la zone de destruction du lithium et ainsi obtenir des abondances de lithium cohérentes avec les observations de 16 Cyg A et B.Nous avons étudié l'accumulation d’éléments lourds et l'effet de la convection thermohaline dans le cas des étoiles de type A. Dans ces étoiles, des abondances "particulières" (par rapport au soleil) ont été observées. Ceci est dû aux effets de la diffusion atomique qui sont très importants dans ces étoiles. Cependant, la diffusion atomique seule produit des variations d'abondances trop importantes et un moyen de reproduire les observations est de mélanger l'étoile assez profondément. Nous avons ensuite calculé des modèles incluant la diffusion atomique et la convection thermohaline en utilisant le code TGEC. Nous avons montré que ce processus pouvait modifier la structure interne de ces étoiles, et aussi les abondances de surface. Nous avons aussi inclus la convection thermohaline et l'accrétion dans le code de Montréal/Montpellier. Nous avons modifié plusieurs parties de ce code afin de pouvoir faire des comparaisons avec le TGEC pour comparer les résultats. Les résultats obtenus sont très similaires.Nous avons aussi déterminé les paramètres de l'étoile 94 Ceti à partir d'observations obtenues avec un instrument au sol. Cette étoile à une masse de 1.44 MΘ et est une bonne cible pour étudier l'effet des accélérations radiatives (qui ont un effet non négligeable pour des masses supérieures à 1.2 MΘ). Nous avons aussi comparé des modèles incluant des atmosphères complets afin d'en déterminer l'impact sur les fréquences.Nous avons travaillé sur les étoiles du halo pauvres en métaux pour lesquelles est observé une dispersion inexpliquée des abondances de lithium pour les métallicité très faible. Nous avons étudié la possibilité d'une accrétion sur ces étoiles qui pourrait produire de la convection thermohaline et détruire du lithium. / Atomic diffusion must be taken into account in the computations of stellar structure and evolution as it is a direct consequence of the fact that stars are self-gravitating spheres composed of a mixture of different gases (the chemical elements). The stellar equilibrium leads to internal gradients of pressure, density and temperature as well as an upward radiative transfer which produces a selective effect on the elements (in most cases dominated by the competition between gravitational settling and radiative acceleration).The interactions between atomic diffusion and well-known hydrodynamical processes like dynamical convection and mass loss have been studied for a long time. An important process was however forgotten in these computations. This is the double-diffusive (or fingering or thermohaline) convection induced by unstable μ-gradients, which can be produced by the local accumulation of heavy elements inside stars due to radiative acceleration. Contrary to the other hydrodynamical processes, fingering convection is not arbitrarily added in the computations. It is directly induced by atomic diffusion itself and cannot be avoided. It is thus very important to add this hydrodynamical process in stellar evolution modelling, which has never been done before our work. A similar effect occurs below the convective zone in case of accretion of heavy matter onto a star.We studied the accretion-induced fingering convection in the case of the stellar system 16 Cygni. We studied the properties of these two stars by computing models with the Toulouse Geneva Evolution Code (TGEC). We included the Brown et al. 2013 prescription for the computations of fingering convection in the code. We computed oscillation frequencies of these models using the PULSE code to compare it with Kepler observations. We found that if 2/3 of Earth mass is accreted at the beginning of the main sequence (on 16 Cyg B model), the accretion-induced fingering convection mixes the star deep enough to destroy the lithium and obtain the observed difference between 16 Cyg A and B.We studied the heavy element accumulation and the induced fingering convection in the case of Am stars. In these stars, peculiar surface abundances are observed (compared to the sun). This peculiarity is related to the effect of atomic diffusion, very important in these types of stars. However, atomic diffusion alone leads to abundance variations which are too large and one way to reproduce the observed abundance quantitatively is to assume mixing deep enough inside the star. We computed models including atomic diffusion (with radiative acceleration) and fingering convection with this prescription using the TGEC code. We find than this process may change the internal structure of the stars, and also the surface abundances. We also included fingering convection and the accretion process in the Montreal/Montpellier code. We modified some parts of this code (e.g. turbulence profiles) to compare the results obtained with the two codes. We computed some models and I found that the results are quite similar.We determined the stellar parameters of the star 94 Ceti (by using similar seismic computations as for 16 Cyg A and B) using ground-based observations. This star has a mass of 1.44 MΘ and is a good target to study the effect of radiative accelerations (which occur for masses larger than 1.2-1.3 MΘ). We also compared models with full atmosphere with the observations to determine the impact on oscillation frequencies.We worked on metal poor halo stars for which a dispersion of lithium surface abundance is observed for very small metallicities. We studied the possibility of an accretion of matter that can trigger fingering convection and destroy lithium.

The GLIMPSE (Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire) Point Source Catalog of ~ 30 million mid-infrared sources towards the inner Galaxy, 10 < |l| < 65 degrees and |b| < 1 degree, was used to determine the distribution of stars in Galactic longitude, latitude, and apparent magnitude. The counts versus longitude can be approximated by the modified Bessel function N=N_0*(l/l_0)*K_1(l/l_0), where l_0 is insensitive to limiting magnitude, band choice, and side of Galactic center: l_0= 17-30 degrees with a best fit value in the the 4.5 micron band of l_0=24 +/- 4 degrees. Modeling the source distribution as an exponential disk yields a radial scale length of H= 3.9 +/- 0.6 kpc. There is a pronounced north-south asymmetry in source counts for |l| < 30 degrees, with ~ 25% more stars in the north. For l=10-30 degrees, there is a strong enhancement of stars of m= 11.5-13.5 mag. A linear bar passing through the Galactic center with half-length R_bar=4.4 +/- 0.5 kpc, tilted by phi=44 +/- 10 degrees to the Sun-Galactic Center line, provides the simplest interpretation of this data. We examine the possibility that enhanced source counts at l=26-28 degrees, 31.5-34 degrees, and 306-309 degrees are related to Galactic spiral structure. Total source counts are depressed in regions where the counts of red objects (m_K-m_[8.0] >3) peak. In these areas, the counts are reduced by extinction due to molecular gas and/or high diffuse backgrounds associated with star formation.

The study of white dwarfs (WDs) provides insight into understanding WD formation rates, evolution, and space density. Individually, nearby WDs are excellent candidates for astrometric planetary searches because the astrometric signature is greater than for an identical, more distant WD system. As a population, a complete volume-limited sample is necessary to provide unbiased statistics; however, their intrinsic faintness has allowed some to escape detection. The aim of this dissertation is to identify nearby WDs, accurately characterize them, and target a subset of potentially interesting WDs for follow-up analyses. The most unambiguous method of identifying new WDs is by their proper motions. After evaluating all previous southern hemisphere proper motion catalogs and selecting viable candidates, we embarked on our own southern hemisphere proper motion survey, the SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) survey. A number of interesting objects were discovered during the survey, including the 24th nearest star system -- an M dwarf with a brown dwarf companion. After a series of spectroscopic observations, a total of 56 new WD systems was identified (18 from the SCR survey and 38 from other proper motion surveys). CCD photometry was obtained for most of the 56 new systems in an effort to model the physical parameters and obtain distance estimates via spectral energy distribution fitting. An independent distance estimate was also obtained by deriving a color-MV relation for several colors based on WDs with known distances. Any object whose distance estimate was within 25 pc was targeted for a trigonometric parallax via our parallax program, CTIOPI. Currently, there are 62 WD systems on CTIOPI. A subset of 53 systems has enough data for at least a preliminary parallax (24 are definitive). Of those 53 systems, nine are previously known WDs within 10 pc that we are monitoring for perturbations from unseen companions, and an additional 29 have distances within 25 pc. Previously, there were 109 known WDs with parallaxes placing them within 25 pc; therefore, our effort has already increased the nearby sample by 27%. In addition, at least two objects show hints of perturbations from unseen companions and need follow-up analyses.

Context: Binaries and multiple systems are very frequent and form large fraction of all stellar systems. In contrast to their single counterparts, studying binaries provides the possibility to accurately determine fundamental properties of their components that are needed for testing models of stellar structure and evolution. On top of that, binaries can be used for accurate distance determinations. The mass exchange in close binaries remains the only mechanism, which completely alters their evolution. Aims: The primary goal of my doctoral study was to determine orbital elements of selected systems and properties of their components - masses, radii, and ef- fective temperatures. - In case of more complicated objects (e.g. interacting multiple systems, mass-transferring binaries, . . . ) the secondary goal was to confront our results with predictions of theoretical models. Methods: Studies that I co-authored were based on three different types of ob- servations, each sensitive to partly different properties of studied systems - photometry, spectroscopy, and spectro-interferometry. The analysis was carried out through several "observation-specific" models, whose outcome was critically compared to each other and to previous studies of the object in question. Results: Throughout my study I contributed to: (i)...

<p>The properties of neutron stars and black holes are investigated within a class of alternative theories of gravity known as Scalar-Tensor theories, which extend General Relativity by introducing additional light scalar fields to mediate the gravitational interaction.</p> <p>It has been known since 1993 that neutron stars in certain Scalar-Tensor theories may undergo ‘scalarization’ phase transitions. The Weak Central Coupling (WCC) expansion is introduced for the purpose of describing scalarization in a perturbative manner, and the leading-order WCC coefficients are calculated analytically for constant-density stars. Such stars are found to scalarize, and the critical value of the quadratic scalar-matter coupling parameter β_s = −4.329 for the phase transition is found to be similar to that of more realistic neutron star models.</p> <p>The influence of cosmological and galactic effects on the structure of an otherwise isolated black hole in Scalar-Tensor gravity may be described by incorporating the Miracle Hair Growth Formula discovered by Jacobson in 1999, a perturbative black hole solution with scalar hair induced by time-dependent boundary conditions at spatial infinity. It is found that a double-black-hole binary (DBHB) subject to these boundary conditions is inadequately described by the Eardley Lagrangian and emits scalar dipole radiation.</p> <p>Combining this result with the absence of observable dipole radiation from quasar OJ287 (whose quasi-periodic ‘outbursts’ are consistent with the predictions of a general-relativistic DBHB model at the 6% level) yields the bound |φ/Mpl| < (16 days)^-1 on the cosmological time variation of canonically-normalized light (m < 10⁻²³ eV) scalar fields at redshift z ∼ 0.3.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The theory of stellar evolution and stellar structure relies on the observation of stars in di erent phases of their evolutionary cycle. The relation between observations and theory can be strengthened by obtaining observational data of a large sample of stars in a particular evolutionary phase. The search for Cephei stars, as conducted in this study, can contribute to the sample of known Cephei stars, where these interesting stars are massive non-supergiant early B-type stars, displaying pulsating behaviour which is not well understood. Stars tend to form in clusters where it can therefore be expected that young massive stars can be found in open clusters. For this reason two young southern open clusters were observed in order to search for B-type pulsating stars. The region of NGC 6204 and Hogg 22 was observed over a period of thirteen nights in Johnson B, V and I bands. NGC 6204 is believed to be the oldest cluster of the two at a distance of 0.8 kpc while the much younger Hogg 22 is more distant at 2.8 kpc. These two open clusters are located 6 arcminutes apart which made it possible to observe them simultaneously with a 12.8 12.8 arcminute eld of view. The observations were done with the newly installed 1600 telescope of the North-West University, South Africa. In order to do a variability search, periodic stars need to be identi ed from the cluster data, where a typical data set may contain thousands of scienti c images. In addition to the main motivation for this study, a pipeline was created in order to automate the photometry and data reduction processes. A Lomb-Scargle transform was applied to the stellar light curves in order to identify periodic sources. 354 signi cantly periodic stars were identi ed from the 3182 observed stars. Amongst them, two new possible Cephei stars were found together with a possible slowly pulsating B star (SPB), and numerous eclipsing binary systems. By using photometry of this region obtained by Forbes & Short (1996), instrumental magnitudes were transformed to a standard system in order to compare photometry results. From the constructed colour magnitude diagram of the two clusters, it could be seen that some stars, indicated by Forbes & Short (1996) to be cluster members, were in fact eld stars belonging to neither cluster. The reduction and photometry pipeline was implemented successfully on the data set, which also highlighted the importance of instrumentation and correct data analysis procedures. Possible improvements were identi ed in order to overcome di culties experienced during this study. / Thesis (MSc (Space Physics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The theory of stellar evolution and stellar structure relies on the observation of stars in di erent phases of their evolutionary cycle. The relation between observations and theory can be strengthened by obtaining observational data of a large sample of stars in a particular evolutionary phase. The search for Cephei stars, as conducted in this study, can contribute to the sample of known Cephei stars, where these interesting stars are massive non-supergiant early B-type stars, displaying pulsating behaviour which is not well understood. Stars tend to form in clusters where it can therefore be expected that young massive stars can be found in open clusters. For this reason two young southern open clusters were observed in order to search for B-type pulsating stars. The region of NGC 6204 and Hogg 22 was observed over a period of thirteen nights in Johnson B, V and I bands. NGC 6204 is believed to be the oldest cluster of the two at a distance of 0.8 kpc while the much younger Hogg 22 is more distant at 2.8 kpc. These two open clusters are located 6 arcminutes apart which made it possible to observe them simultaneously with a 12.8 12.8 arcminute eld of view. The observations were done with the newly installed 1600 telescope of the North-West University, South Africa. In order to do a variability search, periodic stars need to be identi ed from the cluster data, where a typical data set may contain thousands of scienti c images. In addition to the main motivation for this study, a pipeline was created in order to automate the photometry and data reduction processes. A Lomb-Scargle transform was applied to the stellar light curves in order to identify periodic sources. 354 signi cantly periodic stars were identi ed from the 3182 observed stars. Amongst them, two new possible Cephei stars were found together with a possible slowly pulsating B star (SPB), and numerous eclipsing binary systems. By using photometry of this region obtained by Forbes & Short (1996), instrumental magnitudes were transformed to a standard system in order to compare photometry results. From the constructed colour magnitude diagram of the two clusters, it could be seen that some stars, indicated by Forbes & Short (1996) to be cluster members, were in fact eld stars belonging to neither cluster. The reduction and photometry pipeline was implemented successfully on the data set, which also highlighted the importance of instrumentation and correct data analysis procedures. Possible improvements were identi ed in order to overcome di culties experienced during this study. / Thesis (MSc (Space Physics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013