I investigate the occurrence of extreme mid-infrared (MIR) excesses, a tracer of large amounts of dust orbiting stars, in low-mass stellar systems. Extreme MIR excesses, defined as an excess IR luminosity greater than 1% of the stellar luminosity (L_IR/L∗ > 0.01), have previously only been observed around a small number of solar-mass (M⊙) stars. The origin of this excess has been hypothesized to be massive amounts of orbiting dust, created by collisions between terrestrial planets or large planetesimals. Until recently, there was a dearth of low-mass (M∗ < 0.6M⊙) stars exhibiting extreme MIR excesses, even though low-mass stars are ubiquitous (~70% of all stars), and known to host multiple terrestrial planets (~3 planets per star). I combine the spectroscopic sample of low-mass stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (70,841 stars) with MIR photometry from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), to locate stars exhibiting extreme MIR excesses. I find the occurrence frequency of low-mass field stars (stars with ages > 1 Gyr) exhibiting extreme MIR excesses is much larger than that for higher-mass field stars (0.41 ± 0.03% versus 0.00067 ± 0.00033%, respectively). In addition, I build a larger sample of low-mass stars based on stellar colors and proper motions using SDSS, WISE, and the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (8,735,004 stars). I also build a galactic model to simulate stellar counts and kinematics to estimate the number of stars missing from my sample. I perform a larger, more complete study of low-mass stars exhibiting extreme MIR excesses, and find a lower occurrence frequency (0.020 ± 0.001%) than found in the spectroscopic sample but that is still orders of magnitude larger than that for higher-mass stars. I find a slight trend for redder stars (lower-mass stars) to exhibit a higher occurrence frequency of extreme MIR excesses, as well as a lower frequency with increased stellar age. Lastly, I use white dwarf and low-mass star binary systems to investigate if the frequency of planetary collisions (traced through extreme MIR excesses) are increased in these environments. I find that these binary systems are more likely to host collisional debris, and therefore exhibit increased excess MIR flux, over single stars. These samples probe important questions into the habitability of worlds discovered around low-mass stars.

Supernovae are some of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe and they have throughout history fascinated people as they appeared as new stars in the sky. Supernova (SN) 1987A exploded in the nearby satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), at a distance of only 168,000 light years. The proximity of SN 1987A offers a unique opportunity to study the medium surrounding the supernova in great detail. Powered by the dynamical interaction of the ejecta with the inner circumstellar ring, SN 1987A is dramatically evolving at all wavelengths on time scales less than a year. This makes SN 1987A a great ``laboratory'' for studies of shock physics. Repeated observations of the ejecta-ring collision have been carried out using the UVES echelle spectrograph at VLT. This thesis covers seven epochs of high resolution spectra taken between October 1999 and November 2007. Three different emission line components are identified from the spectra. A narrow (~10 km/s) velocity component emerges from the unshocked ring. An intermediate (~250 km/s) component arises in the shocked ring, and a broad component extending to ~15,000 km/s comes from the reverse shock. Thanks to the high spectral resolution of UVES, it has been possible to separate the shocked from the unshocked ring emission. For the unshocked gas, ionization stages from neutral up to Ne V and Fe VII were found. The line fluxes of the low-ionization lines decline during the period of the observations. However, the fluxes of the [O III] and [Ne III] lines appear to increase and this is found to be consistent with the heating of the pre-shock gas by X-rays from the shock interactions. The line emission from the ejecta-ring collision increases rapidly as more gas is swept up by the shocks. This emission comes from ions with a range of ionization stages (e.g., Fe II-XIV). The low-ionization lines show an increase in their line widths which is consistent with that these lines originate from radiative shocks. The high-ionization line profiles (Fe X-XIV) initially show larger spectral widths, which indicates that at least a fraction of the emission comes from non-radiative shocks.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / Typescript. "Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Physics ." Bibliography: leaves 71-74.

The discovery of superluminous supernovae in the past decade challenged our understanding of explosive stellar death. Subsequent extensive observations of superluminous supernova light curves and spectra has provided some insight for the nature of these events. We present observations of one of the most luminous self-interacting supernovae ever observed, the hydrogen-rich SN 2008am discovered by the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment Supernova Verification Project with the ROTSE-IIIb telescope located in the McDonald Observatory. We provide theoretical modeling of superluminous supernova light curves and fit the models to a number of observed events and similar transients in order to understand the mechanism that is responsible for the vast amounts of energy emitted by these explosions. The models we investigate include deposition of energy due to the radioactive decays of massive amounts of nickel-56, interaction of supernova ejecta with a dense circumstellar medium and magnetar spin-down. To probe the nature of superluminous supernovae progenitor stars we study the evolution of massive stars, including important effects such as rotation and magnetic fields, and perform multi-dimensional hydrodynamics simulations of the resulting explosions. The effects of rotational mixing are also studied in solar-type secondary stars in cataclysmic variable binary star systems in order to provide an explanation for some carbon-depleted examples of this class. We find that most superluminous supernovae can be explained by violent interaction of the SN ejecta with >1 Msun dense circumstellar shells ejected by the progenitor stars in the decades preceding the SN explosion. / text

This thesis is a computational study of circumstellar gas disks, with a special focus on modeling techniques and on numerical methods not only as scientific tools but also as a target of study. In particular, in-depth discussions are included on the main numerical strategy used, namely the moving-mesh method for astrophysical hydrodynamics. In this work, the moving-mesh approach is used to simulate circumstellar disks for the first time. / Astronomy

What processes are responsible for the dispersal of protoplanetary disks? In this dissertation, beginning with a brief Introduction to planet detection, disk dispersal and high-contrast imaging in Chapter 1, I will describe how ground-based adaptive optics (AO) imaging can help to inform these processes. Chapter 2 presents Polarized Differential Imaging (PDI) of the transitional disk SR21 at H-band taken as part of the Strategic Exploration of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru (SEEDS). These observations were the first to show that transition disk cavities can appear markedly different at different wavelengths. The observation that the sub-mm cavity is absent in NIR scattered light is consistent with grain filtration at a planet-induced gap edge. Chapter 3 presents SEEDS data of the transition disk Oph IRS 48. This highly asymmetrical disk is also most consistent with a planet-induced clearing mechanism. In particular, the images reveal both the disk cavity and a spiral arm/divot that had not been imaged previously. This study demonstrates the power of multiwavelength PDI imaging to verify disk structure and to probe azimuthal variation in grain properties. Chapter 4 presents Magellan visible light adaptive optics imaging of the silhouette disk Orion 218-354. In addition to its technical merits, these observations reveal the surprising fact that this very young disk is optically thin at H-alpha. The simplest explanation for this observation is that significant grain growth has occurred in this disk, which may be responsible for the pre-transitional nature of its SED. Chapter 5 presents brief descriptions of several other works-in-progress that build on my previous work. These include the MagAO Giant Accreting Protoplanet Survey (GAPlanetS), which will probe the inner regions of transition disks at unprecedented resolution in search of young planets in the process of formation. Chapters 6-8 represent my educational research in quantitative literacy, beginning with an introduction to the literature and study motivation in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 describes the development and validation of the Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment instrument. Chapter 8 briefly describes the next steps for Phase II of the QuaRCS study.

We present Herschel observations of the debris disk around γ Doradus (HD 27290, HIP 19893) from the Herschel Key Programme DEBRIS (Disc Emission via Bias-free Reconnaissance in the Infrared/Submillimetre). The disk is well-resolved with PACS at 70, 100 and 160 micron and detected with SPIRE at 250 and 350 micron. The 250 micron image is only resolved along the disk's long axis. The SPIRE 500 micron 3 σ detection includes a nearby background source. γ Dor's spectral energy distribution (SED) is sampled in the submillimetre for the first time and modelled with multiple modified-blackbody functions to account for its broad shape. Two approaches are used, both of which reproduce the SED in the same way: a model of two narrow dust rings and a model of an extended, wide dust belt. The former implies the dust rings have temperatures of ~90 and ~40 K, corresponding to blackbody radii of 25 and 135 AU, respectively. The latter model suggests the dust lies in a wide belt extending from 15 to 230 AU. The resolved images, however, show dust extending beyond ~350 AU. This is consistent with other debris disks whose actual radii are observed to be a factor of 2 - 3 times larger than the blackbody radii. Although it is impossible to determine a preferred model from the SED alone, the resolved images suggest that the dust is located in a smooth continuous belt rather than discrete narrow rings. Both models estimate that the dust mass is 6.7 x 10^{-3} Earth masses and that fractional luminosity is 2.5 x 10^{-5}. This amount of dust is within the levels expected from steady state evolution given the age of γ Dor and therefore a transient event is not needed to explain the dust mass. No asymmetries that would hint at a planetary body are evident in the disk at Herschel's resolution. However, the constraints placed on the dust's location suggest that the most likely region to find planets is within 20 AU of the star. / Graduate

La poussière et le gaz qui entourent beaucoup d'étoiles jeunes sont d'un intérêt critique pour comprendre la formation planétaire ; ils représentent les conditions initiale de la formation planétaire. Les disques proto-planétaire ont une structure riche, avec différents processus physiques à l'oeuvre dans différentes régions du disque. Les grandeurs en jeu s'étalent sur 2 à 5 ordres de grandeur en échelles spatiales, période orbitale, températures, et bien plus en ce qui concerne la densité de gaz et poussière. Les variations extrêmes de ces paramètres clés impliqués dans la structure et la compositions de ces objets implique nécessairement l'utilisation combinée de différentes techniques d'observation.Cette recherche se base sur l'utilisation de nouvelles données d'imagerie et de masquage de pupille (SAM) en bandes K, L et M, de spectres entre 3 et 4 microns, en plus d'images à 8.6 et 18.7 microns et de données de densité spectrale de flux (SED) issus de la littérature. Ces données des UV aux longueurs d'ondes millimétriques ont permis de construire une nouvelle compréhension de l'objet IRS-48, et de mettre en avant l'équilibre subtil des processus physiques en jeu. Ce travail a permis d'imager pour la première fois l'intégralité spatiale d'un disque composé d'hydrocarbures polycyclique aromatique (PAH) et de très petits grains (VSG) autour d'un objet stellaire jeune. Il propose un modèle révisé pour cet objet de façon à expliquer l'environnement riche et complexe de gaz et poussières observé en proche infrarouge et en ondes millimétriques, et pose des limites sur la quantité attendue de grains silicatés - synonymes de renouvelle du disque - qui peut se trouver dans ce disque de PAH/VSG.Une modélisation en transfert radiatif de la structure du disque et de la composition des grains converge vers un disque externe à 55 AU composé de grains classiques, en plus d'un disque non-sédimenté de PAH et VSG dont les bords internes et externes sont résolus: 11 et 26 AU. Une étoiles plus brillante - donc plus large - associée à une adaptation des courbes de rougissement permet d'expliquer les flux observés dans le proche-infrarouge: le disque très interne à l'étoile, à 1 AU environ, n'est plus nécessaire. Les nouveaux paramètres stellaire permettent d'estimer un âge de 4 millions d'années pour cet objet, beaucoup plus jeune que les estimations précédentes, et en meilleur accord avec l'environnement direct de l'étoile et les statistiques de dispersion de tels disques. L'utilisation de clôtures de phase a permis de détecter deux sur-brillance au sein du disque de PAH, dont la température de couleur correspond à la température de ce disque trouvé grâce au transfert radiatif. Une sur-brillance suit une orbite circulaire sous-Keplerienne. Ce travail a permis de montrer qu'une quantité limitée de grains classiques silicatés pouvait être localisé dans le disque de PAH, avec un facteur de déplétion de 5-6 par rapport aux abondances classiques de poussière-à-PAH. Un compagnon d'environ 3 masses de Jupiter sur une orbite à 40 AU est compatible avec la nouvelle structure du disque et l'observation précédente d'une asymétrie de grain millimétriques.Le disque d'IRS-48 est dépourvu de poussière dans ses premiers 55 AU, à l'exception de 3.7e-10 masses solaire d'une mixture de PAH neutres et ionisés, et de VSG. Ceci place IRS-48 au stade final des disques de transition, alors que la photo-evaporation commence à dominer l'évolution du disque jusqu'à provoqué sa dispersion. Etant donné le fort environnement radiatif, the doctorat permet aussi de mettre en avant un probable renflouement du disque interne de PAH et VSG par le disque externe grâce à des effets gravitationnels induits par le compagnon. / The dust- and gas-rich disks surrounding numerous pre-main-sequence stars are of key interest for unveiling how planetary system are formed; they are the initial conditions for planetary formation. Protoplanetary disks have a rich structure, with different physics playing a role in different regions of the disk. The dynamic ranges involved span two to five orders of magnitudes on spatial scales, orbital times, temperatures, and much more in dust- or gas-densities. The extreme dynamic ranges involved in the structure and composition of these objects mean that very different observational techniques have to be combined together to probe their various regions.This PhD makes use of new K, L and M-band imaging and Sparse-Aperture-Masking (SAM) Interferometric measurements, 3-4 micron spectroscopy, together with published 8.6 and 18.7 micron images and spectral energy distribution (SED) fluxes from UV to mm-wavelength to instruct a new comprehension of the famous IRS-48 object, and uncover the delicate balance of physical processes at stake.This PhD reports the first ever direct imaging of the full extents of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and very small grains (VSG) ring in a young circumstellar disk, presents a revised model for the IRS-48 object to explain the rich and complex dust- and gas-environment observed from near-infrared to centimeter wavelengths, and sets limits on how much silicates grains - hence replenishment - is to be expected in the PAH and VSG ring.Radiative transfer modelling of the disk-structure and grains compositions converges to a classical-grains outer-disk from 55 AU combined with an unsettled VSG & PAH-ring, where the inner- and outer-rim are resolved: 11 and 26 AU. A brighter hence larger central-star with modified extinction parameters accounts for the near-infrared flux observed in the SED: the inner-most disk at ~1 AU is not needed. The revised stellar parameters place this system on a 4 Myr evolutionary track, much younger than the previous estimations, in better agreement with the surrounding region and disk-dispersal observations. Using closure-phases, two over-luminosities are found in the PAH-ring, at color-temperatures consistent with the radiative transfer simulations; one follows a sub-Keplerian circular orbit. This PhD also shows that only very few settled thermal silicates can be co-located with the PAH-ring, with a depletion factor of ~5-6 compared to classical circumstellar dust-to-PAH abundances. A ~3 Jupiter-masses companion on a 40 AU orbit is compatible with the new disk structure and the previous mm-grains asymmetry.The IRS-48 disk is found to be void of dust-grains in the first 55 AU, except for a 3.7e-10 Solar-masses of a mixture of ionized and neutral PAH, and VSG. This places IRS-48 at the final stage of transition disks, when photo-evaporation dominates the disk evolution and eventually causes dispersal. Given the highly radiating environment, this PhD also highlights the probable replenishment of the inner PAH & VSG-ring through the channeling of such particles from the outer reservoir, due to the on-going accretion on the companion.

We present the first scattered-light images of two debris disks around the F8 star HD. 104860 and the F0V star HD. 192758, respectively similar to 45 and similar to 67. pc away. We detected these systems in the F110W and F160W filters through our reanalysis of archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) NICMOS data with modern starlight-subtraction techniques. Our image of HD. 104860 confirms the morphology previously observed by Herschel in thermal emission with a well-defined ring at a radius of similar to 114. au inclined by similar to 58 degrees. Although the outer edge profile is consistent with dynamical evolution models, the sharp inner edge suggests sculpting by unseen perturbers. Our images of HD. 192758 reveal a disk at radius similar to 95. au inclined by similar to 59 degrees, never resolved so far. These disks have low scattering albedos of 10% and 13%, respectively, inconsistent with water ice grain compositions. They are reminiscent of several other disks with similar inclination and scattering albedos: Fomalhaut, HD. 92945, HD. 202628, and HD. 207129. They are also very distinct from brighter disks in the same inclination bin, which point to different compositions between these two populations. Varying scattering albedo values can be explained by different grain porosities, chemical compositions, or grain size distributions, which may indicate distinct formation mechanisms or dynamical processes at work in these systems. Finally, these faint disks with large infrared excesses may be representative of an underlying population of systems with low albedo values. Searches with more sensitive instruments on HST or on the James Webb Space Telescope and using state-of-the art starlight-subtraction methods may help discover more of such faint systems.

We present multi-wavelength radio observations obtained with the VLA of the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young brown dwarf 2MASS J04442713+2512164 (2M0444) in the Taurus star-forming region. 2M0444 is the brightest known brown dwarf disk at millimeter wavelengths, making this an ideal target to probe radio emission from a young brown dwarf. Thermal emission from dust in the disk is detected at 6.8 and 9.1 mm, whereas the 1.36 cm measured flux is dominated by ionized gas emission. We combine these data with previous observations at shorter sub-mm and mm wavelengths to test the predictions of dust evolution models in gas-rich disks after adapting their parameters to the case of 2M0444. These models show that the radial drift mechanism affecting solids in a gaseous environment has to be either completely made inefficient, or significantly slowed down by very strong gas pressure bumps in order to explain the presence of mm/cm-sized grains in the outer regions of the 2M0444 disk. We also discuss the possible mechanisms for the origin of the ionized gas emission detected at 1.36 cm. The inferred radio luminosity for this emission is in line with the relation between radio and bolometric luminosity valid for for more massive and luminous young stellar objects, and extrapolated down to the very low luminosity of the 2M0444 brown dwarf.