Morfologia em alta resolução espacial de estrelas de tipo Mira e R Corenae Borealis

Mira and R Coronae Borealis (R CrB) variable stars are evolved objects surrounded by circumstellar envelopes (CSE) composed of the ejected stellar material. We present a detailed high-spatial resolution morfological study of the CSE of three stars: IRC+10216, the closest and more studied Carbon-Rich Mira; o Ceti, the prototype of the Mira class; and RY Sagitarii (RY Sgr), the brightest R CrB variable of the south hemisphere. JHKL near-infrared adaptive optics images of IRC+10216 with high dynamic range and Vband images with high angular resolution and high depth, collected with the VLT/NACO and VLT/FORS1 instruments, were analyzed. NACO images of o Ceti were also analyzed. Interferometric observations of RY Sgr collected with the VLTI/MIDI instrument allowed us to explore its CSE innermost regions (»20 40 mas). The CSE of IRC+10216 exhibit, in near-infrared, clumps with more complex relative displacements than proposed in previous studies. In V-band, the majority of the non-concentric shells, located in the outer CSE layers, seem to be composed of thinner elongated shells. In a global view, the morphological connection between the shells and the bipolar core of the nebulae, located in the outer layers, together with the clumps, located in the innermost regions, has a difficult interpretation. In the CSE of o Ceti, preliminar results would be indicating the presence of possible clumps. In the innermost regions (.110 UA) of the CSE of RY Sgr, two clouds were detected in different epochs, embedded in a variable gaussian envelope. Based on a rigorous verification, the first cloud was located at »100 R¤ (or »30 AU) from the centre, toward the east-north-east direction (modulo 180o) and the second one was almost at a perpendicular direction, having aproximately 2£ the distance of the first cloud. This study introduces new constraints to the mass-loss history of these kind of variables and to the morphology of their innermost CSE regions

Implementação da técnica de difração de elétrons de baixa energia

The purpose of this study is to describe the implementation of the Low Energy Electron Diffaction (LEED) technique in the Laboratory of Magnetic Nanostructures and Semiconductors of the Department of Theoretical and Experimental Physics of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil. During this work experimental apparatus were implemented for a complete LEED set-up. A new vacuum system was also set up. This was composed of a mechanical pump, turbomolecular pump and ionic pump for ultra-high vacuum and their respective pressure measurement sensors (Pirani gauge for low vacuum measures and the wide range gauge -WRG); ion cannon maintenance, which is basically mini-sputtering, whose function is sample cleaning; and set-up, maintenance and handling of the quadrupole mass spectrometer, whose main purpose is to investigate gas contamination inside the ultra-high vacuum chamber. It should be pointed out that the main contribution of this Master's thesis was the set-up of the sample heating system; that is, a new sample holder. In addition to the function of sample holder and heater, it was necessary to implement the function of sustaining the ultra-high vacuum environment. This set of actions is essential for the complete functioning of the LEED technique

Parâmetros físico-químicos de estrelas nos campos de exoplanetas do satélite corot

A rotação estelar é um dos mais importantes observáveis da evolução estelar. Neste sentido, o satélite CoRoT representa uma oportunidade única de medir os períodos rotacionais para uma amostra de estrelas estatisticamente robusta, oferecendo dados absolutamente necessários para o estudo da rotação e seu papel na evolução estelar. Para conseguir isto, um passo fundamental é a caracterização física e química das estrelas observadas pelo CoRoT, especificamente devido ao fato de que o cálculo de períodos rotacionais confiáveis é um trabalho difícil sem a ajuda dos parâmetros estelares. Desta forma, foi elaborado um importante seguimento observacional das estrelas nos campos do CoRoT do anticentro LRa01 e do centro LRc01, permitindo a correta identificação dos períodos que reflitam a modulação rotacional. Nesta tese de doutorado são apresentados os resultados de tal seguimento. Parâmetros físicos e químicos, tais como temperatura efetiva Teff , gravidade superficial log(g), velocidade de microturbulência Vmic, abundância de ferro [Fe/H], velocidade de rotação projetada Vsin(i), e abundância de lítio A(Li) são apresentados para uma amostra de 116 estrelas dos campos CoRoT. Elas se encontram em diferentes estágios evolutivos, desde a sequência principal (SP) até o ramo das gigantes vermelhas (GV). As observações foram feitas utilizando os espectrógrafos UVES (VLT) e HYDRA (CTIO). Para a derivação de tais parâmetros foram utilizados o programa TurboSpectrum e os modelos de atmosfera de MARCS. Paralelamente, velocidades rotacionais Vsin(i) foram obtidas a partir do ajuste dos perfis observados e sintéticos das linhas de ferro e por meio de uma calibração de função de correlação cruzada (CCF). Períodos rotacionais Prot para 77 estrelas da amostra foram obtidos a partir das curvas de luz do satélite CoRoT. Extensas tabelas destes parâmetros e seus respectivos erros são apresentadas. Foram encontradas diferenças nas distribuições de Teff , [Fe/H] e estágios evolutivos entre os diferentes campos do CoRoT, indicando possíveis efeitos de seleção na amostra, assim como a existência de diferentes populações estelares do disco Galáctico. Por outro lado, o comportamento rotacional e as abundâncias de lítio não apresentam diferenças entre estrelas de parâmetros físicos similares, mas que pertencem a diferentes campos do CoRoT. A partir da análise de temperaturas, foi encontrada uma maior extinção por avermelhamento para estrelas do CoRoT localizadas no campo LRc01, assim como um gradiente deste valor em função da distância. Os resultados mostram que as abundâncias de lítio, as velocidades de rotação e os períodos rotacionais apresentam o mesmo comportamento descrito na literatura. Por outro lado, é apresentada pela primeira vez a relação que existe entre o lítio e o período de rotação em diferentes estágios evolutivos, mostrando, tal como era esperado, que ambas as grandezas possuem uma anticorrelação. Também é apresentada a evolução simultânea da rotação e do lítio, e foram calculadas relações que permitem obter valores médios de A(Li) como função da temperatura efetiva e do período rotacional. Os dados apresentados nesta tese de doutorado representam um importante ponto de partida para serem utilizados como uma amostra de calibração para diferentes programas no contexto da missão do satélite CoRoT, uma vez que a lista de estrelas aqui analisadas são parte das mais brilhantes que compõem o campo Exo do CoRoT

Processos de aquecimento na alta atmosfera estelar: emissão coronal em raio-x e emissão cromosférica em CaII

In the present work we study the processes of heating in the high stellar atmosphere, with base in an analysis of behavior of the cromospheric and coronal emission for a sample of single stars classified as giant in the literature. The evolutionary status of the stars of the sample was determined from HIPPARCOS satellite trigonometric parallax measurements and from the Toulouse Genéve code. In this study we show the form of behavior of the CaII emission flux in spectral lines H and K F(CaII) and the X-ray emission flux in function of the rotation, number of Rossby Ro and depth in mass of the convective envelope. In this analysis we show that while the cromospheric activity is dominated clearly by a physical process of heating associated with the rotation, like a magnetic field produced by dynamo effect, the coronal activity seems to be influenced for a mechanism independent of the rotation. We show also that the effective role of the depth in massa of the convective envelope on the stellar activity has an important effect in the responsible physical process for the behavior of the activity in the atmosphere of the stars.

A evolução da rotação estelar na vizinhança solar

Different studies point for an rotation age link following a α tα relationship. The value of the α -parameter has a strong role on the evolutionary behaviour of rotation, because it indicates how strong is the spindown once stars evolve. The well known Skumanich s relation α t −1/2, which is consistent with simple theories of angular momentum loss from rotating stars with magnetic fields and winds, is one of the best accepted. Nevertheless, several studies show clearly that such a relation cannot hold for stars much younger or much older than the Pleiades (100 Mega years) without leading to velocities much greater or much lower than those presently observed. The present study aims at improving this picture on the basis of an enlarged analyses taking into account the role of mass and metallicity on the rotation age relation, based on an unprecedented sample of about 14 000 stars in the solar neighbourhood. From this new approach we show that the α parameter it depends strongly on the stellar age and, by consequence, on the metallicity. In addition, one observes a strong dependence of the referred parameter on the single or binary status of the stars

Estudos de sinterização da mistura de pós cerâmicos diatomita-titânia

This work is part of an effort of consolidation of a daily search for powder technology at the Department of Physics of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. This work objective the study and development of new ceramic materials from raw materials abundant at the region. For this, were studied ceramic mixtures of powders from diatomite-titania to aiming at a new ceramic material from powder technology. The experimental work involved a characterization of ceramic powders from a diatomite-titania mixture. The powders obtained were pressed and then parameters like variation of mass, linear shrinkage, activation energy and the mechanism of sintering are studied in function of the time and temperature of sintering, beyond microstructural analysis. The obtained results allow us estimate the optimizing of sintering conditions of this material

Análise sísmica usando transformada de Curvelet

Oil prospecting is one of most complex and important features of oil industry Direct prospecting methods like drilling well logs are very expensive, in consequence indirect methods are preferred. Among the indirect prospecting techniques the seismic imaging is a relevant method. Seismic method is based on artificial seismic waves that are generated, go through the geologic medium suffering diffraction and reflexion and return to the surface where they are recorded and analyzed to construct seismograms. However, the seismogram contains not only actual geologic information, but also noise, and one of the main components of the noise is the ground roll. Noise attenuation is essential for a good geologic interpretation of the seismogram. It is common to study seismograms by using time-frequency transformations that map the seismic signal into a frequency space where it is easier to remove or attenuate noise. After that, data is reconstructed in the original space in such a way that geologic structures are shown in more detail. In addition, the curvelet transform is a new and effective spectral transformation that have been used in the analysis of complex data. In this work, we employ the curvelet transform to represent geologic data using basis functions that are directional in space. This particular basis can represent more effectively two dimensional objects with contours and lines. The curvelet analysis maps real space into frequencies scales and angular sectors in such way that we can distinguish in detail the sub-spaces where is the noise and remove the coefficients corresponding to the undesired data. In this work we develop and apply the denoising analysis to remove the ground roll of seismograms. We apply this technique to a artificial seismogram and to a real one. In both cases we obtain a good noise attenuation

Lítio e parâmetros orbitais em sistemas binários com componentes evoluídas

One of the best established properties of the single late type evolved stars is that their rotational velocity and lithium content decrease with effective temperature and age. Nevertheless, the root cause of this property, as well as the link between rotation and lithium abundance and, in particular, the effects of binarity on rotation and lithium content in binary systems with evolved component, are not yet completely established. How does the gravitational tides, in binary systems, affects rotational evolution and lithium dilution? Trying to answer these questions, we have carried out an observational survey, in the lithium region centered at the lithium I line A6707.81A, for a large sample of about 100 binary systems with evolved component along the spectral range F, G and K, with the CES spectrometer mounted at the CAT 1.44 m Telescope of the ESO, La Silla, Chile. By combining the abundances of lithium issued from these observations with rotational velocity and orbital parameters, we have found a number of important results. First of all, we confirm that in this class of binary systems rotation is effectively affected by tidal effects. Binary systems with orbital period lower than about 100 days and circular or nearly circular orbits, present rotational velocity enhanced in relation to the single giant stars and to the binary systems with an orbital period larger than 100 days. This is clearly the result of the synchonization between the rotational and orbital motions due to tidal effects. In addition, we have found that lithium abundances in binary systems with giant components present the same gradual decreasing with effective temperature, observed in the single giants of same luminosity class and spectral types. We have found no lithium-rich binary systems, in contrast with single giants. A remarkable result from the present study is the one showing that synchronized binary systems with giant component retains more of their original lithium than the unsynchronized systems. In fact, we have found a possible "inhibited zone", in which synchronized binary systems with giant component having lithium abundance lower than a threshold level should be unusual. Finally, the present study also shows that the binary systems with giant component presenting the highest lithium contents are those with the highest rotation rates

Um estudo da abundância de lítio, rotação, atividade cromosférica e magnetismo das estrelas análogas e gêmeas solares

The study physical process that control the stellar evolution is strength influenced by several stellar parameters, like as rotational velocity, convective envelope mass deepening, and magnetic field intensity. In this study we analyzed the interconnection of some stellar parameters, as Lithium abundance A(Li), chromospheric activity and magnetic field intensity as well as the variation of these parameters as a function of age, rotational velocity, and the convective envelope mass deepening for a selected sample of solar analogs and twins stars. In particular, we analyzed the convective envelope mass deepening and the dispersion of lithium abundance for these stars. We also studied the evolution of rotation in subgiants stars, because its belong to the following evolutionary stage of solar analogs, and twins stars. For this analyze, we compute evolutionary models with the TGEC code to derive the evolutionary stage, as well as the convective envelope mass deepening, and derive more precisely the stellar mass, and age for this 118 stars. Our Investigation shows a considerable dispersion of lithium abundance for the solar analogs stars. We also realize that this dispersion is not by the convective zone deep, in this way we observed which the scattering of A(Li) can not be explained by classical theories of mixing in the convective zone. In conclusion we have that are necessary extra-mixing process to explain this decrease of Lithium abundance in solar analogs and twins stars. We analyzed the subgiant stars because this are the subsequent evolutionary stage after the solar analogs and twins stars. For this analysis, we compute the rotational period for 30 subgiants stars observed by Co- RoT satellite. For this task we apply two different methods: Lomb-Scargle algorithm, and the Plavchan Periodogram. We apply the TGEC code we compute models with internal distribution of angular momentum to confront the predict results with the models, and the observational results. With this analyze, we showed which solid body rotation models are incompatible with the physical interpretation of observational results. As a result of our study we still concluded that the magnetic field, convective envelope mass deepening, and internal redistribution of angular momentum are essential to explain the evolution of low-mass stars, and its observational characteristics. Based on population synthesis simulation, we concluded that the solar neighborhood presents a considerable quantity of solar twins when compared with the discovered set nowadays. Altogether we foresee the existence around 400 solar analogs in the solar neighborhood (distance of 100 pc). We also study the angular momentum of solar analogs and twins, in this study we concluded that added angular momentum from a Jupiter type planet, putted in the Jupiter position, is not enough to explain the angular momentum predicted by Kraft law (Kraft 1970)

Soluções cosmológicas e locais para uma eletrodinâmica modificada

The present work investigates some consequences that arise from the use of a modifed lagrangean for the eletromagnetic feld in two diferent contexts: a spatially homogeneous and isotropic universe whose dynamics is driven by a magnetic feld plus a cosmological parameter A, and the problem of a static and charged point mass (charged black hole). In the cosmological case, three diferent general solutions were derived. The first, with a null cosmological parameter A, generalizes a particular solution obtained by Novello et al [gr-qc/9806076]. The second one admits a constant A and the third one allows A to be a time-dependent parameter that sustains a constant magnetic feld. The first two solutions are non-singular and exhibit in ationary periods. The third case studied shows an in ationary dynamics except for a short period of time. As for the problem of a charged point mass, the solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations are obtained and compared with the standard Reissner-Nordstrom solution. Contrary to what happens in the cosmological case, the physical singularity is not removed

Um estudo sobre o momentum angular total de estrelas com planetas

Since Michel Mayor and his student Didier Queloz s pioneer announcement, in 1995, of the existence of a planet orbiting the star 51 Peg, up to present date, 695 extrasolar planets orbiting stars of spectral type F, G, K and M have been discovered. A study on the behavior of the total angular momentum of the planetary systems known up to present date becomes relevant when we know that about 98% of the angular momentum of the solar system is associated with the planets, although they represent only 0.15 percent of the mass of the whole system. In this dissertation we study the behavior of stellar angular momentum, orbital angular momentum and total angular momentum in a sample of 282 stars harboring planets, including 40 multiple systems. We observed that planetary systems containing more than one known planet have both higher orbital angular momentum and total angular momentum compared to those who have only one planet. This analysis shows that multiplanet systems tend to have higher momenta, suggesting that the planets in such systems that contribute to the greater portion momenta have been found. Thus, planetary systems with lower values for the momenta represent the best candidates to the discovery of new planets

Análise em conjunta de testes cosmológicos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Elétrons fortemente correlacionados na vizinhança de uma transição de fase quântica

The aim of this work is to derive theWard Identity for the low energy effective theory of a fermionic system in the presence of a hyperbolic Fermi surface coupled with a U(1) gauge field in 2+1 dimensions. These identities are important because they establish requirements for the theory to be gauge invariant. We will see that the identity associated Ward Identity (WI) of the model is not preserved at 1-loop order. This feature signalizes the presence of a quantum anomaly. In other words, a classical symmetry is broken dynamically by quantum fluctuations. Furthermore, we are considering that the system is close to a Quantum Phase Transitions and in vicinity of a Quantum Critical Point the fermionic excitations near the Fermi surface, decay through a Landau damping mechanism. All this ingredients need to be take explicitly to account and this leads us to calculate the vertex corrections as well as self energies effects, which in this way lead to one particle propagators which have a non-trivial frequency dependence

O enigmático problema das gigantes ricas em Lítio e as perspectivas com o satélite Kepler

Lithium (Li) is a chemical element with atomic number 3 and it is among the lightest known elements in the universe. In general, the Lithium is found in the nature under the form of two stable isotopes, the 6Li and 7Li. This last one is the most dominant and responds for about 93% of the Li found in the Universe. Due to its fragileness this element is largely used in the astrophysics, especially in what refers to the understanding of the physical process that has occurred since the Big Bang going through the evolution of the galaxies and stars. In the primordial nucleosynthesis in the Big Bang moment (BBN), the theoretical calculation forecasts a Li production along with all the light elements such as Deuterium and Beryllium. To the Li the BNB theory reviews a primordial abundance of Log log ǫ(Li) =2.72 dex in a logarithmic scale related to the H. The abundance of Li found on the poor metal stars, or pop II stars type, is called as being the abundance of Li primordial and is the measure as being log ǫ(Li) =2.27 dex. In the ISM (Interstellar medium), that reflects the current value, the abundance of Lithium is log ǫ(Li) = 3.2 dex. This value has great importance for our comprehension on the chemical evolution of the galaxy. The process responsible for the increasing of the primordial value present in the Li is not clearly understood until nowadays. In fact there is a real contribution of Li from the giant stars of little mass and this contribution needs to be well streamed if we want to understand our galaxy. The main objection in this logical sequence is the appearing of some giant stars with little mass of G and K spectral types which atmosphere is highly enriched with Li. Such elevated values are exactly the opposite of what could happen with the typical abundance of giant low mass stars, where convective envelops pass through a mass deepening in which all the Li should be diluted and present abundances around log ǫ(Li) ∼1.4 dex following the model of stellar evolution. In the Literature three suggestions are found that try to reconcile the values of the abundance of Li theoretical and observed in these rich in Li giants, but any of them bring conclusive answers. In the present work, we propose a qualitative study of the evolutionary state of the rich in Li stars in the literature along with the recent discovery of the first star rich in Li observed by the Kepler Satellite. The main objective of this work is to promote a solid discussion about the evolutionary state based on the characteristic obtained from the seismic analysis of the object observed by Kepler. We used evolutionary traces and simulation done with the population synthesis code TRILEGAL intending to evaluate as precisely as possible the evolutionary state of the internal structure of these groups of stars. The results indicate a very short characteristic time when compared to the evolutionary scale related to the enrichment of these stars

Efeitos não-gaussianos em astrofísica e cosmologia

The recent astronomical observations indicate that the universe has null spatial curvature, is accelerating and its matter-energy content is composed by circa 30% of matter (baryons + dark matter) and 70% of dark energy, a relativistic component with negative pressure. However, in order to built more realistic models it is necessary to consider the evolution of small density perturbations for explaining the richness of observed structures in the scale of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The structure formation process was pioneering described by Press and Schechter (PS) in 1974, by means of the galaxy cluster mass function. The PS formalism establishes a Gaussian distribution for the primordial density perturbation field. Besides a serious normalization problem, such an approach does not explain the recent cluster X-ray data, and it is also in disagreement with the most up-to-date computational simulations. In this thesis, we discuss several applications of the nonextensive q-statistics (non-Gaussian), proposed in 1988 by C. Tsallis, with special emphasis in the cosmological process of the large structure formation. Initially, we investigate the statistics of the primordial fluctuation field of the density contrast, since the most recent data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) indicates a deviation from gaussianity. We assume that such deviations may be described by the nonextensive statistics, because it reduces to the Gaussian distribution in the limit of the free parameter q = 1, thereby allowing a direct comparison with the standard theory. We study its application for a galaxy cluster catalog based on the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (hereafter HIFLUGCS). We conclude that the standard Gaussian model applied to HIFLUGCS does not agree with the most recent data independently obtained by WMAP. Using the nonextensive statistics, we obtain values much more aligned with WMAP results. We also demonstrate that the Burr distribution corrects the normalization problem. The cluster mass function formalism was also investigated in the presence of the dark energy. In this case, constraints over several cosmic parameters was also obtained. The nonextensive statistics was implemented yet in 2 distinct problems: (i) the plasma probe and (ii) in the Bremsstrahlung radiation description (the primary radiation from X-ray clusters); a problem of considerable interest in astrophysics. In another line of development, by using supernova data and the gas mass fraction from galaxy clusters, we discuss a redshift variation of the equation of state parameter, by considering two distinct expansions. An interesting aspect of this work is that the results do not need a prior in the mass parameter, as usually occurs in analyzes involving only supernovae data.Finally, we obtain a new estimate of the Hubble parameter, through a joint analysis involving the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE), the X-ray data from galaxy clusters and the baryon acoustic oscillations. We show that the degeneracy of the observational data with respect to the mass parameter is broken when the signature of the baryon acoustic oscillations as given by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) catalog is considered. Our analysis, based on the SZE/X-ray data for a sample of 25 galaxy clusters with triaxial morphology, yields a Hubble parameter in good agreement with the independent studies, provided by the Hubble Space Telescope project and the recent estimates of the WMAP