Aims. Uncovering the ingredients and the architecture of planetary systems is a very active field of research that has fuelled many new theories on giant planet formation, migration, composition, and interaction with the circumstellar environment. We aim at discovering and studying new such systems, to further expand our knowledge of how low-mass companions form and evolve. Methods. We obtained high-contrast H-band images of the circumstellar environment of the F5V star HD 206893, known to host a debris disc never detected in scattered light. These observations are part of the SPHERE High Angular Resolution Debris Disc Survey (SHARDDS) using the InfraRed Dual-band Imager and Spectrograph (IRDIS) installed on VLT/SPHERE. Results. We report the detection of a source with a contrast of 3 : 6 x 10(-5) in the H-band, orbiting at a projected separation of 270 milliarcsec or 10 au, corresponding to a mass in the range 24 to 73 M-Jup for an age of the system in the range 0.2 to 2 Gyr. The detection was confirmed ten months later with VLT /NaCo, ruling out a background object with no proper motion. A faint extended emission compatible with the disc scattered light signal is also observed. Conclusions. The detection of a low-mass companion inside a massive debris disc makes this system an analog of other young planetary systems such as beta Pictoris, HR 8799 or HD 95086 and requires now further characterisation of both components to understand their interactions.

The objective of the work reported in this paper is one of a two-fold nature. The first objective is to develop a disk-plate sensitivity test that is more rapid than that of existing methods. The second requisite is that the materials, techniques, interpretation, and reporting of results be the sane as those required for the disk-plate method described in the Difco Manual.

Jatos e discos de acreção associados a objetos galácticos e extragalácticos tais como, microquasares (i.e., buracos negros de massa estelar presentes em alguns sistemas binários estelares), núcleos ativos de galáxias (NAGs) e objetos estelares jovens (OEJs), frequentemente exibem eventos de ejeção de matéria quase periódicos que podem fornecer importantes informações sobre os processos físicos que ocorrem nas suas regiões mais internas. Entre essas classes de objetos, os microquasares com emissão transiente em raios-X vêm sendo identificados em nossa Galáxia desde a última década, e tal como os NAGs e quasares distantes, alguns desses sistemas também produzem jatos colimados com velocidades aparentemente superluminais, não deixando dúvidas de que se tratam de um gás ejetado com velocidades relativísticas. Um exemplo amplamente observado em comprimentos de onda do rádio aos raios-X é o microquasar GRS 1915+105 (e.g., Dhawan et al.,2000), que foi o primeiro objeto galáctico a exibir evidências de um jato com movimento aparentemente superluminal (Mirabel e Rodríguez, 1998, 1994). Um modelo para explicar a origem dessas ejeções superluminais, bem como a emissão rádio sincrotrônica em flares não muito diferentes dos que ocorrem na coroa solar, foi desenvolvido por de Gouveia Dal Pino e Lazarian (2005), onde é invocado um processo de reconexão magnética violenta entre as linhas de campo magnético que se erguem do disco de acreção e as linhas da magnetosfera da fonte central. Em episódios de acreção onde a razão entre a pressão efetiva do disco e a pressão magnética diminui para valores menores ou da ordem de 1 e as taxas de acreção se aproximam da taxa crítica de Eddington, a reconexão pode tornar-se violenta e libera grandes quantidades de energia magnética em pouco tempo. Parte dessa energia aquece o gás, tanto da coroa quanto do disco, e parte acelera as partículas a velocidades relativísticas por um processo de Fermi de primeira ordem, pela primeira vez estudado em zonas de reconexão magnética por esses autores, produzindo um espectro sincrotrônico de lei de potência com índice espectral comparável às observações. Neste trabalho realizamos um estudo complementar, iniciado por Piovezan (2009), no qual generalizamos o modelo acima descrito para o caso dos NAGs. Nesse estudo, constatamos que a atividade de reconexão magnética na região coronal, na base de lançamento do jato, pode explicar a origem das ejeções relativísticas, dos microquasares aos NAGs de baixa luminosidade (tais como galáxias Seyfert e LINERS). A potência liberada em eventos de reconexão magnética em função das massas dos buracos negros dessas fontes, de 5 massas solares a 10^10 massas solares, obedece a uma correlação que se mantém por todo esse intervalo, abrangendo 10^9 ordens de magnitude. Essa correlação implica em uma dependência quase linear (em um diagrama log-log), aproximadamente independente das características físicas locais dos discos de acreção dessas fontes. Além do mais, ela é compatível com o chamado plano fundamental, obtido empiricamente, que correlaciona a emissão rádio e raios-X dos microquasares e NAGs às massas dos seus buracos negros (veja Merloni et al., 2003). Assim, o modelo de de Gouveia Dal Pino e Lazarian (2005), oferece uma interpretação física simples para a existência dessa correlação empírica, como devida à atividade magnética coronal nessas fontes. Já os quasares e NAGs mais luminosos não satisfazem à mesma correlação, possivelmente porque a densidade ao redor da região coronal nessas fontes é tão alta que mascara a emissão devida à atividade magnética. A emissão rádio nesses casos deve-se, possivelmente, a regiões mais externas do jato supersônico, onde ele já expandiu o suficiente para tornar-se opticamente fino e visível, e onde os elétrons relativísticos são possivelmente produzidos em choques (veja também de Gouveia Dal Pino et al., 2010a,b). Paralelamente, investigamos a formação de eventos de reconexão magnética através de simulações magnetohidrodinâmicas axissimétricas (2.5D-MHD), da interação entre o campo magnético poloidal ancorado no disco de acreção viscoso (satisfazendo ao modelo padrão de Shakura e Sunyaev, 1973) e a magnetosfera dipolar da fonte central em rotação. Para esse fim, consideramos condições iniciais semelhantes às dos OEJs. Nos testes preliminares aqui realizados, a reconexão magnética das linhas ocorre em presença de uma resistividade numérica, que não é intensa o bastante para determinar um processo de reconexão a taxas da ordem da velocidade de Alfvén, ou seja, ela é essencialmente lenta. Ainda assim, pudemos identificar alguns dos efeitos previstos pelo modelo de reconexão magnética rápida aqui estudado. Por exemplo, verificamos que a frequência e a intensidade com que eventos de reconexão magnética podem ocorrer é sensível tanto à topologia inicial do campo magnético do sistema quanto às taxas de acreção do disco (como previsto pelo modelo de de Gouveia Dal Pino e Lazarian, 2005), de modo que tais eventos ocorrem de forma mais eficiente em regimes de alta taxa de acreção. Finalmente, além da investigação sobre o desenvolvimento de eventos de reconexão magnética, pudemos também examinar a partir das simulações a formação natural de funis de acreção, os quais são colunas de acreção que conduzem gás do disco para a superfície da fonte central através das linhas do campo magnético. Os resultados desse estudo foram comparados com as observações de funis de acreção de objetos estelares jovens. / Jets and accretion disks associated with galactic and extragalactic objects such as microquasars (i.e., stellar-mass black holes occurring in some binary stellar systems), active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and young stellar objects (YSOs), often exhibit quasi-periodic ejections of matter that may offer important clues about the physical processes that occur in their inner regions. Among these classes of objects, microquasars with transient emission in X-rays have been identified in our Galaxy since the last decade and like AGNs and distant quasars, some of them also produce collimated jets with apparent superluminal speeds, leaving no doubt that we are also dealing with ejected gas with relativistic velocities. One example widely investigated from radio wavelengths to X-rays is the microquasar GRS 1915+105 (e.g., Dhawan et al.,2000), which was the first Galactic object to show evidence of a jet with apparent superluminal motion (Mirabel e Rodríguez, 1998, 1994). A model to explain the origin of the superluminal ejections and the synchrotron radio emission in flares which are not very different from those occurring in the solar corona, was developed by de Gouveia Dal Pino e Lazarian (2005), where they invoked a process of violent magnetic reconnection between the magnetic field lines that arise from the accretion disk and the lines of the magnetosphere of the central source. In accretion episodes where the ratio between the effective disk pressure and magnetic pressure decreases to values smaller than the unity and the accretion rate approaches the critical Eddington rate, the reconnection may become violent and releases large amounts of magnetic energy in a short time. Part of this energy heats the coronal and the disk gas and part accelerates particles to relativistic velocities through a first-order Fermi-like process, which was investigated for the first time in magnetic reconnection by these authors and results a synchrotron radio power-law spectrum that is compatible to the observations. In the present work we conducted a complementary study, initiated by Piovezan (2009), which generalize the model described above for the case of AGNs. We found that the activity due to magnetic reconnection in the coronal region, at the base of the launching jet, can explain the origin of relativistic ejections from microquasars to low luminous AGNs (LLAGNs, such as Seyfert galaxies and LINERs). The power released by magnetic reconnection events as a function of the black hole masses of these sources, between 5 solar mass and 10^10 solar mass, obeys a correlation that is maintained throughout this interval, spanning 10^9 orders of magnitude. This correlation implies an almost linear dependence (in a log-log diagram), which is approximately independent of the physical properties of the accretion disks of these sources. Moreover, it is compatible with the so-called fundamental plan obtained empirically, which correlates the radio and X-rays emission of microquasars and AGNs with the masses of their black holes (see Merloni et al., 2003). Thus, the model of de Gouveia Dal Pino e Lazarian (2005) provides a simple physical interpretation for the existence of this empirical correlation as due to coronal magnetic activity in these sources. More luminous AGNs and quasars do not seem to obey the same correlation, possibly because the density around the coronal region in these sources is so high that it \"masks\" the emission due to the magnetic activity. The radio emission in these cases is possibly due regions further out of the supersonic jet, where it has already expanded enough to become optically thin and visible and where the relativistic electrons are probably accelerated in shocks (see also de Gouveia Dal Pino et al., 2010a,b). In addition, we investigated the development of magnetic reconnection events through axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic simulations (2.5D-MHD) of the interaction between the poloidal magnetic field that arises from the viscous accretion disk (which satisfies the standard model of Shakura e Sunyaev, 1973) and the dipolar magnetosphere of the rotating central source. To this aim, we considered initial conditions which are compatible to those of YSOs. In the preliminary tests conducted here, magnetic reconnection occurs in the presence of numerical resistivity only, which is not intense enough to determine a process of reconnection with rates of the order of the Alfvén speed, i.e., it is essentially slow. Nevertheless, we were able to identify some of the effects predicted by the model of fast magnetic reconnection studied here. For example, we found that the frequency and strength with which events of magnetic reconnection can occur is sensitive to both the initial topology of the magnetic field of the system and the accretion disk rates (as predicted by the model of de Gouveia Dal Pino e Lazarian, 2005), so that such events occur more efficiently under high accretion rates. Finally, besides the investigation of the development of magnetic reconnection events, we could also examine in our numerical studies the natural formation of funnel flows which are accretion columns that transport gas from the accretion disk to the surface of the central source along the magnetic field lines. The results of these studies were compared with the observations of funnel flows in young stellar objects.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo abordar a modelagem da formação e migração de um núcleo sólido planetário . Para isso, foi utilizado um modelo de acreção de planetesimais, baseado no trabalho de Inaba et al. (2000), no qual a taxa de acreção média depende da inclinação e excentricidade dos planetesimais, obtidas através da situação de equilbrio entre a interação com o protoplaneta e o arrasto do gás (Fortier et al., 2013). Para complementar esse cenário, foi includa a migração de tipo I, que ocorre devido à interação do planeta com o disco de gás. O modelo analtico que descreve essa migração teve como base o trabalho de Tanaka et al. (2002). O perfil de densidade de gás e sólidos foi obtido com base em três modelos diferentes para o disco. O primeiro é o modelo clássico da Nebulosa Solar, no qual o perfil de densidade decai com r 3/2 ; o segundo é um modelo hbrido, que utiliza medidas observacionais da densidade superficial do gás (Andrews e Williams, 2005) e uma estimativa analtica para a densidade volumêtrica do gás; por fim, o terceiro modelo é um disco de acreção que utiliza a parametrização de Shakura e Sunyaev (1973) com constante. Com o uso desses três perfis diferentes para o disco, foi possvel explorar a variação dos parâmetros livres do modelo e a possibilidade de formação de núcleos sólidos, da ordem de 10M Terra , num tempo menor que o tempo de vida do disco, estimado como menor que 10 × 10^6 anos. Em geral, a migração de tipo I é muito rápida, de modo que o protoplaneta cai na estrela antes mesmo de adquirir massa suficiente para iniciar a acreção de gás. No entanto, a análise revelou, para o disco hbrido, a possibilidade de se obter massas próximas de 10MTerra , num tempo da ordem de 2 × 10^6 anos, em distâncias de até 3.5 UA. Conclui-se, então, que modelos de acreção mais completos, assim como a obtenção deperfis de densidade de gás e sólidos dos discos protoplanetários mais coerentes, podem explicar a formação de núcleos sólidos num tempo hábil para a formação de planetas gigantes, sem a necessidade de fatores numéricos que reduzam a taxa de migração de tipo I. / The aim of this paper is to model the planetary formation and migration of a solid core. Therefore, it was used a model of planetesimal accretion, based on the paper of Inaba et al. (2000), in which the average accretion tax depends on the inclination and eccentricity of that planetesimals. These parameters were obtained through the balance situation between the interaction with the protoplanet and gas draft (Fortier et al., 2013). In order to complete this scenario, the migration type I, which occurs due to an interaction of the planet with the gas disc, was included. The analytical model that describes this migration has its basis on (Tanaka et al., 2002). The density of solids and gas profile was based on three different models for the disc. The first one is a classical of Nebulosa Solar, in which the density profile varies r^3/2 , the second is a hybrid model that uses observational measures of the gas superficial density (Andrews et al., 2010) and an analytical formula for the gas volumetric density; at last, the third model is an accretion disc which uses the parameterization of (Shakura e Sunyaev, 1973) with constant. Using these three different disc profiles, it was possible to explore the variation of the model free parameters and the possibility of the solid cores formation with 10M Earth within time smaller than 10 × 10^6 years, which is the estimated limit lifetime of the disc. In general, migration type I is very fast, so that the protoplanet falls on the star before acquiring enough mass to begin the gas accretion. However, the analysis has revealed, for the hybrid disc, the possibility to obtain masses up to 10MEarth within time 2 × 10^6 , for distance up to 3.5 AU. In conclusion, more complete models of accretion as well as the more coherent density gas and solid profiles of the protoplanet obtained may explain the formation of solid coreswithin a useful time for the giant planets formation, not using numerical factors that reduce the migration type I tax.

Since its first successful demonstration more than five decades ago [1], laser technology experienced a huge leap forward in terms of technological innovations and the understanding of underlying physical principles of operation. There were many efforts made by those in both the scientific and commercial communities who envisioned the potential of lasers. As a result, the laser now is a powerful scientific tool in many disciplines. It is widely used not only in physics, but also in chemistry, biology, medicine, engineering, environmental sciences, arts and their interdisciplinary fields. Moreover, it now has a vast number of applications in industry and everyday life whether it is light and matter interaction, communication and IT, healthcare and many other uses of this light source. By the same time, photonics comprises a market of multi-billion EUR value [2].At every stage of development, different laser parameters were engineered to suit those to specific application with some other parameters usually being sacrificed. Together with this, things like compactness and cost were always an issue to consider. A huge impact to the field of photonics was made by the development of semiconductor based structures that could be used as a light amplifying medium. Semiconductor lasers not only allowed the miniaturization of many devices, but also provided new opportunities for laser scientists due to ability to engineer their bandgap properties and to confine the carriers in different dimensions.The development of vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELs), which are also known as optically pumped semiconductor lasers (OPSLs) or semiconductor disk lasers (SDLs) realized an important feature in semiconductor based lasers – high multi- Watt output power was combined with diffraction limited output beam profile.This work is devoted to the development of semiconductor disk lasers based on novel quantum dot (QD) structures. QD structures were embedded in this type of laser recently and allowed a number of advantages compared with the widely used quantum well (QW) structure. These included new spectral region coverage at 1-1.3 µm, enhanced wavelength tuneability and ultrafast carrier dynamics, which potentially will improve mode locked operation. QDs were also used as a base for semiconductor saturable absorbers in modelocking experiments.During the time of these studies, QD SDLs at new spectral regions and record output power were demonstrated. Power scaling up to 6 W was achieved for 1040 nm, 2.25 W for 1180 nm and 1.6 W for 1260 nm devices. Excited state transition in QDs was shown to be more efficient for high power QD SDLs as compared with ground state transition. New spectral regions were covered by QD SDLs using frequency doubling into the visible region with green, orange and red light emission with output powers of 2 W, 2.5 W and 0.34 W respectively. The broad gain bandwidth of the quantum dot material was explored and wavelength tuneability up to 60 nm around 1040 nm, 69 nm around 1180 nm, and 25 nm around 1260 nm was demonstrated.A QD based saturable absorber was used to mode-lock the quantum well SDL, resulting in the first such type of laser with sub-picosecond pulse widths. Pulses with duration of 870 fs at a repetition rate of 896 MHz and wavelength of 1028.5 nm were demonstrated. Pulses were 1.14 times Fourier limited and an average output power of 46 mW was achieved. Finally, quantum well based VECSELs with electrical pumping schemes were tested. The devices were first tested in the cw configuration. Highest output powers up to 60 mW were achieved from such devices. Devices were then tested in mode-locking experiments. Pulsed operation was observed and the measurements indicated 270 ps width pulses with 8 mW average output power at 1.9 GHz repetition rate. All devices operated at 980 nm.This thesis consists of six chapters. In the introductory part of this work, QD based SDLs and their development and applications will be reviewed together with their operational principles. Chapter two will describe the growth, fabrication and preparation of SDL samples. Continuous wave and mode-locked operation results will be presented in chapters three and four. Electrically pumped devices will be presented in chapter five along with experimental results. Conclusions and future prospects will be given at the end of this work. The list of publications which were generated during the studies is included at the beginning of this work.The work presented in thesis was done under the FAST-DOT project. This is a European FP 7 project targeted at the development of compact and low-cost novel quantum dot based laser sources for biophotonic applications.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo abordar a modelagem da formação e migração de um núcleo sólido planetário . Para isso, foi utilizado um modelo de acreção de planetesimais, baseado no trabalho de Inaba et al. (2000), no qual a taxa de acreção média depende da inclinação e excentricidade dos planetesimais, obtidas através da situação de equilbrio entre a interação com o protoplaneta e o arrasto do gás (Fortier et al., 2013). Para complementar esse cenário, foi includa a migração de tipo I, que ocorre devido à interação do planeta com o disco de gás. O modelo analtico que descreve essa migração teve como base o trabalho de Tanaka et al. (2002). O perfil de densidade de gás e sólidos foi obtido com base em três modelos diferentes para o disco. O primeiro é o modelo clássico da Nebulosa Solar, no qual o perfil de densidade decai com r 3/2 ; o segundo é um modelo hbrido, que utiliza medidas observacionais da densidade superficial do gás (Andrews e Williams, 2005) e uma estimativa analtica para a densidade volumêtrica do gás; por fim, o terceiro modelo é um disco de acreção que utiliza a parametrização de Shakura e Sunyaev (1973) com constante. Com o uso desses três perfis diferentes para o disco, foi possvel explorar a variação dos parâmetros livres do modelo e a possibilidade de formação de núcleos sólidos, da ordem de 10M Terra , num tempo menor que o tempo de vida do disco, estimado como menor que 10 × 10^6 anos. Em geral, a migração de tipo I é muito rápida, de modo que o protoplaneta cai na estrela antes mesmo de adquirir massa suficiente para iniciar a acreção de gás. No entanto, a análise revelou, para o disco hbrido, a possibilidade de se obter massas próximas de 10MTerra , num tempo da ordem de 2 × 10^6 anos, em distâncias de até 3.5 UA. Conclui-se, então, que modelos de acreção mais completos, assim como a obtenção deperfis de densidade de gás e sólidos dos discos protoplanetários mais coerentes, podem explicar a formação de núcleos sólidos num tempo hábil para a formação de planetas gigantes, sem a necessidade de fatores numéricos que reduzam a taxa de migração de tipo I. / The aim of this paper is to model the planetary formation and migration of a solid core. Therefore, it was used a model of planetesimal accretion, based on the paper of Inaba et al. (2000), in which the average accretion tax depends on the inclination and eccentricity of that planetesimals. These parameters were obtained through the balance situation between the interaction with the protoplanet and gas draft (Fortier et al., 2013). In order to complete this scenario, the migration type I, which occurs due to an interaction of the planet with the gas disc, was included. The analytical model that describes this migration has its basis on (Tanaka et al., 2002). The density of solids and gas profile was based on three different models for the disc. The first one is a classical of Nebulosa Solar, in which the density profile varies r^3/2 , the second is a hybrid model that uses observational measures of the gas superficial density (Andrews et al., 2010) and an analytical formula for the gas volumetric density; at last, the third model is an accretion disc which uses the parameterization of (Shakura e Sunyaev, 1973) with constant. Using these three different disc profiles, it was possible to explore the variation of the model free parameters and the possibility of the solid cores formation with 10M Earth within time smaller than 10 × 10^6 years, which is the estimated limit lifetime of the disc. In general, migration type I is very fast, so that the protoplanet falls on the star before acquiring enough mass to begin the gas accretion. However, the analysis has revealed, for the hybrid disc, the possibility to obtain masses up to 10MEarth within time 2 × 10^6 , for distance up to 3.5 AU. In conclusion, more complete models of accretion as well as the more coherent density gas and solid profiles of the protoplanet obtained may explain the formation of solid coreswithin a useful time for the giant planets formation, not using numerical factors that reduce the migration type I tax.

Blazars, a subclass of active galactic nuclei with powerful relativistic plasma jets, are among the most luminous and violently variable objects in the universe. They emit radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and often change in brightness over the course of hours or days. Different emission mechanisms are necessary in order to explain the observed flux in different frequency ranges. In the ultraviolet-optical- infrared regime these include components that arise from: 1) polarized synchrotron radiation emanating from a powerful parsec-scale jet flowing from near the central accreting black hole, 2) a multi-temperature accretion disk emitting thermal radia- tion, and 3) an optically thick dusty torus located several parsecs from the central engine that absorbs and re-emits, at infrared wavelengths, radiation originating in the accretion disk. The goal of this study is to determine the relative importance of these spectral components in the spectra of blazars. I use data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in order to search for the presence of the dusty torus surrounding four blazars, as well as to determine its luminosity and temperature. In two of the observed sources, 1222+216 and CTA102, I determine that the torus can be modeled as a 1200 K blackbody emitting at nearly 10 46 erg s −1 . Furthermore, I determine the relative variability of the accretion disk of a sample of blazars by using spec- tropolarimetry observations to separate the optical-UV spectrum into a polarized viiicomponent, consisting of radiation described by a power-law F ν ∝ ν −α , and an ac- cretion disk which consists of a thin disk described by the power-law F disk ∝ ν 1/3 plus a hot-spot of variable temperature. The spectra of several blazars are explained by a version of this model in which the thin disk component is held constant, while the blackbody varies on timescales of approximately years resulting with a flux of the blackbody component comparable to the power-law disk component. I find that variations in the emission from the hot-spot occurs approximately within 100 days of γ-ray variations.

No description available.

Bibliography: leaves 107-109.

Even though fluid mechanics is well developed as a science, there are many physical phenomena that we do not yet fully understand. One of these is the deformation rates and fluid stresses generated in a boundary layer for a non-Newtonian fluid. One such non-Newtonian fluid would be a waxy crude oil flowing in a centrifugal pump. This type of flow can be numerically modeled by a rotating disk system, in combination with an appropriate constitutive equation, such as the relation for a Bingham fluid. A Bingham fluid does not begin to flow until the stress magnitude exceeds the yield stress. However, experimental measurements are also required to serve as a database against which the results of the numerical simulation can be interpreted and validated. The purpose of the present research is to gain a better understanding of the behavior of a Bingham fluid in the laminar boundary layer on a rotating disk. For this project, two different techniques were employed: numerical simulation, and laboratory investigations using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and flow visualization. Both methods were applied to the flow of a Bingham fluid over a rotating disk. In the numerical investigations, the flow was characterized by the dimensionless yield stress Bingham number, By, which is the ratio of the yield and viscous stresses. Using von Kármáns similarity transformation, and introducing the rheological behavior of the fluid into the conservation equations, the corresponding nonlinear two-point boundary value problem was formulated. A solution to the problem under investigation was obtained by numerical integration of the set of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) using a multiple shooting method. The influence of the Bingham number on the flow behavior was identified. It decreases the magnitude of the radial and axial velocity components, and increases the magnitude of the tangential velocity component, which has a pronounced effect on the moment coefficient, CM, and the volume flow rate, Q. In the laboratory investigations, since the waxy crude oils are naturally opaque, an ambitious experimental plan to create a transparent oil that was rheologically similar to the Amna waxy crude oil from Libya was developed. The simulant was used for flow visualization experiments, where a transparent fluid was required. To fulfill the demand of the PIV system for a higher degree of visibility, a second Bingham fluid was created and rheologically investigated. The PIV measurements were carried out for both filtered tap water and the Bingham fluid in the same rotating disk apparatus that was used for the flow visualization experiments. Both the axial and radial velocity components in the (r-z) plane were measured for various rotational speeds. Comparison between the numerical and experimental results for the axial and radial velocity profiles for water was found to be satisfactory. Significant discrepancies were found between numerical results and measured values for the Bingham fluid, especially at low rotational speeds, mostly relating to the formation of a yield surface within the tank. Even though the flow in a pump is in some ways different from that of a disk rotating in a tank, some insight about the behavior of the pump flow can be drawn. One conclusion is that the key difference between the flow of a Bingham fluid in rotating equipment from that of a Newtonian fluid such as water relates to the yield surface introduced by the yield stress of the material, which causes an adverse effect on the performance and efficiency of such equipment.