La dynamique des systèmes hyperboliques est considérée bien comprise du point de vue topologique aussi bien que du point de vue stochastique. S. Smale et R. Abraham ont donné un exemple montrant que, en général, les systèmes hyperboliques ne sont pas denses parmi tous les systèmes diffélrentiables. Dans les années 1970, M. Brin et Y. Pesin ont proposé une nouvelle notion: hyperbolicité partielle pour affaiblir la notion d’hyperbolicité. Un but de cette thèse est de comprendre la dynamique de certains systèmes partiellement hyperboliques du point de vue stochastique aussi bien que du point de vue topologique. Du point de vue stochastique, nous démontrons les résultats suivants: — Il existe un sous-ensemble U ouvert et dense de difféomorphismes non hyperboliques robustement transitifs loin de tangences homocliniques, tels que pour tout f ∈ U, il existe des mesures ergodiques non hyperboliques qui sont limite faible des mesures périodiques, avec un seul exposant de Lyapunov nul, et dont les supports sont la variété entière; — Il existe un sous-ensemble ouvert et dense de l’ensemble des difféomorphismes partiellement hyperboliques (mais non hyperboliques) de dimension centrale un dont les feuilletages forts sont robustement minimaux, de sorte que la fermeture de l’ensemble des mesures ergodiques est l’union de deux convexes qui sont la fermeture des ensembles de mesures ergodiques hyperboliques de deux s-indices différents respectivement; ces deux ensembles convexes se coupent le long de la fermeture de l’ensemble des mesures ergodiques non hyperboliques. Par conséquent, toute mesure ergodique non hyperbolique est approchée par des mesures périodiques. C’est le cas pour une perturbation robustement transitive du temps un d’un flot d’Anosov transitif, ou du produit fibré d’un difféomorphisme d’Anosov sur le tore par une rotation du cercle. Ces résultats sont basés sur des résultats locaux dont les démonstrations impliquent beaucoup de définitions techniques. Du point de vue topologique, pour tout flot d’Anosov non transitif sur des variétés de dimension 3 orientables, nous construisons de nouveaux difféomorphismes partiellement hyperboliques en composant le temps t des flots d’Anosov (pour t > 0 large) avec des twists de Dehn le long des tores transversaux. Ces nouveaux difféomorphismes partiellement hyperboliques sont robustement dynamiquement cohérents. Cela généralise dans un cas général le processus spécial dans [BPP] pour construire de nouveaux difféomorphismes partiellement hyperboliques. De plus, nous démontrons que pour les nouveaux difféomorphismes partiellement hyperboliques que nous avons construits, leurs feuilletages centraux sont topologiquement équivalentes aux flots d’Anosov utilisés pour les construire. En conséquence, la structure des feuilles centrales des nouveaux difféomorphismes partiellement hyperboliques est la même que la structure des orbites d’un flot d’Anosov. La présence de mesures ergodiques non hyperboliques montre la non hyperbolicité des systémes. Dans cette thése, nous cherchons également à comprendre: dans quelle mesure la présence de mesures ergodiques non hyperboliques peut-elle caractériser le degré de non-hyperbolicité des systèmes? Nous démontrons que, pour les difféomorphismes génériques, si une classe homoclinique contient des orbites périodiques d’indices différents et sans certaines dominations, il existe une mesure ergodique non hyperbolique avec plus d’un exposant de Lyapunov qui s’annule et dont le support est la classe homoclinique entière. Le nombre d’exposants de Lyapunov nuls montre combien d’hyperbolicité a été perdue dans un tel type de systèmes. / The dynamics of hyperbolic systems is considered well understood from topological point of view as well as from stochastic point of view. S. Smale and R. Abraham gave an example showing that, in general, the hyperbolic systems are not dense among all differentiable systems. In 1970s, M. Brin and Y. Pesin proposed a new notion: partial hyperbolicity to release the notion of hyperbolicity. One aim of this thesis is to understand the dynamics of certain partially hyperbolic systems from stochastic point of view as well as from topological point of view. From stochastic point of view, we prove the following results: — There exists an open and dense subset U of robustly transitive nonhyperbolic diffeomorphisms far from homoclinic tangency, such that forany f ∈ U, there exist non-hyperbolic ergodic measures as the weak*- limit of periodic measures, with only one vanishing Lyapunov exponent, and whose supports are the whole manifold; — There exists an open and dense subset of partially hyperbolic (but nonhyperbolic) diffeomorphisms with center dimension one whose strong foliations are robustly minimal, such that the closure of the set of ergodic measures is the union of two convex sets which are the closure of the sets of hyperbolic ergodic measures of two different s-indices respectively; these two convex sets intersect along the closure of the set of nonhyperbolic ergodic measures. As a consequence, every non-hyperbolic ergodic measure is approximated by periodic measures. That is the case for robustly transitive perturbation of the time one map of a transitive Anosov flow, or of the skew product of an Anosov torus diffeomorphism by a rotation of the circle. These results are based on some local results whose statements involve in lots of technical definitions. From topological point of view, for any non-transitive Anosov flow on orientable 3-manifolds, we build new partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms by composing the time t-map of the Anosov flow (for t > 0 large) with Dehn twists along transverse tori. These new partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms are robustly dynamically coherent. This generalizes the special process in [BPP] for constructing new partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms to a general case. Furthermore, we prove that for the new partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms we built, their center foliations are topologically equivalent to the Anosov flows used for building them. As a consequence, one has that the structure of the center leaves of the new partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms is the same asthe structure of the orbits of an Anosov flow. The presence of non-hyperbolic ergodic measures shows the non-hyperbolicity of the systems. In this thesis, we also attempt to understand: to what extent, can the presence of non-hyperbolic ergodic measures character how far from hyperbolicity the systems are? We prove that, for generic diffeomorphisms, if a homoclinic class contains periodic orbits of different indices and without certain dominations, then there exists a non-hyperbolic ergodic measure with more than one vanishing Lyapunov exponents and whose support is the whole homoclinic class. The number of vanishing Lyapunov exponents shows how much hyperbolicity has been lost in such kind of systems.

Este trabalho apresenta as características básicas de uma máquina elétrica com fluxo axial, ímãs permanentes, rotor duplo e estator com enrolamentos toroidais montado entre os rotores. A máquina foi construída no Laboratório de Máquinas Elétricas, Acionamentos e Energia da Escola de Engenharia da UFRGS. O trabalho contém modelos analíticos para as induções magnéticas dos ímãs permanentes e dos enrolamentos de armadura. A partir dos modelos foram desenvolvidas expressões para o cálculo de forças eletromotrizes e de conjugados, sendo utilizado um software de matemática simbólica para realização dos cálculos. É apresentada uma comparação entre os resultados obtidos através do modelo analítico e os resultados obtidos por simulação numérica. Alguns resultados são comparados também com valores experimentais. As expressões para o cálculo de conjugado desenvolvido pela máquina serão detalhadas em uma etapa posterior. Foi obtida uma razoável coerência entre os dados comparados. / This work presents the basic features of an axial flux, permanent magnet, double rotor and toroidal windings mounted between the rotors. The machine was built in the Laboratory of Electrical Machines, Drives and energy of the School of Engineering of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The work contains analytical models of permanent magnets and armature windings magnetic inductions. Based in models, expressions of electromotive forces and torques were derived. The calculations were performed with a symbolical mathematical software. It is presented a comparison between results obtained with analytical model and results of the numerical simulation. Some comparisons include experimental results. The expressions of machine torque will be detailed in a next phase. The compared results present an acceptable conformity.

Les radio galaxies sont les candidats préférentiels pour comprendre la formation et l'évolution des galaxies sur une grande échelle de temps. Observées jusqu'à z>5 en raison de leur brillance, elles sont abritées par des galaxies elliptiques géantes. L'émission radio révèle la présence d'un trou noir supermassif. Un tore de poussière entourant le noyau actif de galaxie (AGN) agit comme un coronographe naturel permettant alors l'étude de la galaxie hôte. L'objectif de cette thèse est de déterminer l'évolution de la composante stellaire en présence d'un AGN. La décomposition est faite à partir de la distribution spectrale d'énergie (SED) de l'UV au submillimétrique en utilisant le code d'évolution de galaxies PEGASE.3 et un code d' AGN, les deux modélisant l'émission de la poussière par transfert radiatif.En premier lieu, nous présentons le projet HeRGE, 70 radio galaxies observées avec Herschel, qui permet de mesurer leurs luminosités totales infrarouges, comparables à celles des ULIRG. Une décomposition de la luminosité infrarouge entre l'émission AGN et un modèle de starburst est proposée pour l'ensemble de l'échantillon. Ces luminosités élevées sont interprétées en termes de taux d'accrétion et de formation d'étoiles, favorisant la croissance du trou noir par rapport à la galaxie hôte.En second lieu, l'orientation du jet par rapport au tore est contrainte à partir de l'infrarouge moyen et du rapport des émissions radio des lobes (isotrope, 500MHz) et du coeur (anisotrope, 20GHz). Ces observations en accord avec le modèle d'unification permettent d'évaluer le facteur d'absorption Av, l'inclinaison du tore et de contraindre le facteur de Lorentz.Une sélection de 12 radio galaxies observées de l'UV au sub-mm est analysée avec PEGASE.3 et un modèle d'AGN. Une seule composante stellaire est insuffisante. Seules deux composantes (une évoluée et massive, et une jeune issue d'un starburst) permettent un ajustement significatif de la SED complète. La composante évoluée est très massive (environ 10^12 msun) formée sur une courte période de temps (<10^9 ans). La composante jeune (<4.10^7 ans), moins massive (environ 10^11 msun), confirme un processus épisodique de croissance par sursauts. Ces résultats sont des contraintes fortes pour les modèles de formation de galaxies. La relation avec le noyau actif reste encore à préciser. Les projets d'observations complémentaires, optique et mm, permettront de confirmer ces résultats. / Powerful radio galaxies are excellent candidates for investigating and ultimately understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies. These beacons are now observed out to z>5 and are commonly associated with the massive early-type galaxies observed in the local universe. While the radio emission reveals the presence of a supermassive black hole, a dusty parsec-scale torus acts like a natural coronograph, making it easier to study the properties of the host galaxy. The aim of this PhD thesis is to characterise the nature and evolution of the stellar population and the relationship between the stellar population and the active galactic nucleus (AGN). To reach our scientific goals, we use the galaxy evolution code, PEGASE, combined with a AGN model which both consider the radiative transfer of the UV, optical, and IR photons through dust. To begin, we present the HeRGE project consisting of 70 radio galaxies which have been observed with Herschel. These IR observations allow us to calculate the total infrared luminosities and reveal that our sample belongs to the ULIRG regime. We decompose the infrared SED into an AGN and starburst components using observational templates. Converted into accretion and star formation rate, their relative luminosities indicate that the black holes are growing proportionally faster than are the host galaxies.In addition, we constrain the configuration of the jet and torus by combining the results from mid-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED), and the radio emission from the lobes (isotropic at 500MHz) and the core (anisotropic at 20GHz). In agreement with the unified scheme, these observations allow us to estimate the absorption Av, the inclination of the torus, and provides a constraint on the Lorentz factor for the radio jet.A subsample of 12 radio galaxies observed from the UV to sub-mm is also analysed with PEGASE.3 and an AGN torus model. While one stellar component is clearly insufficient to fit the observations, two stellar components are necessary to successfully reproduce the SED (one evolved and massive, about 10^12 msun, formed over a reasonably short time, <1Gyr at high redshift; and a much younger component, <40Myr, that is also less massive, about 10^11 msun. Such a star formation history suggests rapid growth at high redshift of longer duration followed much by another period of rapid, stochastic growth.These results put strong constraints on galaxy formation models. Unfortunately, the crudeness of some of our data and theoretical understanding the IR emission from AGN, means that the relation of the galaxy to its AGN is still not well constrained. Additional observations at optical through millimeter wavelengths are needed to extend our findings.

Este trabalho apresenta as características básicas de uma máquina elétrica com fluxo axial, ímãs permanentes, rotor duplo e estator com enrolamentos toroidais montado entre os rotores. A máquina foi construída no Laboratório de Máquinas Elétricas, Acionamentos e Energia da Escola de Engenharia da UFRGS. O trabalho contém modelos analíticos para as induções magnéticas dos ímãs permanentes e dos enrolamentos de armadura. A partir dos modelos foram desenvolvidas expressões para o cálculo de forças eletromotrizes e de conjugados, sendo utilizado um software de matemática simbólica para realização dos cálculos. É apresentada uma comparação entre os resultados obtidos através do modelo analítico e os resultados obtidos por simulação numérica. Alguns resultados são comparados também com valores experimentais. As expressões para o cálculo de conjugado desenvolvido pela máquina serão detalhadas em uma etapa posterior. Foi obtida uma razoável coerência entre os dados comparados. / This work presents the basic features of an axial flux, permanent magnet, double rotor and toroidal windings mounted between the rotors. The machine was built in the Laboratory of Electrical Machines, Drives and energy of the School of Engineering of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The work contains analytical models of permanent magnets and armature windings magnetic inductions. Based in models, expressions of electromotive forces and torques were derived. The calculations were performed with a symbolical mathematical software. It is presented a comparison between results obtained with analytical model and results of the numerical simulation. Some comparisons include experimental results. The expressions of machine torque will be detailed in a next phase. The compared results present an acceptable conformity.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / FundaÃÃo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas / Esta tese està composta de quatro partes distintas. Na primeira parte, vamos dar uma nova caracterizaÃÃo da esfera euclidiana como a Ãnica variedade Riemanniana compacta com curvatura escalar constante e admitindo um campo de vetores conforme nÃo trivial que à tambÃm Ricci conforme. Na segunda parte, provaremos algumas propriedades dos quase sÃlitons de Ricci, as quais permitem estabelecer condiÃÃes de rigidez desses objetos, bem como caracterizar as estruturas de quase sÃlitons de Ricci gradiente na esfera euclidiana. ImersÃes isomÃtricas tambÃm serÃo consideradas; classificaremos os quase sÃlitons de Ricci imersos em formas espaciais, atravÃs de uma condiÃÃo algÃbrica sobre a funÃÃo sÃliton. AlÃm disso, vamos caracterizar, atravÃs de uma condiÃÃo sobre o operador de umbilicidade, as hipersuperfÃcies n-dimensionais de uma forma espacial, com curvatura mÃdia constante, tendo duas curvaturas principais distintas e com multiplicidades p e n - p. Na terceira parte, provaremos um resultado de rigidez e algumas fÃrmulas integrais para uma mÃtrica m-quasi-Einstein generalizada compacta. Na Ãltima parte, vamos apresentar uma relaÃÃo entre a curvatura gaussiana e o Ãngulo de contato de superfÃcies imersas na esfera euclidiana tridimensional,a qual permite concluir que a superfÃcie à plana, se o Ãngulo de contato for constante. AlÃm disso, deduziremos que o toro de Clifford à a Ãnica superfÃcie compacta com curvatura mÃdia constante tendo tal propriedade. / This thesis is composed of four distinct parts. In the first part, we shall give a new characterization of the Euclidean sphere as the only compact Riemannian manifold with constant scalar curvature carrying a conformal vector eld non-trivial which is also Ricci conformal. In the second part, we shall prove some properties of almost Ricci solitons, which allow us to establish conditions for rigidity of these objects, as well as characterize the structures of gradient almost Ricci soliton in Euclidean sphere. Isometric immersions also will be considered, we shall classify almost Ricci solitons immersed in space forms, through algebraic condition on soliton function. Furthermore, we characterize under a condition of the umbilicity operator, n-dimensional hypersurfaces in a space form with constant mean curvature, admitting two distinct principal curvatures with multiplicities p and n - p. In the third part, we prove a result of rigidity and some integral formulae for a compact generalized m-quasi-Einstein metric. In the last part, we present a relation between the Gaussian curvature and the contact angle of surfaces immersed in Euclidean three-dimensional sphere, which allows us to conclude that such a surface is at provided its contact angle is constant. Moreover, we deduce that Clifford tori are the unique compact surfaces with constant mean curvature having such property.

Dado um grupo G, a definição dos grupos de cohomologia com coeficientes em um ZG-módulo M podem ser dadas usando as técnicas usuais da Álgebra Homológica, que garantem a existência de resoluções projetivas P de Z como um ZG-módulo trivial, a equivalência entre resoluções distintas etc. Podemos também construir o produto cup em cohomologia, cuja definição depende de uma aproximação da diagonal para a resolução projetiva P. Entretanto, o cálculo explicito de tais resoluções e dos grupos de cohomologia pode ser bastante difícil na prática, e ainda mais difícil a obtenção de uma aproximação da diagonal. Nesta tese, obteremos resoluções livres e aproximações da diagonal para os grupos fundamentais das superfícies que são espaços K(G,1) e também para o grupo fundamental de fibrados do toro com base S^1, bem como a estrutura de anel de cohomologia de tais grupos. Ainda, para certos grupos virtualmente cíclicos G, obteremos o anel de cohomologia calculando diretamente uma resolução livre e uma aproximação da diagonal, ou então usando a sequência espectral de Lyndon-Hochschild-Serre. A motivação para o estudo da primeira família de grupos vem do fato de representarem variedades de dimensão 2 e 3, e da segunda família por ser constituída de grupos que atuam em esferas de homotopia. / Given a group G, a definition for its cohomology groups with coefficients in a given ZG-module M can be given using the standard techniques of Homological Algebra, that ensure the existence of projective resolutions P of Z as a trivial ZG-module, the equivalence between two such resolutions etc . We can also construct the cup product, whose definition depends on a diagonal approximation for a given projective resolution P. However, the explicit computation of such resolutions and of the cohomology groups may be very hard in practice, and even worse may be the task of constructing a diagonal approximation. In this thesis, we obtain free resolutions and diagonal approximations for the fundamental groups of surfaces that are K(G,1) spaces and for the fundamental group of the torus bundle with the circle as the base space, as well as the structure of the cohomology ring of these groups. Also, for some virtually cyclic groups, we obtain the cohomology ring by an explicit computation of a free resolution and a diagonal approximation, or by the Lyndon-Hochschild-Serre spectral sequence. The motivation for the study of the first family of groups comes from the fact that such groups represent manifolds of dimension 2 and 3, and the groups of the second family act on homotopy spheres.

This thesis is related to axial flux permanent magnet machines. The first part is describes the basic information about this type of machines. Main part is focused on design of the machine. For the purpose of the preliminary design there is mathematical model of the basic machine. This model is followed by finite elements analysis for the further evaluations and validation of the mathematical design. The last part is evaluating the loses of the machine ant its virtual efficiency.

Le présent mémoire traite une variation de la mesure de Mahler où l'intégrale de définition est réalisée sur un tore plus général. Notre travail est basé sur une famille de polynômes tempérée originellement étudiée par Boyd, P_k (x, y) = x + 1/x + y + 1/y + k avec k ∈ R_{>4}. Pour le k = 4 cas, nous utilisons des valeurs spéciales du dilogarithme de Bloch-Wigner pour obtenir la mesure de Mahler de P_4 sur un tore arbitraire (T_ {a, b})^2 = {(x, y) ∈ C* X C* : | x | = a, | y | = b } avec a, b ∈ R_{> 0}. Ensuite, nous établissons une relation entre la mesure de Mahler de P_8 sur un tore (T_ {a, √a} )^2 et sa mesure de Mahler standard. La combinaison de cette relation avec des résultats de Lalin, Rogers et Zudilin conduit à une formule impliquant les mesures de Mahler généralisées de ce polynôme données en termes de L' (E, 0). Au final, nous proposons une stratégie pour prouver des résultats similaires dans le cas général k> 4 sur (T_ {a, b})^2 avec certaines restrictions sur a, b. / In this thesis we consider a variation of the Mahler measure where the defining integral is performed over a more general torus. Our work is based on a tempered family of polynomials originally studied by Boyd, Boyd P_k (x, y) = x + 1/x + y + 1/y + k with k ∈ R_{>4}. For the k = 4 case we use special values of the Bloch-Wigner dilogarithm to obtain the Mahler measure of P_4 over an arbitrary torus (T_ {a, b})^2 = {(x, y) ∈ C* X C* : | x | = a, | y | = b } with a, b ∈ R_{> 0}. Next we establish a relation between the Mahler measure of P_8 over a torus(T_ {a, √a} )^2 and its standard Mahler measure. The combination of this relation with results due to Lalin, Rogers, and Zudilin leads to a formula involving the generalized Mahler measure of this polynomial given in terms of L'(E, 0). In the end, we propose a strategy to prove some similar results for the general case k > 4 over (T_ {a, b})^2 with some restrictions on a, b.

We consider the problem of numerical integration, where one aims to approximate an integral of a given continuous function from the function values at given sampling points, also known as quadrature points. A useful framework for such an approximation process is provided by the theory of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces and the concept of the worst case quadrature error. However, the computation of optimal quadrature points, which minimize the worst case quadrature error, is in general a challenging task and requires efficient algorithms, in particular for large numbers of points. The focus of this thesis is on the efficient computation of optimal quadrature points on the torus T^d, the sphere S^d, and the rotation group SO(3). For that reason we present a general framework for the minimization of the worst case quadrature error on Riemannian manifolds, in order to construct numerically such quadrature points. Therefore, we consider, for N quadrature points on a manifold M, the worst case quadrature error as a function defined on the product manifold M^N. For the optimization on such high dimensional manifolds we make use of the method of steepest descent, the Newton method, and the conjugate gradient method, where we propose two efficient evaluation approaches for the worst case quadrature error and its derivatives. The first evaluation approach follows ideas from computational physics, where we interpret the quadrature error as a pairwise potential energy. These ideas allow us to reduce for certain instances the complexity of the evaluations from O(M^2) to O(M log(M)). For the second evaluation approach we express the worst case quadrature error in Fourier domain. This enables us to utilize the nonequispaced fast Fourier transforms for the torus T^d, the sphere S^2, and the rotation group SO(3), which reduce the computational complexity of the worst case quadrature error for polynomial spaces with degree N from O(N^k M) to O(N^k log^2(N) + M), where k is the dimension of the corresponding manifold. For the usual choice N^k ~ M we achieve the complexity O(M log^2(M)) instead of O(M^2). In conjunction with the proposed conjugate gradient method on Riemannian manifolds we arrive at a particular efficient optimization approach for the computation of optimal quadrature points on the torus T^d, the sphere S^d, and the rotation group SO(3). Finally, with the proposed optimization methods we are able to provide new lists with quadrature formulas for high polynomial degrees N on the sphere S^2, and the rotation group SO(3). Further applications of the proposed optimization framework are found due to the interesting connections between worst case quadrature errors, discrepancies and potential energies. Especially, discrepancies provide us with an intuitive notion for describing the uniformity of point distributions and are of particular importance for high dimensional integration in quasi-Monte Carlo methods. A generalized form of uniform point distributions arises in applications of image processing and computer graphics, where one is concerned with the problem of distributing points in an optimal way accordingly to a prescribed density function. We will show that such problems can be naturally described by the notion of discrepancy, and thus fit perfectly into the proposed framework. A typical application is halftoning of images, where nonuniform distributions of black dots create the illusion of gray toned images. We will see that the proposed optimization methods compete with state-of-the-art halftoning methods.

We consider the problem of numerical integration, where one aims to approximate an integral of a given continuous function from the function values at given sampling points, also known as quadrature points. A useful framework for such an approximation process is provided by the theory of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces and the concept of the worst case quadrature error. However, the computation of optimal quadrature points, which minimize the worst case quadrature error, is in general a challenging task and requires efficient algorithms, in particular for large numbers of points. The focus of this thesis is on the efficient computation of optimal quadrature points on the torus T^d, the sphere S^d, and the rotation group SO(3). For that reason we present a general framework for the minimization of the worst case quadrature error on Riemannian manifolds, in order to construct numerically such quadrature points. Therefore, we consider, for N quadrature points on a manifold M, the worst case quadrature error as a function defined on the product manifold M^N. For the optimization on such high dimensional manifolds we make use of the method of steepest descent, the Newton method, and the conjugate gradient method, where we propose two efficient evaluation approaches for the worst case quadrature error and its derivatives. The first evaluation approach follows ideas from computational physics, where we interpret the quadrature error as a pairwise potential energy. These ideas allow us to reduce for certain instances the complexity of the evaluations from O(M^2) to O(M log(M)). For the second evaluation approach we express the worst case quadrature error in Fourier domain. This enables us to utilize the nonequispaced fast Fourier transforms for the torus T^d, the sphere S^2, and the rotation group SO(3), which reduce the computational complexity of the worst case quadrature error for polynomial spaces with degree N from O(N^k M) to O(N^k log^2(N) + M), where k is the dimension of the corresponding manifold. For the usual choice N^k ~ M we achieve the complexity O(M log^2(M)) instead of O(M^2). In conjunction with the proposed conjugate gradient method on Riemannian manifolds we arrive at a particular efficient optimization approach for the computation of optimal quadrature points on the torus T^d, the sphere S^d, and the rotation group SO(3). Finally, with the proposed optimization methods we are able to provide new lists with quadrature formulas for high polynomial degrees N on the sphere S^2, and the rotation group SO(3). Further applications of the proposed optimization framework are found due to the interesting connections between worst case quadrature errors, discrepancies and potential energies. Especially, discrepancies provide us with an intuitive notion for describing the uniformity of point distributions and are of particular importance for high dimensional integration in quasi-Monte Carlo methods. A generalized form of uniform point distributions arises in applications of image processing and computer graphics, where one is concerned with the problem of distributing points in an optimal way accordingly to a prescribed density function. We will show that such problems can be naturally described by the notion of discrepancy, and thus fit perfectly into the proposed framework. A typical application is halftoning of images, where nonuniform distributions of black dots create the illusion of gray toned images. We will see that the proposed optimization methods compete with state-of-the-art halftoning methods.