Targeted Energy Transfer is a resonance phenomenon in coupled anharmonic oscillators. In this thesis we investigate if the concept of Targeted Energy Transfer is applicable to Bose-Einsteain condensates in optical lattices. The model used to describe Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices is based on the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Targeted Energy Transfer in these systems would correspond to energy being transferred from one lattice site to another. We also try to expand the concept of Targeted Energy Transfer to a system consisting of three sites, where one of the sites are considered a perturbation to the system. We have concluded that it is possible to achieve Targeted Energy Transfer in a three-site system. The set-up of the system will in some of the cases studied lead to interesting properties, such as more energy being transferred to the acceptor site than what was initially localized on the donor site.

Angesichts der nach wie vor hohen Mortalität und Morbidität des Bronchialkarzinoms ist die Entwicklung geeigneter Methoden zur früheren Diagnostik eine wichtige Notwendigkeit, um die geringe durchschnittliche 5-Jahres-Überlebensrate von 15% – 18% zu steigern. Unter diesem Gesichtspunkt wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit das Atemkondensat von Patienten mit Bronchialkarzinom als nicht-invasiv und kostengünstig zu gewinnendes Medium auf das Vorliegen eines potentiellen Screeningmarkers – dem methylierten Tumorsuppressor-Gen p16 – untersucht. Dazu wurde ein Versuchsablauf entwickelt, bei dem trotz des geringen DNA-Gehaltes im Atemkondensat p16-Methylierungen nachgewiesen werden konnten. Die letztendlich etablierte Methode war eine methylierungsspezifische nested-PCR mit anschließendem Restriktionsverdau durch das Restriktionsenzym BstUI. Des Weiteren erfolgte die Untersuchung von in Paraffin eingebetteten Tumorpräparaten der Patienten. In der anschließenden statistischen Auswertung wurde der Einfluss von verschiedenen Faktoren wie COPD-Grad, Tumorlage, Tumorart, Nikotinabusus und stattgehabte Chemo- oder Strahlentherapie auf den Methylierungsstatus des p16-Gens analysiert.

This thesis investigates thermalisation, correlations and entanglement in Bose-Einstein condensates. Bose-Einstein condensates are ultra-cold collections of identical bosonic atoms which accumulate in a single quantum state, forming a mesoscopic quantum object. They are clean and controllable quantum many-body systems that permit an unprecedented degree of experimental flexibility compared to other physical systems. Further, a tractable microscopic theory exists which allows a direct and powerful comparison between theory and experiment, propelling the field of quantum atom optics forward at an incredible pace. Here we explore some of the fundamental frontiers of the field, examining how non-classical correlations and entanglement can be created and measured, as well as how non-classical effects can lead to the rapid heating of atom clouds. We first investigate correlations between two weakly coupled condensates, a system analogous to a superconducting Josephson junction. The ground state of this system contains non-classical number correlation arising from the repulsion between the atoms. Such states are of interest because they may lead to more precise measurement devices such as atomic gyroscopes. Unfortunately thermal fluctuations can destroy these correlations, and great care is needed to experimentally observe non-classical effects. We show that adiabatic evolution can drive the isolated quantum system out of thermal equilibrium and decrease thermal noise, in agreement with a recent experiment [Esteve et al. Nature 455, 1216 (2008)]. This technique may be valuable for observing and using quantum correlated states in the future. Next, we analyse the rapid heating that occurs when a condensate is placed in a moving periodic potential. The dynamical instability responsible for the heating was the subject of much uncertainty, which we suggest was due to the inability of the mean-field approximation to account for important spontaneous scattering processes. We show that a model including non-classical spontaneous scattering can describe dynamical instabilities correctly in each of the regimes where they have been observed, and in particular we compare our simulations to an experiment performed at the University of Otago deep inside the spontaneous scattering regime. Finally, we proposed a method to create and detect entangled atomic wave-packets. Entangled atoms are interesting from a fundamental perspective, and may prove useful in future quantum information and precision measurement technologies. Entanglement is generated by interactions, such as atomic collisions in Bose-Einstein condensates. We analyse the type of entanglement generated via atomic collisions and introduce an abstract scheme for detecting entanglement and demonstrating the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox with ultra-cold atoms. We further this result by proposing an experiment where entangled wave-packets are created and detected. The entanglement is generated by the pairwise scattering that causes the instabilities in moving periodic potentials mentioned above. By careful arrangement, the instability process can be controlled to to produce two well-defined atomic wave-packets. The presence of entanglement can be proven by applying a series of laser pulses to interfere the wave-packets and then measuring the output populations. Realising this experiment is feasible with current technology.

Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is a non-invasive method of investigating airway inflammation associated with nitric oxide (NO) and the metabolites nitrite/nitrates (NOx) in diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but some of the variables affecting the results are unknown. It was hypothesised that 1) EBC would be influenced by lung volumes and the type of EBC collection device; 2) fractional exhaled NO (FENO) and EBC NOx in COPD patients would be altered by smoking and glucocorticosteroids (GCS); 3) cigarette smoke could contribute to the EBC NOx concentration while it may also decrease FENO indirectly by converting airway NO to NOx. It was found that EBC volume was significantly correlated with both tidal volume and minute volume. Comparing four EBC collection devices demonstrated greater efficiency with the ECoScreen?? than siliconised glass tubes or RTube?? but it gave factitiously high NOx levels. Total EBC protein levels over a 10-minute collection were significantly higher using the ECoScreen?? than either glass or RTube?? devices. A cross-sectional study of 96 COPD patients and 80 age-matched control subjects demonstrated that FENO levels in COPD patients were significantly higher than normal subjects when comparing either the combined groups or appropriate two subgroups: ex-smokers and smokers. GCS treatment demonstrated no significant effect on either FENO levels or EBC NOx, but EBC NOx was elevated in smokers. In vitro, cigarette smoke extract (CSE) induced significantly higher NOx and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) levels in A549 cells when compared with control media. The anti-oxidant, NAC pre-treatment partially reversed the elevated NOx levels but not the ADMA levels. This thesis is the first to report FENO and EBC NOx in COPD patients in an appropriate sample size to be able to evaluate each subgroup, and the increased EBC NOx levels found in smokers in vivo was consistent with the elevated NOx level in response to CSE observed in vitro. These data indicate that smoking-related airway inflammation and activation of the NO pathway are complex with both an increase in ADMA, NO, NOx and may be regulated by oxidative stress rather than the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) pathway.

This thesis investigates thermalisation, correlations and entanglement in Bose-Einstein condensates. Bose-Einstein condensates are ultra-cold collections of identical bosonic atoms which accumulate in a single quantum state, forming a mesoscopic quantum object. They are clean and controllable quantum many-body systems that permit an unprecedented degree of experimental flexibility compared to other physical systems. Further, a tractable microscopic theory exists which allows a direct and powerful comparison between theory and experiment, propelling the field of quantum atom optics forward at an incredible pace. Here we explore some of the fundamental frontiers of the field, examining how non-classical correlations and entanglement can be created and measured, as well as how non-classical effects can lead to the rapid heating of atom clouds. We first investigate correlations between two weakly coupled condensates, a system analogous to a superconducting Josephson junction. The ground state of this system contains non-classical number correlation arising from the repulsion between the atoms. Such states are of interest because they may lead to more precise measurement devices such as atomic gyroscopes. Unfortunately thermal fluctuations can destroy these correlations, and great care is needed to experimentally observe non-classical effects. We show that adiabatic evolution can drive the isolated quantum system out of thermal equilibrium and decrease thermal noise, in agreement with a recent experiment [Esteve et al. Nature 455, 1216 (2008)]. This technique may be valuable for observing and using quantum correlated states in the future. Next, we analyse the rapid heating that occurs when a condensate is placed in a moving periodic potential. The dynamical instability responsible for the heating was the subject of much uncertainty, which we suggest was due to the inability of the mean-field approximation to account for important spontaneous scattering processes. We show that a model including non-classical spontaneous scattering can describe dynamical instabilities correctly in each of the regimes where they have been observed, and in particular we compare our simulations to an experiment performed at the University of Otago deep inside the spontaneous scattering regime. Finally, we proposed a method to create and detect entangled atomic wave-packets. Entangled atoms are interesting from a fundamental perspective, and may prove useful in future quantum information and precision measurement technologies. Entanglement is generated by interactions, such as atomic collisions in Bose-Einstein condensates. We analyse the type of entanglement generated via atomic collisions and introduce an abstract scheme for detecting entanglement and demonstrating the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox with ultra-cold atoms. We further this result by proposing an experiment where entangled wave-packets are created and detected. The entanglement is generated by the pairwise scattering that causes the instabilities in moving periodic potentials mentioned above. By careful arrangement, the instability process can be controlled to to produce two well-defined atomic wave-packets. The presence of entanglement can be proven by applying a series of laser pulses to interfere the wave-packets and then measuring the output populations. Realising this experiment is feasible with current technology.

I Brista kraftvärmeverk i Sigtuna förbränns träflis och utsorterat avfall från hushåll och industri för att utvinna och exportera el och fjärrvärme. När rökgasen kyls ner, som en del av återvinningen av energi till fjärrvärmenätet, bildas rökgaskondensat. Direkt efter produktionen har kondensatet en temperatur av cirka 30 °C och innehåller höga halter av bland annat ammoniumkväve och vissa metaller. Efter rening av kondensatvattnet inuti verket efterpoleras det i en nyanlagd våtmark. Syftet med arbetet var främst att undersöka kvävereningen i våtmarken men även om riktvärden för utsläpp uppsatta av miljödomstolen efterlevs med avseende på total- och ammoniumkväve samt As och tungmetallerna Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Tl och Zn. Arbetet syftade även på att bestämma våtmarkens area, volym och uppehållstid, undersöka eventuella skillnader i vattenföring mellan in- och utlopp samt undersöka vattentemperaturens effekt på kvävereningen. För att undersöka reningen togs veckovisa prover i våtmarkens in- och utlopp under nio veckor under hela oktober och november 2014. Proverna analyserades med jonkromatografi för bestämning av nitrat-, nitrit- och ammoniumhalt. Vidare användes data från Fortum, som driver verket, för att undersöka halter av kväve och olika metaller i våtmarken. Höjdmätningar med avvägningsinstrument användes för att bestämma våtmarkens volym och GPS för att bestämma våtmarkens längd och area. Vattentemperaturmätningar i våtmarkens utlopp genomfördes med hjälp av en logger under en tvåmånadersperiod. Vattenföring ut ur våtmarken räknades ut med hjälp av nivådata från en pumpbrunn vid utloppet. Resultaten visade att halterna av alla de studerade ämnena i både egna prover och från Fortum klarade riktvärdena för utsläpp till recipient. Halterna var även låga i rökgaskondensatet som lämnade Bristaverket vilket tyder på att reningen inuti verket fungerar bra. Våtmarkens area uppmättes till 2300 m2 och volymen till 940 m3. Den beräknade vattenföringen ut var i genomsnitt cirka 100 m3/dygn högre än inflödet. Fel i beräkningsmodellen kunde dock inte uteslutas som orsak till skillnaden. Vid låga lufttemperaturer verkade våtmarken klara av att kyla betydligt högre temperaturer hos rökgaskondensat än vad som vanligtvis skickas ut från verket. Därför rekommenderas att Fortum undersöker möjligheterna för minskad kylning av rökgaskondensatet för att möjliggöra en ökad reningsgrad av temperaturberoende processer i våtmarken, så som kväveavskiljning. / At the Brista combined heat and power plant in Sigtuna, wood chips and municipal and industrial waste are incinerated to generate and export electricity and distric heating. When the flue gas is cooled as a part of recycling its energy for distric heating, condensate is formed. Directly after production, the flue gas condensate has a temperature of approximately 30°C and contains relatively high levels of ammonia and certain heavy metals. After treatment inside the plant, the condensate is post-treated in a newly constructed wetland. The main aim of the study was to investigate the nitrogen removal in the wetland but also if current guideline values for effluents established by the environmental court are fulfilled in regard to levels of total and ammonia nitrogen as well as As and heavy metals Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg , Ni, Pb, Tl  and Zn. The study also aimed to measure the wetland area, volume and retention time, investigate differences in water flow between the inlet and outlet as well as study the effect of water temperature on nitrogen removal. Water samples were taken weekly for nine weeks in October and November 2014 in the inlet and outlet of the wetland. The samples were analysed for nitrate, nitrite and ammonium ions using ion chromatography. Data from Fortum, the company that runs the heat and power plant, were also used to study levels of nitrogen and metals in the wetland. An optical leveling instrument was used to calculate the wetland volume and GPS was used to calculate its length and area. Measurements of water temperature in the outlet of the wetland were conducted using a logger during a two-month period. Water flow out of the wetland was calculated using water level data from a pump well connected to the outlet. The results showed that the levels of the studied compounds in samples collected in this study and by Fortum were all below guideline values. The levels were also low in the flue gas condensate leaving the combined heat and power plant, indicating that the treatment inside the plant is working well. The area of the wetland was measured to 2300 m2 and the volume 940 m3. The calculated water flow out of the wetland was at an average approximately 100 m3/day higher than the inflow, but an error in the calculation model is a possible cause of the difference. At low air temperatures, the wetland showed a capacity of cooling significantly higher temperatures of the flue gas condensate than what is usually released from the plant. Because of this, Fortum is recommended to investigate the possibility of reducing the cooling of the flue gas condensate and thus enabling a higher efficiency of temperature dependent treatment processes in the wetland such as nitrogen removal.

Condensados de Bose-Einstein (BEC) são sistemas macroscópicos excelentes para a observação do comportamento quântico da matéria. Desde sua obtenção experimental em gases atômicos alcalinos diluídos aprisionados por campos magnéticos, há importantes aspectos relacionados a esse sistema que foram intensamente explorados, como os modos coletivos do BEC harmonicamente aprisionado, seu tunelamento através de barreiras de potencial e os estados excitados desse sistema, incluindo vórtice e sóliton. O último consiste de pacote de onda localizado, que propaga sem mudança de forma. Nesse trabalho, investigamos os novos aspectos que surgem da dinâmica de um sistema composto (condensado aprisionado contendo um sóliton). Há muitos estudos tratando cada parte separadamente: estado fundamental do BEC ou um sóliton em um BEC infinito uniforme estacionário. Estamos nos baseando nessas análises prévias, além da simulação numérica de campo médio do nosso sistema submetido a diferentes condições iniciais (BEC aprisionado no mínimo do potencial harmônico ou BEC deslocado na armadilha contendo um sóliton, além de uma deformação no potencial) para caracterizar a dinâmica desse sistema. Alguns dos nossos resultados puderam ser explicados por meio de predições analítica da chamada aproximação de Thomas-Fermi. Ao final, comparamos as simulações de campo médio (equação de Gross-Pitaevskii) com as advindas da teoria de múltiplos orbitais a fim de justificar o regime de validade da nossa teoria. / Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC) are excellent macroscopic systems to observe the quantum behavior of matter. Since it experimental production in dilute atomic alkali gases trapped by magnetic fields, there are important aspects related to this system that have been intensely explored, like the collective modes of the harmonically trapped BEC, its tunneling through a potential barrier and the excited states of this system, that include the vortex and soliton. The latter consist of localized disturbances, which propagate without change of form. In this work, we investigate the singular aspects that coming from the dynamics of a composite system (trapped BEC containing a soliton). There are many studies that treat each part separately, that include a fundamental state BEC or a soliton inside a uniform infinite extent stationary BEC. We are basing on these previous analyses, besides mean-field numeric simulating our particular system submitted to diferent initial conditions (minimum harmonic potential trapped BEC or dislocated trapped BEC plus a soliton, in addition to a deformation in the potential) to characterize the tunneling dynamics. Some of our results could be explained using analytical predictions of the so called Thomas-Fermi approximation. At the end, we compar the meanfield simulations (Gross-Pitavskii equation) with the simulations from the multiple orbitals theory to justify the validity regime of our theory.

Nesta tese utilizamos o Modelo de Bose-Hubbard (MBH) generalizado para duas espécies bosonicas para investigar a estabilidade dinâmica da fase superfluida de uma mistura binaria de átomos bosonicos ultra-frios confinados em uma rede optica periódica anelar com M sítios. Na primeira parte consideramos a Hamiltoniana do MBH sem a presença do tunelamento inter-especies. Deduzimos e resolvemos as equações de Gross-Pitaevskii para os estados de equilíbrio do MBH e mostramos que são misturas binarias de condensados nos quais os átomos de cada espécie ocupam um estado de quase-momento q bem definido. As excitações elementares foram determinadas resolvendo as equações de Bogoliubov-de Gennes o que foi possível graças a estrutura de acoplamento dos quase-momentos que reduziu a Hamiltoniana Efetiva a uma soma direta de um dubleto e quadrupletos. Através da analise do comportamento das energias de excitação como função dos parâmetros de controle do sistema, investigamos a estabilidade dinâmica de dois casos de misturas de condensados onde, em um caso, os átomos de cada espécie ocupam o mesmo estado de quase-momento, qA = qB e, no outro, quase-momentos opostos, qA = qB. Em ambos os casos as condições de estabilidade dependem do quase-momento q estar nos quartos centrais ou laterais da primeira zona de Brillouin. No caso qA = qB vemos que a forma do diagrama de estabilidade independe do quase-momento do condensado. Por outro lado, o mesmo não ocorre nos condensados contra-propagantes qA = qB. Esta diferença fica mais acentuada no limite termodinâmico onde os diagramas de estabilidade no centro e nas extremidades da primeira zona de Brillouin ficam idênticos nos dois casos. Já nas bordas que separam os quartos centrais e laterais o comportamento ´e diferente pois a presença de uma interação interespécies por menor que seja desestabiliza completamente a mistura com qA = qB. Em todos estes casos ficou evidente o papel desestabilizador da interação interespécies. Na segunda parte consideramos o efeito de um termo de tunelamento inter-especies. As soluções das equações de Gross-Pitaevskii revelam uma estrutura biestável de estados de equilíbrio essencial para a ocorrência de bifurcação no sistema e, portanto, a presença de catástrofe. Investigamos se a catástrofe e acessível a uma observação experimental. De acordo com nosso critério, esta observação e impossível se o plano de bifurcação for a fronteira de um domínio de instabilidade dinâmica. Através da analise da estabilidade dinâmica dos estados de equilíbrio vimos que para um sistema invariante por inversão de cor essa resposta depende apenas da razão entre as intensidades de tunelamento intra e inter-especies de modo que se JAB/J > 1 a observação e impossível e se JAB/J < 1 é possível, supondo existir uma rota adiabática ate a bifurcação. / In this thesis we used the two-component Bose-Hubbard Model (BHM) to investigate the dynamical stability of the superfluid phase of a binary mixture of ultra-cold bosonic atoms confined in a ring-shaped periodic optical lattice with M sites. In the first part we considered the BHM Hamiltonian without the presence of interspecies tunnelling. We deduced and solved the Gross-Pitaevskii equations for the equilibrium states of the BHM and showed that they are binary mixtures of condensates where the atoms of each species occupy a state of well defined quasi-momentum q. The elementary excitations were determined solving the Bogoliubov-de-Gennes equations which was possible thanks to the coupling structure of the quasi-momenta that reduced the Effective Hamiltonian to a direct sum of a doublet and quadriplets. Through the analysis of the behavior of the excitation energies as a function of the control parameters of the system, we investigated the dynamical stability of two cases of mixtures of condensates where, in one case, the atoms of each specie occupy the same state of quasi-momentum, qA = qB, and, in the other, opposite quasi-momentum, qA = qB. In both cases the stability conditions depend of the quasi-momentum q to be in the central or lateral quarters of the first Brillouin zone. In the case qA = qB, we see that the form of the stability diagram is not dependent of the quasi-momentum of the condensate. However, the same does not occur in the counter-propagating condensates qA = qB. This difference is accentuated in the thermodynamic limit where the stability diagrams in the center and in the extremities of the first Brillouin zone are identical in both cases. In the borders that separate the central and lateral quarters the behavior is different because the presence of a slightly non vanishing inter-species interaction completely destabilize the mixture with qA = qB. In all these cases it was evident the destabilizing role of the inter-species interaction. In the second part we considered the effect of a inter-species tunnelling term. The solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equations reveal a bi-stable structure of equilibrium states that is essential for the occurrence of the bifurcation in the system and, therefore, the presence of catastrophe. We investigated if the catastrophe is accessible to a experimental observation. According to our criteria, this observation is impossible if the bifurcation plane is the frontier of a dynamical instability domain. Through the analysis of the dynamical stability of the equilibrium states we saw that for a system invariant by color inversion this answer depends only on the ratio between the intra and inter-species tunnelling intensities in a way that if JAB/J > 1 the observation is impossible and if JAB/J < 1 it is possible, supposing that it exists an adiabatic route until the bifurcation.

O presente trabalho apresenta o estudo das propriedades da condensação de Bose-Einstein e da superfluidez em um sistema bosônico disposto em um arranjo unidimensional de potenciais periódicos em formato de anel. O Hamiltoniano efetivo usual em termos dos operadores de campo é implementado na representação construída em termos das funções de Bloch da primeira banda e o problema é resolvido por meio da sua diagonalização através de métodos numéricos. No limite de hopping pequeno, este modelo é essencialmente equivalente à representação usual do modelo de Bose-Hubbard, mas incorpora efeitos adicionais através das energias de Bloch de partícula independente e dos elementos da matriz de dois corpos na situação em que o hopping é grande [19]. Através da inclusão de rotação no sistema, as energias de partícula independente são forçadas a depender da velocidade angular. Isto implica, correspondentemente, uma dependência da velocidade angular nas funções de onda de partícula independente e nos resultados de muitos corpos obtidos através da diagonalização do Hamiltoniano. Com o objetivo de estudar a superfluidez, o critério de dois fluidos é empregado e através de resultados numéricos obtêm-se a variação da fração de superfluido com o quadrado da velocidade angular. Ainda, considera-se aqui uma expressão perturbativa para o parâmetro inercial do sistema expresso em termos das excitações do sistema sem rotação, o que permite relacionar as energias do sistema com rotação com aquelas do sistema sem rotação. Isto é particularmente interessante para obter a fração de superfluido em termos da informação espectral do sistema sem rotação. Resultados semelhantes podem ser encontrados através da definição de superfluido baseada na resposta do sistema a uma variação de fase, imposta através de condições de contorno torcidas [30, 33], mas com a diferença de que os desenvolvimentos aqui não fazem uso da hipótese do modo condensado. De maneira geral, os resultados numéricos obtidos indicam, que pelo menos para este sistema, as frações de superfluido e condensado são quantidades sem relação direta, sugerindo então que mesmo para sistemas gasosos diluídos a idéia de que a superfluidez é uma consequência da condensação de Bose-Einstein deve ser considerada com mais cuidado. / In this work we study the properties of Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity in a finite bosonic system in a 1-dimensional ring with a periodic potential under rotation. The usual field effective Hamiltonian is implemented in a representation constructed in terms of the first band Bloch functions and the problem is solved by numeric diagonalization. In the limit of small hopping, this model is essentially equivalent to the quasi-momentum representation of the usual Bose-Hubbard model but incorporates additional effects via Bloch single particle energies and two-body matrix elements in the case of large hopping [19]. By including rotation in the system we force the single particle energies to be a function of the angular velocity. This implies a corresponding angular velocity dependence of the single particle wavefunctions and many-body diagonalization results. In order to study superfluidity, we consider the two fluid criterion. Numerical results for the superfluid fraction involving the change of in rinsic ground state energy with the square of the angular velocity are obtained. We also consider a perturbative expression for the system inertial parameter expressed in terms of the excitation spectrum of the non rotating system, which enables us to relate the energies in the rotating system to the ones in the system without rotation. This is particularly interesting for obtaining superfluid fraction in terms of spectral information of the non rotating system. Similar results can be found by using the definition of superfluid fraction based on the response of the system to a phase variation imposed by means of twisted boundary conditions [30, 33], but with the difference that our developments do not assume the hypothesis of a condensate mode. Our numerical results indicate that in this system condensate and superfluid fractions are quite unrelated in terms of parameter values, indicating that even for dilute gases the concept that superfluidity is a consequence of Bose-Einstein condensation should be considered more carefully.

As indústrias que desenvolvem motores de combustão interna têm como preocupação atual prover motores que sejam cada vez menos poluentes, uma vez que a preocupação com a preservação do meio ambiente é intensa em todo o mundo. No entanto, com o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias destinadas à redução das emissões, a condensação dos gases, provenientes da combustão, está sendo promovida dentro das câmaras de combustão dos veículos. Ácidos, como sulfúrico e nítrico, são gerados pela condensação destes gases. Esta condensação está associada às altas taxas de recirculação de gases de escape, conhecido como EGR, (termo em inglês para Exhaust Gas Recirculation). Consequentemente, problemas de corrosão nos componentes do motor estão aumentando, especialmente em camisas de cilindro em ferro fundido. Neste estudo, foi investigada a resistência à corrosão de dois ferros fundidos, um de microestrutura perlítica e o outro com microestrutura bainítica, em soluções de condensado natural e sintético de motores movidos a diesel. Os resultados foram associados às microestruturas e as composições químicas dos materiais estudados. Resultados de testes de imersão e ensaios de espectroscopia de impedância eletroquímica, bem como de curvas de polarização potenciodinâmicas, indicaram que os dois materiais não apresentam resistência à corrosão nos meios de ensaio adotados. O ataque intenso da matriz observado em ambos os materiais observado pelos ensaios de imersão, mostraram a atuação do mecanismo eletroquímico de corrosão por grafitização. Este mecanismo causa o ataque localizado e destrutivo da matriz de ferrita (-Fe), que funciona como anodo enquanto as grafitas atuam como áreas catódicas. Enquanto em meio ácido não foi possível observar uma diferenciação entre os dois tipos de ferros fundidos estudados, em meio neutro e aerado, o ferro fundido bainítico mostrou resistência à corrosão superior à do ferro fundido perlítico. / The industries that develop internal combustion engines have the current concern on providing less polluting engines, due to the worldwide apprehension on the environment preservation. However, with the development of new technologies to reduce emissions, condensation of gases from combustion is being promoted within the combustion chambers of vehicles. Acids, such as sulfuric and nitric, are generated by these gases condensation. This condensation is associated with high rates of exhaust gas recirculation, known as EGR, (the English term for Exhaust Gas Recirculation). Consequently, corrosion problems of engine components are increasing, especially in cylinder liners made with cast iron. In this study, the corrosion resistance of two cast irons, one with a pearlitic microstructure and the other with a bainitic one, has been investigated in the natural solution obtained by condensation of the gases from diesel engines combustion or in a synthetic solution that simulates the composition of the condensate gases. The results were associated with the chemical compositions and microstructures of the materials studied. The results of immersion tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests, as well as potentiodynamic polarization curves, indicated that both materials do not exhibit significant differences in their corrosion resistance in the solutions adopted for testing. The intense attack of the matrix observed during immersion tests showed the electrochemical corrosion mechanism of graphitization in both materials. This mechanism causes localized attack of the ferrite matrix ( -Fe), which acts as the anodic areas whereas the graphite act as the cathodic ones. Though in acid medium has not been possible to observe a distinction between the corrosion resistance of the two types of cast irons studied, in neutral and aerated environment, the bainitic cast iron showed higher corrosion resistance comparatively to the pearlitic cast iron .