Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Galactis bulge'

In order to measure radial and/or rotation velocities and obtain metallicities for the stellar population of the Galactic bulge, several hundred spectra of giants have been obtained. These include three bulge fields at projected distances from the Galactic center of 1.5, 1.7 and 1.7 kpc, and 33 globular and open clusters. We measure metallicities based on a calibration from stars belonging to the field and to clusters of known abundances. There is a clear dependence of the kinematics on metallicity in all the fields studied, in the sense that the more metal poor stars have lower rotation and higher velocity dispersion than the more metal rich stars. In particular, we identify the giants having [Fe/H] ≤ 1.0 with an extension of the halo population to the innermost regions of the Galaxy rather than with the bulge itself. Near-IR photometry of 21 globulars clusters and bulge fields within 3 kpc of the Galactic center has also been obtained. We find a metallicity gradient with radial distance from the center, consistent with previous results obtained from optical photometry. We argue that the majority of the metal rich globulars within 3 kpc of the center are associated with the bulge population. We also argue that the RR Lyraes previously studied in bulge fields are associated with the inner halo, and that the bulge is younger than the halo. Other kinematic tracers are examined (M giants, RR Lyraes, Miras, OH/IR stars, planetary nebulae) to associate them with different Galactic components. We conclude that all the existing evidence shows that dissipation played an important role in the formation of the bulge.

The evolution of tidal debris within the Galactic halo has been simulated to determine its detectability within the constraints imposed by currently available telescopes and instrumentation. Observations of the simulations show that there is a very high probability of detecting and quantifying the presence of tidal debris with a pencil beam survey of 100 square degrees. The debris is readily detectable via the presence of kinematic substructure in the radial velocities. The detection probabilities show surprisingly little change with the age of the debris. Accretion events that occurred up to ≳ 10 Gyr ago can be detected. In the limiting case of a single 10⁷ M(⊙) satellite contributing 1% of the luminous halo mass the detection probability is a few percent using just the velocities of 100 halo stars in a single 1 deg² field. The detection probabilities scale with the accreted fraction of the halo and the number of fields surveyed. Accurate CMDs in the Washington photometric system have been derived for four fields spanning the range of Galactocentric distances from 1.5 to 5.5 kpc. The differential reddening variations within each field were corrected by a new technique optimized for the highly variable reddening variations found in bulge fields. Abundance distributions in the four fields were derived from color-color diagrams in the Washington system. The quality of the photometry which yields photometric abundances with σ[Fe/H] ≲ 0.25 dex (including reddening errors) supplemented by the luminosity information from observations in the 51 filter allows contamination by foreground and background stars to be eliminated from the bulge sample. A clear abundance gradient is seen which is consistent with the change in morphology of the CMDs. The abundance gradient is predominantly due to a decrease in the fraction of stars in the metal-rich shoulder of the abundance distributions. The modal abundance changes little. Relative to Baade's window the magnitude distribution of clump stars in the L354 B-06 field implies a bar angle of ≃ 40 deg.

Includes abstract.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-99).
In this thesis, a deep neutral hydrogen (HI) galaxy search for galaxies hidden by the Galactic Bulge is presented. The HI Parkes deep HI Zone of Avoidance (ZOA) survey has been extended towards the higher latitudes in the Galactic Bulge region. The surveyed region covers 332° ≤ l ≤ 36° for the region 5° ≤ │b│ ≤ 10° and 352° ≤ l ≤ 24° for the region 10° ≤ │b│ ≤ 15°.

A planetary nebula (PN) consists of material, mainly gas, that has been ejected from a star on the asymptotic giant branch of its life cycle. This material emits electromagnetic radiation due to photoionization and recombination, collisional and radiative excitation or free-free radiation. The envelope of material moves outwards from the central star and may take one of a variety of shapes. These shapes are believed to be sculpted by the stellar wind, magnetic fields and interactions with a binary companion. However, within a time scale of as little as 10 000 years the nebula fades from view and merges with the interstellar medium.Similar variations in the shape of planetary nebulae (PNe) can be seen in both the Galactic Bulge and Disc and in the Magellanic Clouds. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the shaping process is universal. By classifying PNe by morphology and relating those shapes to other nebular properties we have attempted to derive information about that shaping process.We have used photometric narrowband observations of a sample of PNe listed in the Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae to investigate the relationship between PN morphology and the other PN characteristics. The high resolution images were made using ESO's New Technology Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. The information we could obtain directly from the observations was augmented by information in the literature in order to address that question. The observations were used to classify the morphologies of 154 PNe, to estimate the sizes of 138 of those nebulae that we considered to lie within the Galactic Bulge, to determine the orientations of 130 of those Bulge nebulae and to derive photometric fluxes for the 69 PNe which had observations of standard stars made during the same night. Information on central star binarity, nebular abundances and radial and expansion velocity was obtained from the literature.Our photometrically derived PNe line fluxes were used to verify 59 H-beta and 69 [OIII] catalogued values (which were obtained using spectroscopy). We found sufficient discrepancy between the values for 9 PNe to merit a further check taking place.We found no distinguishing relationship between PN morphology and any of PN size, radial velocity, or angular location within the Bulge. The abundances of He and O, and the N/O ratio, are generally lower in bipolar nebulae than in those nebulae with no apparent internal structure. We are unable to come to any conclusion as to a relationship between PN morphology and stellar metallicity.Given the short lifespan of PNe and the age of the Bulge it appears that almost all PNe in the Bulge must be associated with low mass stars. The high ratio of bipolar PNe we found in our Bulge sample suggests that, at least within the Bulge, bipolar nebulae are not necessarily associated with high mass stars. Our results show that unlike the orientations of other types of PNe the orientations of the bipolar nebulae in the Bulge are not randomly distributed. Measured to a line tip to tip along the lobes they peak and have their mean approximately along the Galactic Plane. This suggests that the bipolar PNe originate in a different environment from other morphological types, perhaps related to binary separation. However, we find that bipolarity does not imply common-envelope evolution. If the hypothesis that bipolar nebulae are formed in binary star systems is correct, binary systems in the Galactic Bulge have angular momentum vectors that are preferentially aligned along the Galactic Plane. As the orientation appears to be unrelated to lobe size and hence nebular age, the alignment implies that the non-random nature of the angular momentum vectors originated at the time the Bulge stellar population formed. We suggest that it is due to the direction and strength of the ambient magnetic fields.

The formation and evolution of galaxy bulges is a greatly debated topic in modern astrophysics. An approach to address this issue is to look at the Galactic bulge, the closest to us. According to some theoretical models, our bulge built-up from the merger of substructures formed from the instability and fragmentation of a proto-disk in the early phases of Galactic evolution. We may have discovered the remnant of one of these substructures: the stellar system Terzan 5. Terzan 5 hosts two stellar populations with different iron abundances, thus suggesting it once was far more massive than today. Moreover, its peculiar chemistry resembles that observed only in the Galactic bulge. In this Thesis we perform a detailed photometric and spectroscopic analysis of this cluster to determine its formation and evolutionary histories. Form the photometric point of view we built a high-resolution differential reddening map in Terzan 5 direction and we measured relative proper motions to separate its member population from the contaminating field stars. This information represents the necessary work to measure the absolute ages of Terzan 5 populations via the Turn-off luminosity method. From the spectroscopic point of view we measured abundances for more than 600 stars belonging to Terzan 5 and its surroundings in order to build the largest field-decontaminated metallicity distribution for this system. We find that the metallicity distribution is extremely wide (more than 1 dex) and we discovered a third, metal-poor and alpha-enhanced population with average [Fe/H]=-0.8. The striking similarity between Terzan 5 and the bulge in terms of their chemical formation and evolution revealed by this Thesis suggests that Terzan 5 formed in situ with the bulge itself. In particular its metal-poor populations trace the early stages of the bulge formation, while its most metal-rich component contains crucial information on the bulge more recent evolution.

For 20 years now, gravitational microlensing observations towards the Galactic bulge have provided us with a wealth of information about the stellar and planetary content of our Galaxy, which is inaccessible via other current methods. This thesis summarises work on two research topics that arose in the context of exoplanetary microlensing, but we take a step back and consider ways of increasing our understanding of more fundamental phenomena: firstly, stellar microlenses in our Galaxy that were stereoscopically observed and, secondly, the morphological variety of binary-lens light curves. In autumn 2008, the ESA Rosetta spacecraft surveyed the Galactic bulge for microlensing events. With a baseline of ∼1.6 AU between the spacecraft and ground observations, significant parallax effects can be expected. We develop a photometry pipeline to deal with a severely undersampled point spread function in the crowded fields of the Galactic bulge, making use of complementary ground observations. Comparison of Rosetta and OGLE light curves provides the microlens parallax π[subscript{E}] , which constrains the mass and distance of the observed lenses. The lens mass could be fully determined if future proper motion measurements were obtained, whereas the lens distance additionally requires the determination of the source distance. In the second project, we present a detailed study of microlensing light curve morphologies. We provide a complete morphological classification for the case of the equal-mass binary lens, which makes use of the realisation that any microlensing peak can be categorised as one of only four types: cusp-grazing, cusp-crossing, fold-crossing or fold-grazing. As a means for this classification, we develop a caustic feature notation, which can be universally applied to binary lens caustics. Ultimately, this study aims to refine light curve modelling approaches by providing an optimal choice of initial parameter sets, while ensuring complete coverage of the relevant parameter space.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 7, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-178).

L'utilisation des microlentilles gravitationnelles dans la recherche d'exoplanètes a débuté en 1995. Les premiers résultats furent rapides, puisque la première exoplanète fut détectée en 2003 par les collaborations MOA et OGLE. Aujourd'hui, plus de vingt exoplanètes ont été publiées et ce nombre va considérablement augmenter dans les prochaines années avec le lancement des télescopes de surveillance KMTNet et les observatoires spatiaux EUCLID et WFIRST. Lorsqu'une étoile "proche", la microlentille, croise la ligne de visée entre la Terre et une étoile plus distante, la source, le flux de cette dernière est alors amplifié. Si par chance, une planète orbite autour de cette lentille, elle va également produire une amplification de faible amplitude. La courbe de lumière de l'évènement présente alors une signature typique : la déviation planétaire. Dans ce manuscript, nous présentons tous les outils théoriques et observationnels nécessaires à la détection d'exoplanète par la méthode des microlentilles gravitationnelles. Nous présentons ensuite l'étude de deux cas spécifiques : MOA- 2010-BLG-411Lb, une binaire composée d'une naine brune autour d'une naine M, et MOA-2010-BLG-477Lb, un super-Jupiter orbitant une étoile M. Une uniformisation des résultats sur les planètes détectées par effet de mircolentille gravitationnelle est également présentée. Deux problèmes majeurs compliquent la détection de planètes par la méthode des microlentielles gravitationnelles. Premièrement, le phénomène de microlentille gravitationnelle est peu probable pour une étoile donnée (une chance sur un million). Il faut donc observer des champs très riche en étoiles, tel que le Bulbe Galactique. Chaque nuit, les collaborations OGLE et MOA observe le Bulbe Galactique afin de repérer les évènements de microlentilles. Le second problème est que les déviations planétaires sont très courtes, d'une durée d'une heure à quelques jours pour les planètes les plus massives. Il faut donc observer les évènements de microlentilles en continu. C'est pour cela qu'une batterie de télescopes est répartie sur tout l'Hémisphère Sud. Le nombre d'évènements détectés chaque saison a considérablement augmenté durant les dernières années, obligeant les télescopes de suivi à faire des choix quand aux cible à observer. Nous avons décidé de développer un nouveau logiciel automatique permettant de faire ce choix à notre place. Il a été testé sur quatre années d'observations et l'analyse statistique des résultats est présentée. Nous espérons utiliser ces nouveaux résultats pour mieux contraindre un modèle de notre Galaxie
The search of exoplanets using gravitational microlensing started in 1995. First results come quickly and the first exoplanet has been detected on 2003 by the OGLE and the MOA collaborations. Nowadays, more than twenty exoplanets are published and the number of detections should rise a lot in the coming years with the launch of KMTNet survey and EUCLID and WFIRST space-based observatories. When a "close" star, the lens, cross the line of sight between the Earth and a more distant star, the source, the luminosity of this source is magnified. By chance, if a planet orbits this lens star, it produces a second magnification of lower amplitude. The lightcurve of the event then shows a typical signature : a planetary deviation. In this manuscript, we present the theoritical and observational tools needed to detect planets with gravitational microlensing. We present two studies on two special events : MOA-2009-BLG-411L, a lens formed by a brown dwarf around an M-dwarf, and MOA-2010-BLG-477Lb, a super-Jupiter orbiting an M star. We finally present a study on planets already published in order to standardize theses results. Two major problems make this research difficult. First, the occurence of a microlensing event for a single star is very low (one in a million). We then need to observe very dense fields, such as the Galactic Bulge. Each night, OGLE and MOA surveys analyze the Galactic Bulge to detect events. The second problem is the planetary deviation is very short, one hour to few days for most massive planets. This is why we have to continously observe events and use telescopes all around the Southern Hemisphere. The rapid increase of detection during the last years forces the follow-up telescopes to choose which targets they need to observe. We so decided to develop a new software to make automatically this choice. At the end of this manuscript, we present a statistical study of microlensing parameters from four observational seasons. We expect these results will help to constrain theoritical model of the Milky Way in the future

The VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea survey is a multi-epoch, near-infrared (NIR) search for RR Lyrae stars, which trace the structure and evolutionary history of the Galactic Bulge. To measure accurate light-curves for these and other variable sources in the crowded fields of the Bulge, we have built a pipeline to perform difference imaging analysis (DIA) on VVV data. This is the first time DIA has been carried out with a large-scale NIR survey, which presents certain specific challenges such as the large pixel scales and high variable background. This thesis begins with an investigation into the wider problem of reference image selection for DIA. Through this study, we found that an alternative formulation of traditional DIA - Target Image Convolution - yields better results for VVV. This technique is employed in the core image subtraction engine for the VVV DIA pipeline. This work also details the pipelines for carrying out calibration, period-finding and Fourier modelling on the light-curves of DIA sources, as well as for obtaining their dereddened NIR magnitudes and colours. To validate the pipelines, the magnitude calibration is checked against another NIR survey (in the most challenging Galactic centre field) and analysis results are crosschecked against the OGLE-IV catalogue of RR Lyrae (in a low-extinction region of the Galactic bulge). Both studies are used to determine the efficacy of the existing pipeline and identify areas for improvement. DIA generally shows a significant improvement over existing aperture photometry. Using the NIR properties of VVV DIA counterparts to the OGLE-IV RR Lyrae, we demonstrate that it is possible to identify new variables with this pipeline, including RR Lyrae.

Le bulbe Galactique, est cruciale pour comprendre les processus physiques responsables de la formationde la galaxie. L'étude spectroscopique des étoiles vieilles de faible masse permettre de caractériser endétail la chimie et la cinématique du bulbe. Dans cette thèse, nous avons utilisé des données provenantdu Gaia-ESO survey pour mener une étude détaillée du système du disque ainsi que du bulbeGalactique. La distribution de métallicité du bulbe est bimodale. La population riche en métaux montreune cinématique typique de la barre. Elle présente une caractéristique de double RC et recouvre laséquence du disque mince à haute métallicité dans le plan [Mg/Fe] vs. [Fe/H]. Nous associons cesétoiles avec celles de la barre formée à la suite de l'évolution séculaire du disque mince primordial.D'autre part, la population pauvre en métaux présente une cinématique chaude et ne participe pas à laforme en X du bulbe. Ces étoiles semblent imiter la distribution de celles du disque épais dans le plan[Mg/Fe] vs. [Fe/H]. Quand nous comparons la position en métallicité du genou de cette distribution,qui se trouve à [Fe/H]=-0.37+/-0.09 dex, elle est plus élevée de 0.6 dex par rapport au disque épais. Unmodèle d'évolution chimique permet de bien ajuster cette distribution pour les étoiles du bulbe ensupposant un épisode de formation stellaire rapide (<1 Gyr) et intense. L'origine du bulbe pauvre enmétaux reste encore relativement incomprise, mais divers projets futurs devraient permettre de faire ladistinction entre les processus violents ou ceux liés à une évolution séculaire qui ont pu contribuer à saformation
The Galactic bulge, as a massive and old Galactic component, is key to understand the physicalprocesses responsibles for the formation of the Galaxy. The spectroscopic study of long lived low massstars represents an opportunity to characterize the detailed chemical and kinematical patterns of theeventual mix of stellar populations building up the bulge. In this thesis we made use of data comingfrom the Gaia-ESO survey to conduct a detailed analysis of the disk system as well as bulge stellarpopulations. The bulge metallicity distribution function is bimodal. The metal-rich population exhibitsbar-like kinematics, displays the double RC feature and overlaps the metal-rich end of the thin disksequence in the [Mg/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] plane. We associate these stars with the bar X-shape bulge formedas the product of secular evolution of the early thin disk. On the other hand, the metal-poor populationpresents isotropic hot kinematics and does not participate in the X-shaped bulge. When compared to thethick disk, bulge stars seem to mimic their distribution in the [Mg/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] plane. Whencomparing the metallicity position of the so called ``knee'', that of the bulge is found to be at [Fe/H]=-0.37+/-0.09 dex, being 0.6 dex higher than that of the thick disk. A chemical evolution model suitablyfits the whole bulge sequence by assuming a fast (<1 Gyr) intense burst of star formation taking place atearly epochs. The origin of the metal-poor bulge still remains unconstrained, but further research shouldallow to distinguish between violent processes or secular evolution for its origin

L'archéologie galactique consiste à disséquer et analyser les nombreuses composantes de la Voie Lactée afin de mettre en évidence et distinguer les processus physiques qui contribuent à sa formation et son évolution. Ceci est possible grâce à une estimation précise des positions, des vitesses ainsi que des propriétés de l'atmosphère stellaire des étoiles individuelles qui appartiennent aux différents populations stellaires qui composent chacune de ces composantes. De ce fait, ce domaine dépend non seulement d'observations photométriques, astrométriques et spectroscopiques permettant de mesurer en détail les propriétés stellaires mentionnées mais également de modèles théoriques précis afin de les confronter avec les données observationnelles. Au cours de cette thèse, j'ai mené une étude détaillée sur les effets de fonction de sélection sur les abondances métalliques en utilisant des sondages spectroscopiques aux grandes échelles, suivi d'observations spectroscopiques de petites et grandes résolutions sur les parties internes de la Voie Lactée afin de caractériser la nature chimique du bulbe galactique ainsi que le taux de formation stellaire dans la zone centrale moléculaire (CMZ). Avec les présents et futurs grands sondages dédiés à l'archéologie galactique tels que APOGEE, RAVE, LAMOST, GALAH, etc.., il est essentiel de connaître la fonction de sélection spécifique qui est associée à la stratégie de ciblage de chacun de ces sondages. En utilisant des champs communs et des lignes de visée similaires entre APOGEE, LAMOST, GES et RAVE, et tout en considérant des modèles de synthèse de population stellaire, J'ai étudié les effets de fonction de sélection sur la fonction de distribution de la métallicité (MDF) et sur le gradient vertical de métallicité dans le voisinage solaire. Mes résultats indiquent qu'il y a un négligeable effet de fonction de sélection sur la MDF ainsi que sur le gradient vertical de métallicité. Ces résultats suggèrent alors que différents sondages spectroscopiques (de différentes résolutions et de longueurs d'onde) peuvent être combinés dans des études similaires à condition que les métallicité soient placées sur la même échelle. Tandis que de plus en plus d'observations spectroscopiques des régions externes du bulbe de la Voie Lactée révèlent la complexité de sa morphologie, sa cinétique et de sa nature chimique, les études détaillées sur les abondances chimiques de la région interne du bulbe (400-500 pc) font en revanche défaut. Je présenterai alors des spectres de haute résolution dans la bande K d'étoiles géantes K/M issues de cette région obscure et obtenus à partir du spectrographe de haute résolution dans l'infrarouge, CRIRES (R-50,000) situé au VLT. Je discuterai ensuite la MDF et les abondances chimiques détaillées de notre échantillon dans cette région et également la symétrie Nord-Sud dans la MDF le long du petit axe du bulbe. Un enjeu majeur dans les modèles d'évolution chimique est le manque de connaissance vis à vis de l'histoire et du taux de la formation stellaire de la Voie Lactée. La partie centrale de la Voie Lactée (<200 pc), appelée communément la zone centrale moléculaire, possède un grand réservoir de gaz moléculaire avec des indications d'activités de formation stellaire durant les 100 000 dernières années. J'ai utilisé des spectres KMOS (VLT) de petite résolution afin d'identifier et analyser les objects stellaires jeunes et massifs (YSOs) et afin d'estimer le taux de formation stellaire dans la CMZ en utilisant la méthode de contage YSO
Galactic archaeology deals with dissecting the Milky Way into its various components with the objective to disentangle processes contributing to the Milky Way formation and evolution. This relies on precise estimation of positions, velocities as well as stellar atmosphere properties of individual stars belonging to different stellar populations that make up each of these components. Thus this field relies on photometric, astrometric and spectroscopic observations to measure the above mentioned stellar properties in detail in addition to accurate models to compare the observed results with. In this thesis, I have carried out a detailed study of selection function effects on metallicity trends using larges scale spectroscopic surveys, followed by high and low resolution spectroscopic observations towards the inner Milky Way to characterise the chemical nature of the inner Galactic bulge and to measure the star formation rate in the central molecular zone (CMZ), respectively. With ongoing and upcoming large Galactic archaeology spectroscopic surveys such as APOGEE, RAVE, LAMOST, GALAH etc, it is essential to know the specific selection function which is related to the targeting strategy of each of them. By using common fields along similar lines of sight between APOGEE, LAMOST, GES and RAVE, and together with stellar population synthesis models, I investigate the selection function effect on the metallicity distribution function (MDF) and the vertical metallicitiy gradients in the solar neighborhood. My results indicate that there is negligible selection function effect on the MDF and the vertical metallicity gradients. These results suggest that different spectroscopic surveys (different resolutions and wavelength range) can be combined for such studies provided their metallicities are put on the same scale. While more and more spectroscopic observations of the outer bulge regions reveal the complex morphological, kinematic and chemical nature of the Milky Way bulge, there is a lack of detailed chemical abundances studies in the inner bulge region (400-500 pc). I will present high resolution K-band spectra of K/M giants in this highly obscured region obtained using the high resolution infrared spectrograph, CRIRES (R-50,000), on VLT. I will discuss the MDF and detailed chemical abundances of our sample in this region as well as the North-South symmetry in MDF along the bulge minor axis. A major challenge in the chemical evolution models is the lack of knowledge about the star formation history and the star formation rate in the Milky Way. The inner 200 pc of the Milky way, the so called central molecular zone, has a large reservoir of molecular gas with the evidence of star formation activity during the last 100,000 years. I used low resolution KMOS spectra (VLT) to identify and analyse massive young stellar objects (YSOs) and estimated the star formation rate in the CMZ using the YSO counting method

L'utilisation des microlentilles gravitationnelles dans la recherche d'exoplanètes a débuté en 1995. Les premiers résultats furent rapides, puisque la première exoplanète fut détectée en 2003 par les collaborations MOA et OGLE. Aujourd'hui, plus de vingt exoplanètes ont été publiées et ce nombre va considérablement augmenter dans les prochaines années avec le lancement des télescopes de surveillance KMTNet et les observatoires spatiaux EUCLID et WFIRST. Lorsqu'une étoile "proche", la microlentille, croise la ligne de visée entre la Terre et une étoile plus distante, la source, le flux de cette dernière est alors amplifié. Si par chance, une planète orbite autour de cette lentille, elle va également produire une amplification de faible amplitude. La courbe de lumière de l'évènement présente alors une signature typique : la déviation planétaire. Dans ce manuscript, nous présentons tous les outils théoriques et observationnels nécessaires à la détection d'exoplanète par la méthode des microlentilles gravitationnelles. Nous présentons ensuite l'étude de deux cas spécifiques : MOA- 2010-BLG-411Lb, une binaire composée d'une naine brune autour d'une naine M, et MOA-2010-BLG-477Lb, un super-Jupiter orbitant une étoile M. Une uniformisation des résultats sur les planètes détectées par effet de mircolentille gravitationnelle est également présentée. Deux problèmes majeurs compliquent la détection de planètes par la méthode des microlentielles gravitationnelles. Premièrement, le phénomène de microlentille gravitationnelle est peu probable pour une étoile donnée (une chance sur un million). Il faut donc observer des champs très riche en étoiles, tel que le Bulbe Galactique. Chaque nuit, les collaborations OGLE et MOA observe le Bulbe Galactique afin de repérer les évènements de microlentilles. Le second problème est que les déviations planétaires sont très courtes, d'une durée d'une heure à quelques jours pour les planètes les plus massives. Il faut donc observer les évènements de microlentilles en continu. C'est pour cela qu'une batterie de télescopes est répartie sur tout l'Hémisphère Sud. Le nombre d'évènements détectés chaque saison a considérablement augmenté durant les dernières années, obligeant les télescopes de suivi à faire des choix quand aux cible à observer. Nous avons décidé de développer un nouveau logiciel automatique permettant de faire ce choix à notre place. Il a été testé sur quatre années d'observations et l'analyse statistique des résultats est présentée. Nous espérons utiliser ces nouveaux résultats pour mieux contraindre un modèle de notre Galaxie.

Ο σκοπός της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής ήταν η μελέτη δύο σημαντικών φαινομένων μεσοαστρική ύλης όπως είναι τα Πλανητικά Νεφελώμάτα (ΠΝ) και η ράβδος των σπειροειδών γαλαξιών. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, μελετήθηκαν 44 ΠΝ στην περιοχή του Γαλαξιακού σφαιροειδούς (Boumis et al. 2003; 2006) και προσδιορίστηκαν οι φυσικοί παράμετροι τους, όπως είναι η ενεργός θερμοκρασία και η λαμπρότητα του κεντρικού αστεριού, η πυκνότητα και η θερμοκρασία των ηλεκτρονίων, η αφθονία των Ηe, N, O, S κτλ., χρησιμοποιώντας το μοντέλο φωτο-ιονισμού Cloudy (Akras et al. 2010a). Επίσης, μελετήθηκε η ράβδος των γαλαξιών, χρησιμοποιώντας το μοντέλο διάδοσης ακτινοβολίας CRETE, με σκοπό να ερευνηθεί πώς η ύπαρξη της ράβδου επηρεάζει την μορφολογία των γαλαξιών και την σκόνη τους. Ταυτόχρονα, προσδιορίστηκαν οι παράμετροι της ράβδου, όπως το μήκος, το ύψος, η γωνία κλίσης και η γωνία θέσης της για 4 ραβδωτούς σπειροειδείς γαλαξίες (NGC 4013, UGC 2048, IC 2531 και το Γαλαξία μας). Στο πρώτο μέρος της μελέτης, διαχωρίστηκαν τα ΠΝ ανάλογα με την μορφολογία τους σε σφαιρικά, ελλειπτικά και διπολικά και βρέθηκε ότι η αφθονία του Ηe και του Ν είναι μεγαλύτερη στην τελευταία κατηγορία σε σχέση με τις υπόλοιπες. Επιπλέον, η χρήση του στατιστικού εργαλείου PCA, έδειξε ότι τα κυκλικά και τα ελλειπτικά ΠΝ διαχωρίζονται από τα διπολικά, βάσει της τιμής του λόγου log(Ν/Ο), ο οποίος παίρνει αρνητικές και θετικές τιμές για τα διπολικά, ενώ μόνο αρνητικές τιμές στις υπόλοιπες κατηγορίες. Η κρίσιμη τιμή βρέθηκε ίση με -0.18 dex και αντιστοιχεί σε μάζα προγενέστερου αστεριού ίση με 2.6 (Akras & Boumis 2007). Στο δεύτερο μέρος, περιγράφηκε η ράβδος των γαλαξιών χρησιμοποιώντας την συναρτησιακή ελλειψοειδής υπερβολής. Μεταβάλλοντας την γωνία κλίσης του γαλαξία, η δομή σχήματος «Χ», η οποία παρατηρείται στις ράβδους, μπορεί να παρατηρηθεί μόνο για γωνίες μεγαλύτερες από 60ο. Επιπρόσθετα, στην περίπτωση του Γαλαξία μας, βρέθηκε ότι η γωνία θέσης της ράβδου είναι γύρω στις 25ο και το μήκος της 3.75 kpc (Akras et al. 2010b). Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη ότι η μέση τιμή του μήκους της ράβδου στους γαλαξίες είναι μεταξύ 3.0 και 4.0 kpc, προκύπτει ότι για τον NGC 4013 η γωνία θέσης του είναι μεταξύ 5 και 10 μοίρες, για τον UGC 2048 μεταξύ 40 και 50 μοίρες, για τον IC 2531 35 και 45 μοίρες ενώ τέλος για το Γαλαξία μας υπολογίζεται μεταξύ 20 και 30 μοίρες (Akras et al. 2010b).
The aim of this PhD thesis was the study of two very important interstellar medium phenomena like the Planetary Nebulae (PNe) and the stellar bar in spiral galaxies. In particular, we studied 44 PNe in the Galactic bulge region and we determined their physical parameters, like the effective temperature and luminosity of the central star, the electron temperature and density, the abundance of He, N, O, S etc., using the photo-ionization model “Cloudy” (Akras et al. 2010a). It was also pursued to study the stellar bar component using the 3D radiative transfer model CRETE, in order to investigate the effects of a stellar bar component to the morphology of the galaxy and its dust content. In addition, the parameters of the bar component such as the length, the height, the inclination angle and the position angle were determined for four spiral galaxies (NGC 4013, UGC 2048, IC 2531 and our Galaxy). In the first part of the thesis, the PNe were separated according to their morphology (spherical, elliptical and bipolar shape) and we found that the He and N abundances are greater in bipolar PNe. Moreover, by using the statistical tool PCA, it was found that the circular and the elliptical PNe are different from the bipolar, since the log(O/N) takes negative values in the first two and positive or negative values in the bipolar PNe. The critical value was found at -0.18 dex, which corresponds to a stellar mass of 2.6 (Akras & Boumis 2007). In the second part, we managed to accurately describe the morphology of the bar component by using the function of hyperbolic ellipse. For different inclination angles of the observed galaxies, it was found that the “X-shape" feature can be seen only in the case where the inclination angle is greater than 60 degrees. In the case of Milky Way, it was found that the position angle of the bar is approximately 25 degrees and the length equals to 3.75 kpc (Akras et al. 2010b). Considering that the mean length of the bar component is equal to 3.0-4.0 kpc, it was determined that the position angle of a) NGC 4013 takes values between 5 and 10 degrees, b) UGC 2048 takes values between 40 and 50 degrees, c) IC 2531 takes values between 35 and 45 degrees, and our Galaxy takes values between 20 and 30 degrees (Akras et al. 2010b).

Galactic bulges of early-type spirals and elliptical galaxies comprise primarily old stars, which account for more than half of the total stellar mass in the local Universe. These stars collectively generate a long-lasting feedback via stellar mass loss and Type Ia supernovae. According to the empirical stellar mass loss and supernova rates, the stellar ejecta can be heated to more than 107 K, forming a very hot, diffuse, and iron-rich interstellar medium. Conventionally a strong galactic wind is expected, especially in low- and intermediate-mass early-type galaxies which have a relatively shallow potential well. X-ray observations, however, have revealed that both the temperature and iron abundance of the interstellar medium in such galaxies are unexpectedly low, leading to the so-called “missing feedback” and “missing metal” problems. As an effort to address the above outstanding issues, we have carried out a series of hydrodynamic simulations of galactic bulge feedback on various scales. On galactic halo scales, we demonstrate that the feedback from galactic bulges can play an essential role in the halo gas dynamics and the evolution of their host galaxies. We approximately divide the bulge stellar feedback into two phases: (1) a starbusrt-induced blastwave from the formation of the bulge built up through frequent major mergers at high redshifts; and (2) a gradual feedback from long-lived low mass stars. The combination of the two can heat the surrounding gas beyond the virial radius and stop further gas accretion, which naturally produces a baryon deficit around Milky Way-like galaxies and explains the lack of large-scale X-ray halos. On galactic bulge scales, we study the collective 3-dimensional effects of supernovae with their blastwaves resolved. We find that the sporadic explosions of supernovae can produce a wealth of substructures in the diffuse hot gas and significantly affect the spectroscopic properties of the X-ray-emitting gas. The differential emission measure in the temperature space has a broad lognormal-like distribution. Such distribution enhances the X-ray emission at both low and high energy bands. We further show that the SN Ia ejecta is not well-mixed with the ambient medium and the X-ray emission is primarily from the shocked stellar wind materials which in general have low metallicities. These 3-dimensional effects provide a promising explanation to the above “missing feedback” and “missing metal” problems. In addition, we demonstrate that the supernova iron ejecta forms a very hot bubbles, which have relatively larger radial velocities driven by buoyancy, resulting in a smaller iron mass fraction in the bulk outflow. These distinct properties give a natural explanation to the observed positive iron abundance gradient which has been a puzzle for decades.

碩士
國立中央大學
天文研究所
90
Recent observations suggested that star formation process peaked at z ~ 2-3 on the average. We use the stochastic self-propagating star formation model combined with gas infall from intergalactic medium to explore the parameter space in which the formations of the Galactic bulge and Galactic disk could proceed at different time scales while the peak star formation rate occurred at z ~ 2-3. On this basis, chemical calculations of metallicity could also be developed in such multi-zone dynamical models.

Spectroscopy and photometry has been obtained for 100 K giants in Baade's Window at l = 1°, b = -4°. For a galactocentric distance 7.5 kpc the line of sight passes 522 pc below the nucleus. The abundance distribution of the nuclear bulge K giants has been derived relative to 45 stars of known abundance. The abundances run from -1 to nearly +1 dex, with a peak at 0.3 dex, or twice the solar abundance. Of the 88 stars with derived abundances, 22% exceeded the abundance of the most metal rich local K giants; 50% exceeded the solar abundance, and 10% were metal poor (< -0.6 dex).

Radial velocities have been measured for 53 nuclear bulge K giants which also have derived abundances. Their velocity dispersion is 104 km/sec. The mean velocity is -19 ± 14 km/sec; within 1σ of the solar II velocity of -10 km/sec. When this sample is divided into 3 subsets based on the abundances, the subset of 21 stars > 0.3 dex has σ = 92 ± 14 km/sec and the metal poor subset of 16 stars < -0.3 dex has σ = 126 ± 22 km/sec. An intermediate set of 16 stars has σ = 97 ± 17 km/sec. The most metal rich stars may have a bulk velocity of -38 ± 14 km/sec, 1σ less than the -19 km/sec of the metal poor stars.

The abundance distribution function is found to be fit very well by the simple model of chemical evolution with complete gas consumption.

The smaller velocity dispersion for the metal rich stars can be interpreted as supporting a steep power law for their spatial distribution ρ ~ r^-7. The metal rich stars may belong to a special central component of the Galaxy, which cuts off completely at 1kpc.

No evidence was found that either the metal rich or metal poor stars follow the galactic rotation curve; hence neither population appears to be rotation supported.

Optical and infrared photometry is presented for nuclear bulge K giants. The colors of these stars are shown to be too hot for their derived metal abundances.

Analysis of color-magnitude diagrams in bulge fields at -4° (Baade's Window) and -8° shows that there cannot be a 1 Gyr old population of main sequence stars in the galactic bulge. A turnoff population is detected at -8°, and comparison with isochrones indicates that the population is older than 5 Gyr. For the first time, there is a clear indication of a horizontal branch, or "globular cluster feature" in the luminosity function of the galactic bulge.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1998.
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Adaptive optics holds a fundamental role in the era of thirty meter class telescopes; this technology has gained such import that is incorporated into all first light instruments of both the upcoming E-ELT and TMT telescopes. Moreover, each of these telescopes are planning to use advanced forms of adaptive optics to exploit unprecedented scientific niches, such as Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics and Multi-Object Adaptive Optics. The complexity of these systems requires careful preliminary considerations, such as demonstration of the technology on existing telescopes and effective calibration procedures. In this thesis I address these two considerations through two different approaches. First, I demonstrate the use of the Multi-Object Adaptive Op- tics demonstrator RAVEN to gather high-resolution spectroscopy for the first time with this technology, and I identify some of the most metal-poor stars in the Galactic bulge to date. Secondly, I develop two focal plane wavefront sensing techniques to calibrate the internal aberrations of RAVEN and explore their applications to other adaptive optics systems.  I analyze spectra of individual stars in two Globular Clusters to establish infrared techniques that can be used with the RAVEN instrument. Detailed chemical abundances for five stars in NGC 5466 and NGC 5024, are presented from high-resolution optical (from the Hobby-Eberley Telescope) and infrared spectra (from the SDSS- III APOGEE survey). I find [Fe/H] = -1.97 ± 0.13 dex for NGC 5466, and [Fe/H] = -2.06 ± 0.13 dex for NGC 5024, and the typical abundance pattern for globular clusters for the remaining elements, e.g. both show evidence for mixing in their light element abundance ratios (C, N), and asymptotic giant branch contributions in their heavy element abundances (Y, Ba, and Eu). These clusters were selected to examine chemical trends that may correlate them with the Sgr dwarf galaxy remnant, but at these low metallicities no obvious differences from the Galactic abundance pattern are found. Regardless, I compare my results from the optical and infrared analyses to find that oxygen and silicon abundances determined from the infrared spectral lines are in better agreement with the other α-element ratios and with smaller random errors. Using the aforementioned infrared techniques, I derive the chemical abundances for five metal-poor stars in and towards the Galactic bulge from the H-band spectroscopy taken with RAVEN at the Subaru 8.2-m telescope. Three of these stars are in the Galactic bulge and have metallicities between -2.1 < [Fe/H] < -1.5, and high [α/Fe] ∼ +0.3, typical of Galactic disc and bulge stars in this metallicity range; [Al/Fe] and [N/Fe] are also high, whereas [C/Fe] < +0.3. An examination of their orbits suggests that two of these stars may be confined to the Galactic bulge and one is a halo trespasser, though proper motion values used to calculate orbits are quite uncertain. An additional two stars in the globular cluster M22 show [Fe/H] values consistent to within 1σ , although one of these two stars has [Fe/H] = -2.01 ± 0.09, which is on the low end for this cluster. The [α/Fe] and [Ni/Fe] values differ by 2, with the most metal-poor star showing significantly higher values for these elements. M22 is known to show element abundance variations, consistent with a multipopulation scenario though our results cannot discriminate this clearly given our abundance uncertainties. This is the first science demonstration of multi-object adaptive optics with high-resolution infrared spectroscopy, and we also discuss the feasibility of this technique for use in the upcoming era of 30-m class telescope facilities. Lastly, I develop two focal plane wavefront sensing techniques to calibrate the non-common path aberrations (NCPA) in adaptive optics systems. I first demonstrate these techniques in a detailed simulation of the future TMT instrument NFIRAOS. I then validate these techniques on an experimental bench subject to NFIRAOS-like wavefront errors. The two techniques are subsequently used to identify and correct the NCPA on both RAVEN and the NFIRAOS test-bench knowns as HeNOS. The application of these techniques is also explored on the VLT/SPHERE system to identify what is known as the ‘Low Wind Effect’ (LWE). I first quantify the LWE in simulation and then validate the technique on an experimental bench. I then estimate the LWE from on-sky data taken with the VLT/SPHERE adaptive optics system. Lastly, I apply my focal plane wavefront sensing techniques to estimate residual mirror co-phasing errors seen on Keck with the NIRC2 adaptive optics system data. I first demonstrate the ability of my techniques to quantify these errors in a simulation of Keck/NIRC2 data. I then apply their capabilities to estimate the mirror co-phasing errors of Keck with on-sky data.
Graduate

The kinematics and white dwarf distribution have been studied for the Globular Cluster NGC 6397. The data was obtained from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 2005. In particular, we used the images of a field 5’ Southeast of the core of NGC 6397 from Advanced Camera for Surveys to conduct our analyses. The first part of the study is about the kinematics of the globular cluster. Isotropy of velocity distribution and cluster rotation have been considered. As anticipated, this relaxed cluster exhibited no strong signs of anisotropy. However, there appears to be some level of rotation. The rotational motion turns out to be mu sub alpha cos(delta) = 3.88 ± 1.41 mas yr −1 and mu sub delta = −14.83 ± 0.58 mas yr −1. This result is not entirely expected and deserves further investigation in future studies. The second of the thesis is based on white dwarf populations in the globular cluster and the Galactic Bulge. As a first glance, there appears to be a lacking of white dwarfs at the age of approximately 0.6 Gyr. Further investigation reveals this to be statistically insignificant. Through this analysis, another pattern of white dwarf abundance is discovered. There appeared to be much more stars at the age between 0.9 − 2.0 Gyr. This could be a manifestation of modeling error. As the final consideration of this thesis, white dwarf candidates in the Galactic Bulge are illustrated. Approximately 10 candidates are found at the most probable location of stars in the Bulge. The analyses conducted in this thesis set stage for further development in understanding of globular clusters. In particular, the rotation analysis raises curiosity about the dynamics of NGC 6397 in the plane of the sky. Moreover, the velocity distribution analysis confirms properties and theories pertaining to globular clusters.

Tesis (Doctor en Astronomía)--Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física, 2010.
Los núcleos activos de galaxias o AGNs son considerados los objetos más luminosos del Universo. Estos emiten cantidades importantes de energía a lo largo de todo el espectro electromagnético, la cual es capaz de superar por varios órdenes de magnitud a la liberada por el resto de la galaxia. Se cree que esta energía es producida por material ubicado en un disco de acreción alrededor de un agujero negro supermasivo central. Gran parte de la investigación sobre estos objetos llevada a cabo en las últimas tres décadas está dedicada al entendimiento de la fuente central y sus efectos en el gas que la rodea. Con el objetivo de contribuir a estos estudios, en esta Tesis se analizaron las componentes más internas de galaxias activas cercanas a partir del estudio de la emisión continua y de las líneas coronales. La región donde son emitidas estas últimas es la más cercana a la fuente central que puede ser resuelta con los instrumentos ópticos e infrarrojos actuales y, por lo tanto, proveen información sobre los procesos energéticos que ocurren en el centro de los AGNs.
Galaxias activas -- La región de líneas coronales en AGNs -- Una mirada con el telescopio espacial Hubble -- Una visión 3D de la región de líneas coronales de NGC1068 -- La emisión continua de la galaxia activa Mrk 1239 -- Comentarios finales.
Fil: Mazzalay, Ximena. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina.