Thesis. 1976. Sc.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Bibliography: leaves 225-237. / Sc.D.

Cool giant and supergiant stars are among the largest and most luminous stars in the Universe and, therefore, dominate the integrated light of their host galaxies. These stars were extensively studied during last few decades, however their relevant properties like photometric variability and mass loss are still poorly constrained. Understanding of these properties is crucial in the context of a broad range of astrophysical questions including chemical enrichment of the Universe, supernova progenitors, and the extragalactic distance scale. Atmospheres of giant and supergiant stars are characterized by complex dynamics due to different interacting processes, such as convection, pulsation, formation of molecules and dust, and the development of mass loss. Current 1D/3D dynamical model atmospeheres are able to simulate these processes and produce a good agreement with the observed spectral features of evolved stars. However, the models lack constraints and need to be confronted to observables. Dynamical processes in stellar atmospheres impact the formation of spectral lines producing their asymmetries and Doppler shifts. Thus, by studying the line-profile variations on spatial and temporal scales it is possible to reconstruct atmospheric motions in evolved stars. As will be shown in this thesis, a tomographic method is an ideal technique for this purpose. The tomographic method is based on construction and cross-correlation of spectral templates (masks) with observed or synthetic stellar spectra in order to recover velocity fields at different optical depths in the stellar atmosphere.The first part of the thesis further improves the original implementation of the tomographic method. This improvement involves the computation of the contribution function in order to correctly determine an optical depth of formation of spectral lines. The tomographic method is, then, fully validated by applying it to a stellar convection simulation of a red supergiant star and correctly recovering its velocity field throughout the atmosphere. The second part of the thesis applies the tomographic method to the red supergiant star μ Cep in order to constrain its atmospheric motions and relate them to photometric variability. A phase lag (hysteresis) between the effective temperature and the radial velocity variations is revealed with timescales of a few hundred days, similar to photometric ones. A comparison to a stellar convection simulation of a red supergiant star indicates that hysteresis loops are linked to the stochastic shocks generated and shaped by the underlying large-scale convection and may be responsible for photometric variations in μ Cep. The third part of the thesis applies the tomographic method to spectro-interferometric observations of the Mira-type star S Ori. The uniform-disk angular diameters measured at wavelengths contributing to the tomographic masks increase with decrease of an optical depth probed by the masks. This validates the capability of the tomographic method to probe distinct geometrical depths in the stellar atmosphere. The last part of the thesis applies the tomograhic method to the Mira-type star RY Cep and compares the results to those obtained for μ Cep in this thesis. The comparison reveals differences in their behavior in the temperature-velocity plane pointing to the posibility to differentiate between Mira-type and red supergiant stars from their spectroscopic signatures. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Nous cherchons à mettre en évidence l'influence des hétérogénéités de température, de structure ou de composition des atmosphères sur leurs observations. Dans le années à venir, de plus en plus d'appareils vont permettre l'observation par transmission des atmosphères d'exoplanètes. Toutefois, les outils numériques permettant de contraindre ces dernières reposent sur des modèles simples à une dimension. Ils supposent en effet des atmosphères ne possédant qu'une structure verticale (le climat est le même en tout point de la surface, la composition ou la température n'évolue qu'avec l'altitude). Cette approche a le mérite de permettre des calculs rapides et de contraindre les paramètres globaux de l'atmosphère avec des temps raisonnables. Ceci ne serait pas possible en l'état avec une modélisation en 3 dimensions des atmosphères, même si ce serait beaucoup plus réaliste. Ce que nous cherchons à mettre en évidence, ce sont les limites des techniques actuelles d'inversion et donc, de caractérisation des atmosphères qui seront observées. Pour cela, il fallait mettre au point un logiciel capable de résoudre le transfert radiatif au sein d'une atmosphère en 3 dimensions (et non plus 1 seul). Une fois le logiciel terminé, nous avons éprouvé l'algorithme de traitement du signal TauREx en comparant les résultats qu'il proposait à des simulations atmosphériques parfaitement contrôlées. Nous nous sommes tout principalement arrêté sur les biais découlant d'hétérogénéités de température en simulant des atmosphères avec un fort contraste jour/nuit. Ceci nous a permis de caractériser les biais découlant de ces types d'hétérogénéités, de les quantifier et de mettre l'accent sur un biais jusqu'ici très sous-estimé par la communauté, à savoir celui découlant des hétérogénéités le long de la ligne de visée. Nous avons appuyé nos propos et concentré nos efforts sur l'interprétation de l'inversion d'une simulation complexe de l'atmosphère de GJ 1214 b. La reconstitution de la chaine observationnelle : GCM (LMD), Pytmosph3R (LAB) et TauREx (UCL) ouvre les portes d'un vaste panel d'études envisageables, et notamment tout ce qui va concerner l'identification et la caractérisation des biais systématiques qui incomberont les observations à venir. / Transmission spectroscopy provides us with information on the atmospheric properties at the limb, which is often intuitively assumed to be a narrow annulus aound ther planet. Consequently, the few recent studies on the effect of atmospheric horizontal heterogeneities on transmission spectra have used approaches sensitive to variations along the limb only. Here we demonstrate that the region probed in transmission – the limb – actually extends significantly toward the day and night sides of the planet. Consequently we show that thestrong day-night thermal and compositional gradients expected on synchronous exoplanets create sufficient heterogeneities across the limb to result in important systematic effects on the spectrum and bias its interpretation. To quantify these effects, we developed a 3D radiative transfer model able to generate transmission spectra of atmospheres based on 3D atmospheric structures, whether they come from a Global Climate Model or more parametrized models. We first apply this tool to a simulation of the atmosphere of GJ 1214 b toproduce synethic JWST observations and show that producing a spectrum using only atmospheric columns at the terminator results in errors greater than expected noise. This demonstrates the necessity of a real 3D approach to model data for such precise observatories.Second, we investigate how day-night temperature gradients cause a systematic bias in retrieval analysis performed with 1D forward models. For that purpose we synthesize a large set of forward spectra for prototypical HD209458 b and GJ 1214 b type planets varying the temperatures of the day and night sides as well as the width of the transition region. We then perform typical retrievalanalyses and compare the retrieved parameters to the ground truth of the input model. This study reveals systematic biases on the retrieved temperature (found to be higher than the terminator temperature) and absorber abundances. This is due to the fact that the hotter dayside is more extended vertically and screens the nightside—a result of the nonlinear properties of atmospheric transmission.These biases will be difficult to detect as the 1D profiles used in the retrieval procedure are found to provide an excellent match to theobserved spectra based on standard fitting criteria (chi2, posterior distributions). This fact needs to be kept in mind when interpretingcurrent and future data.

L’imagerie moléculaire occupe une place majeure dans le domaine de la recherche préclinique. Parmi les modalités existantes, les techniques optiques fondées sur la détection d’un rayonnement visible ou proche infrarouge sont les plus récentes et sont principalement représentées par les méthodes de tomographie optique de luminescence. Ces méthodes permettent une caractérisation 3D d’un milieu biologique par la reconstruction de cartes de concentration ou la localisation de marqueurs luminescents sensibles à des processus biologiques et chimiques se déroulant à l’échelle de la cellule ou de la molécule. La tomographie de luminescence se fonde sur un modèle de propagation de la lumière dans les tissus, un protocole d’acquisition du signal en surface du milieu et une procédure numérique d’inversion de ces mesures afin de reconstruire les paramètres d’intérêts. Ce travail de thèse s’articule donc autour de ces trois axes et apporte un élément de réponse à chacun des problèmes. L’objectif principal de cette étude est d’introduire et de présenter des outils d’évaluation des performances théoriques d’une méthode de tomographie optique. L’un des aboutissements majeurs est la réalisation de reconstructions tomographiques expérimentales à partir d’images acquises par un imageur optique conçu pour l’imagerie planaire 2D et développé par la société Quidd. Dans un premier temps nous abordons la théorie du transport en milieu diffusant afin de poser les concepts et outils sur lesquels vont s’appuyer l’ensemble des travaux. Nous présentons particulièrement deux modèles de propagation différents ainsi que les méthodes de résolution et les difficultés théoriques qui leur sont liées. Dans une deuxième partie nous introduisons les outils statistiques utilisés pour caractériser les systèmes tomographiques et leur résolution potentielle. Nous définissons une procédure et nous l’appliquons à l’étude de quelques situations simples en tomographie de luminescence. La dernière partie de ce travail présente la mise au point d’une procédure d’inversion. Après avoir présenté le cadre théorique dans lequel cette procédure s’inscrit nous la validons à partir de données numériques avant de l’appliquer avec succès à des mesures expérimentales. / Molecular imaging is a major modality in the field of preclinical research. Among the existing methods, techniques based on optical detection of visible or near infrared radiation are the most recent and are mainly represented by luminescence optical tomography techniques. These methods allow for 3D characterization of a biological medium by reconstructing maps of concentration or localisation of luminescent beacons sensitive to biological and chemical processes at the molecular or cellular scale. Luminescence optical tomography is based on a model of light propagation in tissues, a protocol for acquiring surface signal and a numerical inversion procedure used to reconstruct the parameters of interest. This thesis is structured around these three axes and provides an answer to each problem. The main objective of this study is to introduce and present the tools to evaluate the theoretical performances of optical tomography methods. One of its major outcomes is the realisation of experimental tomographic reconstructions from images acquired by an optical imager designed for 2D planar imaging and developed by the company Quidd. In a first step we develop the theory of transport in scattering medium to establish the concept on which our work will rely. We present two different propagation models as well as resolution methods and theoretical difficulties associated with them. In a second part we introduce the statistical tools used to characterise tomographic systems. We define and apply a procedure to simple situations in luminescence optical tomography. The last part of this work presents the development of an inversion procedure. After introducing the theoretical frameworkwe validate the procedure fromnumerical data before successfully applying it to experimentalmeasurements.

Nessa tese procuramos o decaimento radioativo raro - -. É um dos resultados da experiência E761 realizada no Proton Center do Fermilab, usando o feixe de híperons carregados com momento de 377 GeV/c. Medimos a fração deste feixe que é constituída de -, sendo esta (3,9 ±0,3)X10-5. Não encontramos sinal do decaimento radiativo - - e determinamos um novo limite superior de 7,5X 10-4 (90% CL). / In this thesis we have searched for the rare hyperon radiative decay - -. It is one of the results of E761 experiment which was realized at Fermilab Proton Center using a 377 GevIc charged hyperon beam. We measure the - beam fraction, which is (3.9 ± 0.3)x10-5 at the start of the decay region. No signal for the radiative decay was found and we determine a new upper limit of 7.5 x 10-4 at 90% CL for the - - branching ratio.

Previous studies have shown that thermal feedback from protostars plays a key role in the process of low-mass star formation. In this thesis, we explore the effects of protostellar heating on the formation of stellar clusters. We describe new methods for modelling protostellar accretion luminosities and protostellar evolution in calculations of star formation. We then present results of a series of numerical simulations of stellar cluster formation which include these effects, and examine their impact. We begin by investigating the dependence of stellar properties on the initial density of molecular clouds. We find that the dependence of the median stellar mass on the initial density of the cloud is weaker than the dependence of the thermal Jeans mass when radiative effects are included. We suggest that including protostellar accretion luminosities and protostellar evolution may weaken this dependence further, and may account for the observed invariance of the median stellar mass in Galactic star-forming regions. Next, we investigate the effects of including accretion feedback from sink particles on the formation of small stellar groups. We find that including accretion feedback in calculations suppresses fragmentation even further than calculations that only include radiative transfer within the gas. Including feedback also produces a higher median stellar mass, which is insensitive to the sink particle accretion radius used. Finally, we compare calculations of small stellar clusters which model the evolution of protostars using a live stellar model with those which use a fixed stellar structure. We find that the dynamics of the clusters are primarily determined by the accretion luminosities of protostars, but that the relative effects of protostellar evolution depend on the accretion rate and advection of energy into the protostar. We also demonstrate how such calculations may be used to study the properties of young stellar populations.

Nessa tese procuramos o decaimento radioativo raro - -. É um dos resultados da experiência E761 realizada no Proton Center do Fermilab, usando o feixe de híperons carregados com momento de 377 GeV/c. Medimos a fração deste feixe que é constituída de -, sendo esta (3,9 ±0,3)X10-5. Não encontramos sinal do decaimento radiativo - - e determinamos um novo limite superior de 7,5X 10-4 (90% CL). / In this thesis we have searched for the rare hyperon radiative decay - -. It is one of the results of E761 experiment which was realized at Fermilab Proton Center using a 377 GevIc charged hyperon beam. We measure the - beam fraction, which is (3.9 ± 0.3)x10-5 at the start of the decay region. No signal for the radiative decay was found and we determine a new upper limit of 7.5 x 10-4 at 90% CL for the - - branching ratio.

Mineral dust aerosol plays an important role in determining the physical and chemical equilibrium of the atmosphere. The radiative balance of the Earth's atmosphere can be affected by mineral dust through both direct and indirect means. Mineral dust can directly scatter or absorb incoming visible solar radiation and outgoing terrestrial IR radiation. Dust particles can also serve as cloud condensation nuclei, thereby increasing albedo, or provide sites for heterogeneous reactions with trace gas species, which are indirect effects. Unfortunately, many of these processes are poorly understood due to incomplete knowledge of the physical and chemical characteristics of the particles including dust concentration and global distribution, as well as aerosol composition, mixing state, and size and shape distributions. Much of the information about mineral dust aerosol loading and spatial distribution is obtained from remote sensing measurements which often rely on measuring the scattering or absorption of light from these particles and are thus subject to errors arising from an incomplete understanding of the scattering processes. The light scattering properties of several key mineral components of atmospheric dust have been measured at three different wavelengths in the visible. In addition, measurements of the scattering were performed for several authentic mineral dust aerosols, including Saharan sand, diatomaceous earth, Iowa loess soil, and palagonite. These samples include particles that are highly irregular in shape. Using known optical constants along with measured size distributions, simulations of the light scattering process were performed using both Mie and T-Matrix theories. Particle shapes were approximated as a distribution of spheroids for the T-Matrix calculations. It was found that the theoretical model simulations differed markedly from experimental measurements of the light scattering, particularly near the mid-range and near backscattering angles. In many cases, in the near backward direction, theoretical models predicted scattering intensities for near spherical particles that were up to 3 times higher than the experimentally measured values. It was found that better agreement between simulations and experiments could be obtained for the visible scattering by using a much wider range of more eccentric particle shapes.

The radiative transfer equation (RTE) models the transport of radiation through a participating medium. In particular, it captures how radiation is scattered, emitted, and absorbed as it interacts with the medium. This process arises in numerous application areas, including: neutron transport in nuclear reactors, radiation therapy in cancer treatment planning, and the investigation of forming galaxies in astrophysics. As a result, there is great interest in the solution of the RTE in many different fields. We consider the energy dependent form of the RTE and allow media containing regions of negligible absorption. This particular case is not often considered due to the additional dimension and stability issues which arise by allowing vanishing absorption. In this thesis, we establish the existence and uniqueness of the underlying boundary value problem. We then proceed to develop a stable numerical algorithm for solving the RTE. Alongside the construction of the method, we derive corresponding error estimates. To show the validity of the algorithm in practice, we apply the algorithm to four different example problems. We also use these examples to validate our theoretical results.

Les étoiles de masse intermédiaire (2M⊙ ≤ M ≤ 10M⊙) sont parmi les sources dominantes du champ interstellaire FUV dans la Galaxie. Elles régulent les phases du milieu interstellaire et l’ensemble des processus de formation stellaire galactique. Alors que les protoétoiles de type solaire et massives ont été et continuent à faire l’objet de nombreuses études, la formation des étoiles intermédiaires a été relativement peu étudiée. Leur structure physique, composition chimique et leur richesse moléculaire sont un domaine à explorer.L’objectif de ma thèse est d’obtenir un recensement détaillé et aussi complète que possible des propriétés physico-chimiques d’une protoétoile isolée de masse intermédiaire. Notre choix s’est porté sur Cep E-mm (100 L⊙).J’ai pour cela complété un relevé spectral de l’émission moléculaire dans les bandes (sub)millimétriques entre 72 et 350 GHz avec le télescope de 30m de l’IRAM. La sensibilité des observations a permis d’identifier la présence de nombreuses molécules complexes organiques (COMs) dans l’enveloppe de la protoétoile, mais aussi, plusieurs espèces moléculaires inhabituelles dans le jet généré par la protoétoile. Des observations complémentaires avec le télescope de 30m ont permis de cartographier l’émission moléculaire à grande échelle (20’’ à 11’’ ; 15000 à 8000 UA). En parallèle, des cartes interférométriques de l’émission moléculaire entre 86 – 90 GHz et 216 – 220 GHz ont été obtenues avec l’interféromètre de l’IRAM (NOEMA) à 1.4’’ (1000 UA) de résolution angulaire. Ces observations m’ont permis d’obtenir une première description de la distribution de l’émission moléculaire au sein de l’enveloppe, des grandes échelles, dans les parties extérieures de l’enveloppe étendue, aux petites échelles dans la région d’un hot corino. Les études présentées ici ont suivi un travail méticuleux de réduction et d’analyse des données, single-dish et interférométriques. Plus précisément, j’ai identifié et séparé les contributions à l’émission détectée dans le lobe du télescope de 30m de l’IRAM des différentes régions physiques du cœur protostellaire. De ce fait, j’ai identifié et caractérisé quatre composantes physiques qui diffèrent par leurs propriétés spectroscopiques et leurs conditions d’excitation : l’enveloppe étendue, le hot corino, le flot bipolaire basse vitesse et le jet à haute vitesse. Enfin, l’anisotropie de la distribution de brillance du flot et du jet bipolaire ne peut pas être modélisée par l’approche ‘’classique’’ d’une source gaussienne. J’ai développé des outils spécifiques semi-analytiques pour calculer de manière approchée, et plus raisonnable, le couplage entre le lobe du télescope et la source. / Intermediate-mass stars (2 M⊙ ≤ M ≤ 10 M⊙) are among the dominant sources of FUV interstellar field in the Galaxy. They regulate the phases of interstellar medium and the whole process of galactic star formation. While solar-type and massive protostars have been and continue to be the subject of many studies, the formation of intermediate stars has been relatively little studied. Their physical structure, chemical composition and molecular richness are still a subject to explore.The aim of my thesis is to obtain a detailed census, as complete as possible ,of the physical and chemical structure of an isolated intermediate-mass protostar: Cep E-mm (100 L⊙).I have completed a spectral survey of the molecular emission in the (sub)millimetre bands between 72 and 350 GHz with IRAM 30m telescope. The sensitivity of the observations made it possible to identify the presence of numerous complex organic molecules (COMs) in the protostar envelope, but also several unusual molecular species in the protostellar jet. Additionally, further observations with the IRAM 30m telescope made it possible to map the molecular emission at large scale (20’’ to 11’’; 15000 to 8000 AU). In parallel, interferometric maps of the molecular emission between 86 – 90 GHz and 216 – 220 GHz were obtained with NOEMA, the IRAM interferometer, at 1.4’’ (1000 AU) of angular resolution. These observations allowed me to obtain the distribution of molecular emission within the source, from large scales in the outer parts of the extended envelope, to the small scales in the hot corino region. The single-dish and interferometric observations were reduced and analysed in a meticulous manner. More precisely, I identified and separated the molecular emission contribution from the different physical regions as observed with the IRAM 30m telescope. I have identified and characterized fours physical components that differ in their spectroscopic properties and excitation conditions: the extended envelope, the hot corino, the bipolar outflow and the high-velocity jet. Finally, the anisotropy of the brightness distribution from the outflow system cannot be modelled by the “classical” Gaussian approach. I have developed specific tools to estimate, in a semi-analytical manner, the coupling between the telescope lobe and the source.