Há evidências contundentes de que u ma parcela significativa das galáxias no universo presente hospedam buracos negros supermassivos que acretam gás a baixas taxas. Tal acreção origina os núcleos ativos de baixa luminosidade (LLAGNs), que constituem a população dominante de AGNs nas galáxias próximas. O objetivo deste trabalho é elucidar a natureza da fonte central dos LLAGNs, comparando diversos vínculos observacionais com as previsões de modelos para o processo de acreção. Para este fim, adotamos o modelo de escoamento acretivo favorecido para buracos negros "subalimentados", o ADAF (advectiondominated accretion fiow), que possui baixa eficiência radiativa ao contrário do disco de acreção fino que ocorre nos quasares distantes. Analisamos dois modelos físicos para a produção dos jatos nos ADAFs, nos quais a potência dos jatos depende do spin do buraco negro - o modelo de Blandford-Znajek e o modelo híbrido proposto por Meier - incorporando efeitos de relatividade geral. A nossa análise indica que a potência do jato é uma fração significativa da energia de repouso associada à massa acretada, quando o spin do buraço negro é alto. Aplicamos tais modelos a galáxias elípticas gigantes que hospedam LLAGNs e obtemos que os modelos explicam a natureza da correlação observada entre a taxa de acreção de Bondi e a potência do jato. Nossos resultados indicam que os buracos negros centrais nas galáxias elípticas próximas devem estar rotando rapidamente (a/M > 0.9). Nós modelamos as distribuições espectrais de energia (SEDs) de um conjunto de 17 LINERs (low ionization emission-line region). A partir da nossa modelagem, concluímos que a natureza das fontes centrais dos LINERs pode ser interpretada com sucesso no contexto do modelo ADAF, com a contribuição da emissão de um jato relativístico. Nossos resultados indicam que os LLAGNs produzem jatos intensos, nos quais. a potência cinética é maior que a luminosidade bolométrica. O seguinte cenário físico é favorecido para a origem da emissão nuclear dos LINERs. A emissão rádio (λ>1 mm) origina-se da radiação síncrotron do jato; no intervalo 1 mm - 100 µm, a emissão é dominada pela radiação síncrotron do ADAF; no intervalo 10µm - 1 µm,a radiação provém da emissão térmica do disco fino truncado. Dada a incerteza atual no conhecimento sobre a física dos plasmas nos ADAFs e jatos, diferentes cenários físicos são possíveis para explicar a origem da emissão raios X em LLAGNs: o ADAF, o jato ou uma combinação de ambos. Apresentamos também uma nova implementação do feedback devido aos jatos dos AGNs em simulações da formação de galáxias. Consideramos dois regimes de acreção dependendo da taxa de acreção: disco fino padrão e ADAF; apenas os ADAFs são responsáveis pela produção de jatos intensos. A nossa metodologia para o feedback foi implementada para simular a coevolução entre o buraco negro central e a sua galáxia hospedeira. Obtemos que para z > 1 o AGN é relativamente brilhante (acreção via disco fino) em relação à galáxia e produz jatos fracos. Para z < 1, a falta de gás para alimentar o buraco negro central faz com que o AGN torne-se praticamente "invisível" (acreção via ADAF) e a galáxia torna-se urna galáxia disco hospedando um LLAGN. Neste estágio, a produção de jatos intensos suprime parte da formação estelar na galáxia e regula a acreção de gás ao centro, criando ciclos de atividade do buraco negro central, onde há períodos em que a galáxia é inativa como a Via Láctea. As propriedades da galáxia simulada e da sua atividade nuclear estão em amplo acordo com as propriedades inferidas de observações. / There is compellíng evidence that a significant fraction of the present-day galaxies host supermassive black holes, which are accretíng gas at low rates. The accretion onto these black holes originates the low-Iuminosity active galactic nudei (LLAGNs), which constitute the dominant population of AGNs in nearby galaxies. Our goal in this thesis is to explain the nature of the central engines of LLAGNs, by comparing models for the black hole accretion with different observations. To trus end, we adopt the accretion model favored for "underfed" black holes, the advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF), which has a low radiative efficíency unlike the standard thin accretion disks that explain distant quasars. We investigate two physical models for the jet production from ADAFs, in which the jet power is a function of the black hole spin - the dassical Blandford-Znajek model and a hybrid model developed by Meier - accoímting for relativistic effects. Our analysis indicates that when the black hole spin is high, the jet power is a significant fraction of the energy associated with the rest mass of material accreting onto the black hole. We apply these models to giant ellíptical galaxies hosting LLAGNs, and obtain that the models can explain the observed correlation between the Bondi accretion rates and the jet powers. Our results indicate that the central black holes in ellíptical galaxies are rapidly spinning (a/M > 0.9). We model the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of a sample of 17 LINERs (low ionization emission-line regions). Our modeling shows that the observed SEDs are explained by ADAFs assocíated with relativistic jets, and that LLAGNs produce powerful jets for which the kinetic power exceeds the bolometric luminosity. The following physical scenario is favored to explain the nature of the nuclear emission of LINERs. The radio emission (λ>1 mm) is originated in the jet synchrotron radiation; in the wavelenght range 1 mm - 100 µm,the emission is dominated by the ADAF synchrotron radiation; over the range 10 µm- 1 µm,the main source of light is the thermal emission of the truncated thin disk. Given the uncertainties currently affecting our knowledge of the plasma physics of ADAFs and jets, different scenarios are possible to explain the origin of X-rays in LLAGNs: the ADAF, the jet or a combination of both. Finally, we present a new implementation of feedback due to black holes in simulations of galaxy formation. The novelty of our approach is that v/e consider two distinct accretion modes depending on the black hole accretion rate: thin accretion disks and ADAFs, the latter mode being able to produce powerful jets, which are a source of feedback. This prescription for the AGN feedback was incorporated in a cosmological simulation to investigate the interplay between galaxies and their central black holes during the formation of a disc galaxy. We find that for z > 1 the AGN is relatively bright (thin disk regime) compared to the galaxy and produces weak jets. For z < 1 the accretion rate onto the central black hole drops, the AGN is almost invisible (ADAF regime) and the galaxy becomes a disc galaxy hosting a LLAGN. At this point, the AGN feedback becomes efficient and suppresses star forination, regulating the mass accretion onto the black hole. As a result, the LLAGN has an "on-off" cycle of activity, in which the "off" phase corresponds to an inactive galaxy as our Milky Way. Several properties of the simulated galaxy and its nuclear activity are in broad agreement with observations.

Previous studies have shown that the incidence rate of intervening strong Mg II absorbers towards gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) were a factor of 2-4 higher than towards quasars. Exploring the similar sized and uniformly selected legacy data sets XQ-100 and XSGRB, each consisting of 100 quasar and 81 GRB afterglow spectra obtained with a single instrument (VLT/X-shooter), we demonstrate that there is no disagreement in the number density of strong Mg II absorbers with rest-frame equivalent widths W-r(lambda 2796) > 1 angstrom towards GRBs and quasars in the redshift range 0.1 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 5. With large and similar sample sizes, and path length coverages of Delta z = 57.8 and 254 : 4 for GRBs and quasars, respectively, the incidences of intervening absorbers are consistent within 1 sigma uncertainty levels at all redshifts. For absorbers at z < 2.3, the incidence towards GRBs is a factor of 1.5 +/- 0.4 higher than the expected number of strong Mg II absorbers in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasar spectra, while for quasar absorbers observed with X-shooter we find an excess factor of 1.4 +/- 0.2 relative to SDSS quasars. Conversely, the incidence rates agree at all redshifts with reported high-spectral-resolution quasar data, and no excess is found. The only remaining discrepancy in incidences is between SDSS Mg II catalogues and high-spectral-resolution studies. The rest-frame equivalent-width distribution also agrees to within 1 sigma uncertainty levels between the GRB and quasar samples. Intervening strong Mg II absorbers towards GRBs are therefore neither unusually frequent, nor unusually strong.

We present the results of an optical spectroscopic survey of 46 heavily obscured quasar candidates. Objects are selected using their mid-infrared (mid-IR) colours and magnitudes from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) anzd their optical magnitudes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Candidate Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) are selected to have mid-IR colours indicative of quasar activity and lie in a region of mid-IR colour space outside previously published X-ray based selection regions. We obtain optical spectra for our sample using the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on the Southern African Large Telescope. 30 objects (65 per cent) have identifiable emission lines, allowing for the determination of spectroscopic redshifts. Other than one object at z similar to 2.6, candidates have moderate redshifts ranging from z = 0.1 to 0.8 with a median of 0.3. 21 (70 per cent) of our objects with identified redshift (46 per cent of the whole sample) are identified as AGNs through common optical diagnostics. We model the spectral energy distributions of our sample and found that all require a strong AGN component, with an average intrinsic AGN fraction at 8 mu m of 0.91. Additionally, the fits require large extinction coefficients with an average E(B - V)(AGN) = 17.8 (average A(V)(AGN) = 53.4). By focusing on the area outside traditional mid-IR photometric cuts, we are able to capture and characterize a population of deeply buried quasars that were previously unattainable through X-ray surveys alone.

There is a large degree of variety in the optical variability of quasars and it is unclear whether this is all attributable to a single (set of) physical mechanism(s). We present the results of a systematic search for major flares in active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey as part of a broader study into extreme quasar variability. Such flares are defined in a quantitative manner as being atop of the normal, stochastic variability of quasars. We have identified 51 events from over 900 000 known quasars and high-probability quasar candidates, typically lasting 900 d and with a median peak amplitude of Delta m = 1.25 mag. Characterizing the flare profile with a Weibull distribution, we find that nine of the sources are well described by a single-point single-lens model. This supports the proposal by Lawrence et al. that microlensing is a plausible physical mechanism for extreme variability. However, we attribute the majority of our events to explosive stellar-related activity in the accretion disc: superluminous supernovae, tidal disruption events and mergers of stellar mass black holes.

A brief Chandra observation of the ultraluminous quasar SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 at redshift 6.326 showed it to be a relatively bright, soft X-ray source with a count rate of about 1 count ks(-1). In this article, we present results for the quasar from a 65-ks XMM-Newton observation, which constrains its spectral shape well. The quasar is clearly detected with a total of similar to 460 net counts in the 0.2-10 keV band. The spectrum is characterized by a simple power-law model with a photon index of Gamma = 2.30(-0.10)(+0.10) and the intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity is 3.14 x 10(45) erg s(-1). The 1 sigma upper limit to any intrinsic absorption column density is N-H = 6.07 x 10(22) cm(-2). No significant iron emission lines were detected. We derive an X-ray-to- optical flux ratio alpha(ox) of -1.74 +/- 0.01, consistent with the values found in other quasars of comparable ultraviolet luminosity. We did not detect significant flux variations either in the XMM-Newton exposure or between XMM-Newton and Chandra observations, which are separated by similar to 8 months. The X-ray observation enables the bolometric luminosity to be calculated after modelling the spectral energy distribution: the accretion rate is found to be sub-Eddington.

Thesis. 1977. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Bibliography : leaves 28-31. / by Robert F. Willson. / M.S.

J'ai consacré mon travail de thèse à la recherche de quasars à haut redshift dans le sondage Canada France High-z Quasar Survey in the Near Infrared (CFHQSIR). L'objectif principal de ce programme est de découvrir des quasars de redshift de l'ordre de z $\sim$ 7 dans les champs larges du CFHTLS (CFHTLS Wide) en utilisant des images réalisées dans le proche infrarouge avec la caméra WIRCam installée au foyer du CFHT. J'ai tout d'abord effectué la calibration photométrique de l'ensemble des données de CFHQSIR. J'ai ensuite étudié la qualité des images ainsi que leur propriété de bruit et leur profondeur. J'ai dans un deuxième temps calculé le nombre de quasars qu'il serait possible de détecter avec CFHQSIR et en ai déduit les contraintes envisageables sur la fonction de luminosité des quasars à z $\sim$ 7. J'ai ensuite procédé à l'identification de candidats quasars parmi les dizaines de milliers de sources que comptent les 130 degrés carrés couvert par CFHQSIR. Des observations de suivi photométriques des candidats ont finalement permis de révéler une cinquantaine d’objets, dont une quinzaine a été sélectionnée pour des observations spectroscopiques au Very Large Telescope (VLT). Celles-ci n’ayant, pour la plupart, pas encore été realisées, la nature exacte de ces sources ne pourra être connue que dans les prochains mois. Pour finir, la dernière partie de ma thèse s’est focalisée sur l’étude de modèles statistiques bayésiens afin de compléter ma méthode de sélection de candidats quasars. Cette étude m'a finalement permis de vérifier que la majorité des objets retenus pour des observations spectroscopiques étaient effectivement les candidats les plus probables. / My PhD work is focused on the search for high-redshift quasars in the Canada France High-z Quasar Survey in the Near Infrared (CFHQSIR). The main scientific objective of this CFHT Large Program is to search for quasars at redshift z $\sim$ 7 with near-infrared images of the CFHTLS Wide fields acquired with the CFHT WIRCam camera. Firstly, I carried out the photometric calibration of the CFHQSIR images. I performed a detailed analysis of the CFHQSIR data by studying their quality, as well as their noise properties and their depths.Secondly, I computed the number of high-redshift quasars that could be detected with CFHQSIR and the corresponding constraints which could be put on the z $\sim$ 7 quasar luminosity function. Then, I proceeded to the identification of quasar candidates among the many thousands of sources in the 130 square degrees covered by CFHQSIR. Photometric follow-up observations of the candidates revealed about fifty objects, of which fifteen were chosen to be spectroscopically observed with the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Given that this spectroscopic follow-up is not yet completed, the exact nature of these sources will only be known in the coming months. To finish, I applied Bayesian model comparison to my sample in order to complete and consolidate my selection procedure. My candidates were finally classified according to their probability to be a high-redshift quasar. I verified that the majority of the most likely candidates were selected for spectroscopic observations.

Des systèmes d'absorption Lorentziens, qui sondent les nuages de gaz HI de plus hautes densités de colonne, servent ici à sonder les environnements de galaxies hôtes de noyaux actifs à grand décalage spectral (z > 2). Ceci permet d'étudier l'effet des mécanismes de rétroaction des noyaux actifs sur les galaxies hôtes, tel que les vents à haute vitesse et l'ionisation intense. J'implémente deux techniques pour identifier les systèmes Lorentziens au décalage spectral du quasar dans les données du Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey.Un tel système Lorentzien fait office de coronographe naturel puisqu'il absorbe complètement le rayonnement provenant du noyau actif. Parfois une raie Lyα étroite émise par la galaxie est superposée à l'absorption. J'étudie un échantillon statistiquement complet et je caractérise l'émission. Les systèmes Lorentziens qui révèlent les raies étroites d'émission Lyα les plus lumineuses proviennent de nuages denses et compacts dans la galaxie hôte. Les autres sont dus à des galaxies voisines du quasars.Une deuxième technique consiste à observer des paires de quasars ayant une petite séparation angulaire pour sonder les environnements des galaxies hôtes à des distances transverses inférieures à 90 kpc. J'analyse les propriétés du gaz pour des paires où un système Lorentzien apparait dans le spectre du quasar d'arrière plan coïncident avec le pic d'émission Lyα du quasar de premier plan.Dans une des paires, je détecte une sur-densité de systèmes absorbants à z = 2.69 dans une région correspondant à 6.4 Mpc en distance propre. Les propriétés de cette région suggèrent un filament du milieu intergalactique. / Damped Lyman-α absorbers (DLAs), the highest column density HI Lyman-α (Lyα) absorptions, are used in this thesis to study the environments of high-redshift (z > 2) quasar host galaxies. This is essential for determining how feedback mechanisms from active galactic nuclei (AGN), including high-velocity winds and intense ionizing radiation, impact the host galaxies. Thanks to the large number of quasar sight-lines from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, I implement two techniques to identify DLAs that occur at the quasar redshift.Along the sight-line, these DLAs act as natural coronagraphs and completely absorb the broad Lyα emission from the central AGN. In some cases, a narrow Lyα emission line from the quasar host galaxy is superimposed on the DLA trough. I compare coronagraph DLAs that reveal narrow Lyα emission with those that do not in a statistically complete sample and characterize the emission. DLAs with the most luminous narrow Lyα emission peaks may arise from dense, compact clouds in the host galaxy, while the others may be due to neighboring galaxies. With a second technique, I use pairs of quasars with small angular separations to investigate host galaxy environments at distances of less than 90 kpc in the transverse direction. I analyze the gas properties for pairs where a DLA appears in the background quasar spectrum coincident with the foreground quasar Lyα emission peak.In one of the pairs, I also detect an overdensity of Lyman-limit system absorbers at z = 2.69 in a region spanning 2000 km/s (6.4 Mpc proper distance) along the two sight-lines. The overdense region properties suggest an intergalactic medium filament.

Les raies d'absorption de quasars sont des outils efficaces pour étudier le milieu interstellaire dans les galaxies. Dans ce travail, nous étudions un échantillon de soixante-six systèmes absorbants à z<1.5 sélectionnés pour la présence de raies d'absorption de CI intenses dans leurs spectres SDSS. Ils sont observés par les spectrographes X-shooter et UVES du VLT de l'ESO. Nous étudions en tout 17 systèmes observés par X-shooter. Nous déduisons la métallicité, la déplétion par la poussière, le taux d'extinction par la poussière et le taux d'absorption des raies de MgII, MgI, CaII et NaI décalées dans l'infrarouge proche. Nous détectons neuf raies d'absorption de CaII avec W(CaII λ3934)>0.23Å. Nous détectons dix raies d'absorption de NaI dans quatorze systèmes susceptibles d'en montrer. La largeur équivalente médiane de W(NaI λ5891)=0.68Å est plus grande que celles observées dans des nuages proches ayant des densités-colonnes de HI similaires ou dans des systèmes CaII à z<0.7 détectés par le SDSS. La présence systématique de raies d'absorption de NaI dans ces systèmes CI suggère fortement que le gaz environnant est neutre et froid, et donc peut faire partie du gaz moléculaire diffus dans le milieu interstellaire de galaxies à fort décalage vers le rouge. Les raies d'absorption de MgII s'étalent sur plus de 400km/s en Δv pour la moitié de l'échantillon; trois systèmes ont un Δv supérieur à 500 km/s. Tout ceci suggère qu'une fraction importante du gaz froid à fort décalage vers le rouge émane d'environnements perturbés. Nous détectons de l'hydrogène moléculaire dans tous les systèmes dans la limite de détection. / Quasar absorption lines are a powerful tool to study the interstellar medium(ISM) in the galaxies. We study a sample of 66 z >1.5 absorbers selected based on the presence of strong CI absorption lines in SDSS spectra and observed with the ESO-VLT spectrograph X-shooter/UVES. I study 17 systems that are re-observed by X-shooter. I derive metallicities, depletion onto dust, extinction by dust and analyse the absorption from MgII, MgI, CaII and NaI that are redshifted into the near infrared wavelength range. I detect 9 CaII absorptions with W(CaII λ3934) > 0.23 Å out of 14 systems. I detect 10 NaI absorptions in the 11 systems where we could observe this absorption. The median equivalent width (W(NaI λ5891) = 0.68 Å) is larger than what is observed in local clouds with similar HI column densities but also in z<0.7 CaII systems detected in the SDSS. The systematic presence of NaI absorption in these CI systems strongly suggests that the gas is neutral and cold, maybe part of the diffuse molecular gas in the ISM of high-redshift galaxies. The MgII absorptions are spread over more than Δv ~ 400 km/s for half of the systems; three absorbers have Δv > 500 km/s. The kinematics is strongly perturbed for most of these systems which probably do not arise in quiet disks and must be close to regions with intense star formation activity. All this suggests that a large fraction of the cold gas at high redshift arises in disturbed environments. We detect molecular hydrogen in all the systems within the detection limit.

Un siècle après le modèle d'univers de Friedmann-Lemaître, les observations le confortent avec une constante cosmologique $\Lambda$ et une composante de matière sombre (noire) sans pression (poussière) et froide dominant celle baryonique, que l'on désigne par modèle $\Lambda$CDM. L'accélération de l'expansion de l'Univers confirmée par le diagramme de Hubble des supernovae en 1998 impose une valeur strictement positive à la constante cosmologique. Mes travaux de thèse se focalisent sur l'estimation des valeurs de paramètres cosmologiques du modèle standard en utilisant la technique de corrélation nulle. Cette approche présente l'avantage d'être plus robuste que les techniques usuelles. Ce travail a consisté aussi à modéliser des échantillons de l'événement quasar ainsi que l'événement supernova, une extrapolation adaptée du premier. Ce qui a permis de générer des échantillons conformes aux hypothèses des modèles, afin de valider les approches statistiques. Nous avons exploité les données du Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) pour les quasars, et celles du SuperNova Legacy Survey (SNLS) et du SDSS-II pour les supernovae. Les inférences statistiques ont conduit à un univers spatialement fermé et une présence de matière noire plus faible. Dans le cadre d'une prochaine application de cette technique, elle sera utilisée pour contraindre les modèles d'énergie noire. De même, l'utilisation des amas de galaxies observées grâce à l'effet de Sunyaev Zel'dovich, servira d'échantillon cosmologique. Une telle étude pourra contribuer à apporter un élément de réponse à la validité du rôle supposé des neutrinos massifs dans la formation des amas dans l'ère primordiale de l'Univers. / A century after the Universe model of Friedmann-Lemaître, the observations comfort it with a cosmological constant $\Lambda$ and a dark matter component without pressure (dust) and cold dominating the baryonic one, which is denoted by $\Lambda$CDM model. The acceleration of the expansion of the Universe confirmed by the Hubble diagram of the supernovae in 1998 imposes a strictly positive value on the cosmological constant. My thesis work focuses on the estimation of the cosmological parameters values of the standard model using the null correlation technique. This approach has the advantage of being more robust than the usual techniques. This work deals with modelling samples of the quasar event and the supernova event, which enables us to generate samples in order to validate the statistical approaches. We used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for quasars, and the SuperNova Legacy Survey (SNLS) and SDSS-II for supernovae. The Statistical inferences suggest a Universe spatially Closed and a weaker presence of dark matter than that in the Standard model. Such a statistical analysis can be used to constrain dark energy models. Application of this technique might be useful for analyzing of clusters of galaxies observed through the effect of Sunyaev Zel'dovich, in view of deriving the cosmological model and provide an answer to the question of the contribution of massive neutrinos in the formation of clusters in the primordial era of the Universe.