This thesis presents a study of the sub-light year regions of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). These environments contain accretion discs that orbit a central super-massive black hole. The luminosity of the AGN inner regions varies over time across all wavelengths with variability at longer wavelengths lagging behind that at shorter wavelengths. Since the AGN themselves are too remote and too compact to resolve directly, I exploit these time lags to infer the physical characteristics of the accretion disc and surrounding gas clouds that emit broad emission lines. These characteristics include the inclination and temperature profile of the accretion disc, and the shape (or light curve) of the luminosity fluctuations that drive the accretion disc variability. This thesis details the work in the first author papers of Starkey et al. (2016, 2017), in which I detail the statistical code, CREAM (Continuum REverberting AGN Markov Chain Monte Carlo), that I developed to analyse AGN accretion disc variability. I apply the code to a set of AGN light curve observations of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 by the AGN STORM collaboration (De Rosa et al., 2015; Edelson et al., 2015; Fausnaugh et al., 2016a; Goad et al., 2016; Starkey et al., 2017). I also present work detailing my variability analysis of the Seyfert galaxies NGC 6814, NGC 2617, MCG 08-11-11 and NGC 4151. This work has contributed to the analysis presented in (Troyer et al. 2016, Fausnaugh et al. submitted). I also investigate the implications of a twin accretion disc structure (Nealon et al., 2015) on the disc time lag measurements across near UV and optical wavelengths. I finish by detailing a modification to CREAM that allows it to merge continuum light curves observed in a common filter, but taken by multiple telescopes with different calibration and instrumental effects to consider.

No description available.

I begin this study by presenting an overview of the theory of magnetohydrodynamics and the necessary conditions to justify the fluid treatment of a plasma. Upon establishing the fluid description of a plasma we move on to a discussion of magnetohydrodynamics in both the ideal and Hall regimes. This framework is then extended to include multiple plasmas in order to consider two problems of interest in the field of theoretical space physics. The first is a study on the evolution of a partially ionized plasma, a topic with many applications in space physics. A multi-fluid approach is necessary in this case to account for the motions of an ion fluid, electron fluid and neutral atom fluid; all of which are coupled to one another by collisions and/or electromagnetic forces. The results of this study have direct application towards an open question concerning the cascade of Kolmogorov-like turbulence in the interstellar plasma which we will discuss below. The second application of multi-fluid magnetohydrodynamics that we consider in this thesis concerns the amplification of magnetic field upstream of a collisionless, parallel shock. The relevant fluids here are the ions and electrons comprising the interstellar plasma and the galactic cosmic ray ions. Previous works predict that the streaming of cosmic rays lead to an instability resulting in significant amplification of the interstellar magnetic field at supernova blastwaves. This prediction is routinely invoked to explain the acceleration of galactic cosmic rays up to energies of 10¹⁵ eV. I will examine this phenomenon in detail using the multi-fluid framework outlined below. The purpose of this work is to first confirm the existence of an instability using a purely fluid approach with no additional approximations. If confirmed, I will determine the necessary conditions for it to operate.

published_or_final_version / Physics / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

The results of a study of the neutral hydrogen (HI) content and distribution within a sample of 18 blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) are presented. An investigation of the behaviour of the gas-to-dust ratio (GDR) as a function of metallicity (Z) is also presented. Observations of these BCDs was performed using the Very Large Array (VLA) in 2009, a year in which the array was undergoing a technological upgrade to the the Karl G. Jansky VLA (JVLA). The observations were reduced and images processed using the Astronomical Image Processing Software (AIPS), and data cubes for each galaxy were produced. The results include detections of eleven HI lines (two new detections) and ten background continuum sources (two new discoveries). All detections are at a higher resolution and/or sensitivity than previous measurements. These detections spanned a large range of line widths and HI masses; some masses comparable to those in normal galaxies. Of particular interest was the discovery of a compact absorption feature in the dwarf galaxy Haro 11. A paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) Letters on this discovery is presented. Another significant result was the discovery of a highly extended and massive HI region in the dwarf galaxy CGCG 297-017. For those galaxies with no detected HI line or radio continuum, an upper limit to the flux density was computed, which was used to derive upper limits to the HI mass or star-formation rate (SFR) respectively. Three HI flux density upper limits are new results, and seven continuum flux density upper limits are also new. The GDR-Z relation at low metallicities shows a potential power law or broken power law relation with a turning point at Z=7.96 or Z=8.05. To within error, these turning points and power law indices of the broken power law fits are consistent with other work. / Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-30 20:21:20.045

We investigate the possibility that present-day galaxies and their dark matter halos contain a population of massive black holes (MBHs) that form by hierarchical merging of the black hole remnants of the first stars in the Universe. Some of the MBHs may be large enough or close enough to the centre of the galactic host that they merge within a Hubble time. We estimate to what extent this process could contribute to the mass of the super-massive black holes (SMBHs) observed in galactic centres today. The relation between SMBH and galactic bulge mass in our model displays the same slope as that found in observations. Many MBHs will not reach the centre of the host halo, however, but continue to orbit within it. In doing so MBHs may remain associated with remnants of the satellite halo systems of which they were previously a part. Using a semi-analytical approach that explicitly accounts for dynamical friction, tidal disruption and encounters with galactic disks, we follow the hierarchical merging of MBH systems and their subsequent dynamical evolution inside the respective host halos. In this context two types of dynamical processes are examined in more detail. We predict the mass and abundance of MBHs in present-day galactic halos and also estimate the MBH mass accretion rates considering two different accretion scenarios. On this basis we determine the bolometric, optical and X-ray luminosity functions for the accreting MBHs using thin disk and advection dominated accretion flow models. Our predicted MBH X-ray emissions are then compared with observations of ultra-luminous X-ray sources in galaxies. We find that the slope and normalisation of the predicted X-ray luminosity function are consistent with the observations. We also estimate the rate of gravitational wave events received from MBH mergers across all redshifts. At the end of their lives the first stars may explode in supernovae that are associated with gamma ray bursts (GRBs). Provided these are in principle detectable we have estimated the expected rate of events observed.

No description available.

The efficiency of the Bowen fluorescence mechanism in models of planetary nebulae and Seyfert galaxy nuclei has been calculated by solving the equation of transfer for He II Ly -o( and the Bowen lines using the Feautrier method. The calculated efficiencies, which do not show significant differences between planetary nebulae and Seyfert galaxies, range from about 40% to 50% for realistic models. These values are somewhat higher than recent empirical determinations of Bowen conversion in planetary nebulae. Certain discrepancies between theoretical and observed line ratios are noted, however, which make the comparison with observation ambiguous. The efficiencies are shown to be rather insensitive to changes in various parameters. It is also noted that observations do not necessarily show that the Bowen lines are systematically weaker in Seyfert galaxy nuclei than in planetary nebulae.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND SCIENCE / Bibliography: leaves 29-30. / by Rupert LaWendell Seals. / M.S.