@phdthesis{Holler2014,
  author    = {Holler, Markus},
  title     = {Photon reconstruction for the H.E.S.S. 28 m telescope and analysis of Crab Nebula and galactic centre observations},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-72099},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {In the presented thesis, the most advanced photon reconstruction technique of ground-based γ-ray astronomy is adapted to the H.E.S.S. 28 m telescope. The method is based on a semi-analytical model of electromagnetic particle showers in the atmosphere. The properties of cosmic γ-rays are reconstructed by comparing the camera image of the telescope with the Cherenkov emission that is expected from the shower model. To suppress the dominant background from charged cosmic rays, events are selected based on several criteria. The performance of the analysis is evaluated with simulated events. The method is then applied to two sources that are known to emit γ-rays. The first of these is the Crab Nebula, the standard candle of ground-based γ-ray astronomy. The results of this source confirm the expected performance of the reconstruction method, where the much lower energy threshold compared to H.E.S.S. I is of particular importance. A second analysis is performed on the region around the Galactic Centre. The analysis results emphasise the capabilities of the new telescope to measure γ-rays in an energy range that is interesting for both theoretical and experimental astrophysics. The presented analysis features the lowest energy threshold that has ever been reached in ground-based γ-ray astronomy, opening a new window to the precise measurement of the physical properties of time-variable sources at energies of several tens of GeV.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Fischer2014,
  author    = {Fischer, Jost Leonhardt},
  title     = {Nichtlineare Kopplungsmechanismen akustischer Oszillatoren am Beispiel der Synchronisation von Orgelpfeifen},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-71975},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {In dieser Arbeit werden nichtlineare Kopplungsmechanismen von akustischen Oszillatoren untersucht, die zu Synchronisation f{\"u}hren k{\"o}nnen. Aufbauend auf die Fragestellungen vorangegangener Arbeiten werden mit Hilfe theoretischer und experimenteller Studien sowie mit Hilfe numerischer Simulationen die Elemente der Tonentstehung in der Orgelpfeife und die Mechanismen der gegenseitigen Wechselwirkung von Orgelpfeifen identifiziert. Daraus wird erstmalig ein vollst{\"a}ndig auf den aeroakustischen und fluiddynamischen Grundprinzipien basierendes nichtlinear gekoppeltes Modell selbst-erregter Oszillatoren f{\"u}r die Beschreibung des Verhaltens zweier wechselwirkender Orgelpfeifen entwickelt. Die durchgef{\"u}hrten Modellrechnungen werden mit den experimentellen Befunden verglichen. Es zeigt sich, dass die Tonentstehung und die Kopplungsmechanismen von Orgelpfeifen durch das entwickelte Oszillatormodell in weiten Teilen richtig beschrieben werden. Insbesondere kann damit die Ursache f{\"u}r den nichtlinearen Zusammenhang von Kopplungsst{\"a}rke und Synchronisation des gekoppelten Zwei-Pfeifen Systems, welcher sich in einem nichtlinearen Verlauf der Arnoldzunge darstellt, gekl{\"a}rt werden. Mit den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen wird der Einfluss des Raumes auf die Tonentstehung bei Orgelpfeifen betrachtet. Daf{\"u}r werden numerische Simulationen der Wechselwirkung einer Orgelpfeife mit verschiedenen Raumgeometrien, wie z. B. ebene, konvexe, konkave, und gezahnte Geometrien, exemplarisch untersucht. Auch der Einfluss von Schwellk{\"a}sten auf die Tonentstehung und die Klangbildung der Orgelpfeife wird studiert. In weiteren, neuartigen Synchronisationsexperimenten mit identisch gestimmten Orgelpfeifen, sowie mit Mixturen wird die Synchronisation f{\"u}r verschiedene, horizontale und vertikale Pfeifenabst{\"a}nde in der Ebene der Schallabstrahlung, untersucht. Die dabei erstmalig beobachteten r{\"a}umlich isotropen Unstetigkeiten im Schwingungsverhalten der gekoppelten Pfeifensysteme, deuten auf abstandsabh{\"a}ngige Wechsel zwischen gegen- und gleichphasigen Sychronisationsregimen hin. Abschließend wird die M{\"o}glichkeit dokumentiert, das Ph{\"a}nomen der Synchronisation zweier Orgelpfeifen durch numerische Simulationen, also der Behandlung der kompressiblen Navier-Stokes Gleichungen mit entsprechenden Rand- und Anfangsbedingungen, realit{\"a}tsnah abzubilden. Auch dies stellt ein Novum dar.},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Federici2014,
  author    = {Federici, Simone},
  title     = {Gamma-ray studies of the young shell-type SNR RX J1713.7-3946},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-71734},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {One of the most significant current discussions in Astrophysics relates to the origin of high-energy cosmic rays. According to our current knowledge, the abundance distribution of the elements in cosmic rays at their point of origin indicates, within plausible error limits, that they were initially formed by nuclear processes in the interiors of stars. It is also believed that their energy distribution up to 1018 eV has Galactic origins. But even though the knowledge about potential sources of cosmic rays is quite poor above „ 1015 eV, that is the "knee" of the cosmic-ray spectrum, up to the knee there seems to be a wide consensus that supernova remnants are the most likely candidates. Evidence of this comes from observations of non-thermal X-ray radiation, requiring synchrotron electrons with energies up to 1014 eV, exactly in the remnant of supernovae. To date, however, there is not conclusive evidence that they produce nuclei, the dominant component of cosmic rays, in addition to electrons. In light of this dearth of evidence, γ-ray observations from supernova remnants can offer the most promising direct way to confirm whether or not these astrophysical objects are indeed the main source of cosmic-ray nuclei below the knee. Recent observations with space- and ground-based observatories have established shell-type supernova remnants as GeV-to- TeV γ-ray sources. The interpretation of these observations is however complicated by the different radiation processes, leptonic and hadronic, that can produce similar fluxes in this energy band rendering ambiguous the nature of the emission itself. The aim of this work is to develop a deeper understanding of these radiation processes from a particular shell-type supernova remnant, namely RX J1713.7-3946, using observations of the LAT instrument onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. Furthermore, to obtain accurate spectra and morphology maps of the emission associated with this supernova remnant, an improved model of the diffuse Galactic γ-ray emission background is developed. The analyses of RX J1713.7-3946 carried out with this improved background show that the hard Fermi-LAT spectrum cannot be ascribed to the hadronic emission, leading thus to the conclusion that the leptonic scenario is instead the most natural picture for the high-energy γ-ray emission of RX J1713.7-3946. The leptonic scenario however does not rule out the possibility that cosmic-ray nuclei are accelerated in this supernova remnant, but it suggests that the ambient density may not be high enough to produce a significant hadronic γ-ray emission. Further investigations involving other supernova remnants using the improved back- ground developed in this work could allow compelling population studies, and hence prove or disprove the origin of Galactic cosmic-ray nuclei in these astrophysical objects. A break- through regarding the identification of the radiation mechanisms could be lastly achieved with a new generation of instruments such as CTA.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Steyrleuthner2014,
  author    = {Steyrleuthner, Robert},
  title     = {Korrelation von Struktur, optischen Eigenschaften und Ladungstransport in einem konjugierten Naphthalindiimid-Bithiophen Copolymer mit herausragender Elektronenmobilit{\"a}t},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-71413},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Organische Halbleiter besitzen neue, bemerkenswerte Materialeigenschaften, die sie f{\"u}r die grundlegende Forschung wie auch aktuelle technologische Entwicklung (bsw. org. Leuchtdioden, org. Solarzellen) interessant werden lassen. Aufgrund der starken konformative Freiheit der konjugierten Polymerketten f{\"u}hrt die Vielzahl der m{\"o}glichen Anordnungen und die schwache intermolekulare Wechselwirkung f{\"u}r gew{\"o}hnlich zu geringer struktureller Ordnung im Festk{\"o}rper. Die Morphologie hat gleichzeitig direkten Einfluss auf die elektronische Struktur der organischen Halbleiter, welches sich meistens in einer deutlichen Reduktion der Ladungstr{\"a}gerbeweglichkeit gegen{\"u}ber den anorganischen Verwandten zeigt. So stellt die Beweglichkeit der Ladungen im Halbleiter einen der limitierenden Faktoren f{\"u}r die Leistungsf{\"a}higkeit bzw. den Wirkungsgrad von funktionellen organischen Bauteilen dar. Im Jahr 2009 wurde ein neues auf Naphthalindiimid und Bithiophen basierendes Dornor/Akzeptor Copolymer vorgestellt [P(NDI2OD‑T2)], welches sich durch seine außergew{\"o}hnlich hohe Ladungstr{\"a}germobilit{\"a}t auszeichnet. In dieser Arbeit wird die Ladungstr{\"a}germobilit{\"a}t in P(NDI2OD‑T2) bestimmt, und der Transport durch eine geringe energetischer Unordnung charakterisiert. Obwohl dieses Material zun{\"a}chst als amorph beschrieben wurde zeigt eine detaillierte Analyse der optischen Eigenschaften von P(NDI2OD‑T2), dass bereits in L{\"o}sung geordnete Vorstufen supramolekularer Strukturen (Aggregate) existieren. Quantenchemische Berechnungen belegen die beobachteten spektralen {\"A}nderungen. Mithilfe der NMR-Spektroskopie kann die Bildung der Aggregate unabh{\"a}ngig von optischer Spektroskopie best{\"a}tigt werden. Die Analytische Ultrazentrifugation an P(NDI2OD‑T2) L{\"o}sungen legt nahe, dass sich die Aggregation innerhalb der einzelnen Ketten unter Reduktion des hydrodynamischen Radius vollzieht. Die Ausbildung supramolekularen Strukturen nimmt auch eine signifikante Rolle bei der Filmbildung ein und verhindert gleichzeitig die Herstellung amorpher P(NDI2OD‑T2) Filme. Durch chemische Modifikation der P(NDI2OD‑T2)-Kette und verschiedener Prozessierungs-Methoden wurde eine {\"A}nderung des Kristallinit{\"a}tsgrades und gleichzeitig der Orientierung der kristallinen Dom{\"a}nen erreicht und mittels R{\"o}ntgenbeugung quantifiziert. In hochaufl{\"o}senden Elektronenmikroskopie-Messungen werden die Netzebenen und deren Einbettung in die semikristallinen Strukturen direkt abgebildet. Aus der Kombination der verschiedenen Methoden erschließt sich ein Gesamtbild der Nah- und Fernordnung in P(NDI2OD‑T2). {\"U}ber die Messung der Elektronenmobilit{\"a}t dieser Schichten wird die Anisotropie des Ladungstransports in den kristallographischen Raumrichtungen von P(NDI2OD‑T2) charakterisiert und die Bedeutung der intramolekularen Wechselwirkung f{\"u}r effizienten Ladungstransport herausgearbeitet. Gleichzeitig wird deutlich, wie die Verwendung von gr{\"o}ßeren und planaren funktionellen Gruppen zu h{\"o}heren Ladungstr{\"a}germobilit{\"a}ten f{\"u}hrt, welche im Vergleich zu klassischen semikristallinen Polymeren weniger sensitiv auf die strukturelle Unordnung im Film sind.},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Trabant2014,
  author    = {Trabant, Christoph},
  title     = {Ultrafast photoinduced phase transitions in complex materials probed by time-resolved resonant soft x-ray diffraction},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-71377},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {In processing and data storage mainly ferromagnetic (FM) materials are being used. Approaching physical limits, new concepts have to be found for faster, smaller switches, for higher data densities and more energy efficiency. Some of the discussed new concepts involve the material classes of correlated oxides and materials with antiferromagnetic coupling. Their applicability depends critically on their switching behavior, i.e., how fast and how energy efficient material properties can be manipulated. This thesis presents investigations of ultrafast non-equilibrium phase transitions on such new materials. In transition metal oxides (TMOs) the coupling of different degrees of freedom and resulting low energy excitation spectrum often result in spectacular changes of macroscopic properties (colossal magneto resistance, superconductivity, metal-to-insulator transitions) often accompanied by nanoscale order of spins, charges, orbital occupation and by lattice distortions, which make these material attractive. Magnetite served as a prototype for functional TMOs showing a metal-to-insulator-transition (MIT) at T = 123 K. By probing the charge and orbital order as well as the structure after an optical excitation we found that the electronic order and the structural distortion, characteristics of the insulating phase in thermal equilibrium, are destroyed within the experimental resolution of 300 fs. The MIT itself occurs on a 1.5 ps timescale. It shows that MITs in functional materials are several thousand times faster than switching processes in semiconductors. Recently ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials have become interesting. It was shown in ferrimagnetic GdFeCo, that the transfer of angular momentum between two opposed FM subsystems with different time constants leads to a switching of the magnetization after laser pulse excitation. In addition it was theoretically predicted that demagnetization dynamics in AFM should occur faster than in FM materials as no net angular momentum has to be transferred out of the spin system. We investigated two different AFM materials in order to learn more about their ultrafast dynamics. In Ho, a metallic AFM below T ≈ 130 K, we found that the AFM Ho can not only be faster but also ten times more energy efficiently destroyed as order in FM comparable metals. In EuTe, an AFM semiconductor below T ≈ 10 K, we compared the loss of magnetization and laser-induced structural distortion in one and the same experiment. Our experiment shows that they are effectively disentangled. An exception is an ultrafast release of lattice dynamics, which we assign to the release of magnetostriction. The results presented here were obtained with time-resolved resonant soft x-ray diffraction at the Femtoslicing source of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and at the free-electron laser in Stanford (LCLS). In addition the development and setup of a new UHV-diffractometer for these experiments will be reported.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Yadavalli2014,
  author    = {Yadavalli, Nataraja Sekhar},
  title     = {Advances in experimental methods to probe surface relief grating formation mechanism in photosensitive materials},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-71213},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {When azobenzene-modified photosensitive polymer films are irradiated with light interference patterns, topographic variations in the film develop that follow the electric field vector distribution resulting in the formation of surface relief grating (SRG). The exact correspondence of the electric field vector orientation in interference pattern in relation to the presence of local topographic minima or maxima of SRG is in general difficult to determine. In my thesis, we have established a systematic procedure to accomplish the correlation between different interference patterns and the topography of SRG. For this, we devise a new setup combining an atomic force microscope and a two-beam interferometer (IIAFM). With this set-up, it is possible to track the topography change in-situ, while at the same time changing polarization and phase of the impinging interference pattern. To validate our results, we have compared two photosensitive materials named in short as PAZO and trimer. This is the first time that an absolute correspondence between the local distribution of electric field vectors of interference pattern and the local topography of the relief grating could be established exhaustively. In addition, using our IIAFM we found that for a certain polarization combination of two orthogonally polarized interfering beams namely SP (↕, ↔) interference pattern, the topography forms SRG with only half the period of the interference patterns. Exploiting this phenomenon we are able to fabricate surface relief structures below diffraction limit with characteristic features measuring only 140 nm, by using far field optics with a wavelength of 491 nm. We have also probed for the stresses induced during the polymer mass transport by placing an ultra-thin gold film on top (5-30 nm). During irradiation, the metal film not only deforms along with the SRG formation, but ruptures in regular and complex manner. The morphology of the cracks differs strongly depending on the electric field distribution in the interference pattern even when the magnitude and the kinetic of the strain are kept constant. This implies a complex local distribution of the opto-mechanical stress along the topography grating. The neutron reflectivity measurements of the metal/polymer interface indicate the penetration of metal layer within the polymer resulting in the formation of bonding layer that confirms the transduction of light induced stresses in the polymer layer to a metal film.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Schubert2014,
  author    = {Schubert, Marcel},
  title     = {Elementary processes in layers of electron transporting Donor-acceptor copolymers : investigation of charge transport and application to organic solar cells},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-70791},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Donor-acceptor (D-A) copolymers have revolutionized the field of organic electronics over the last decade. Comprised of a electron rich and an electron deficient molecular unit, these copolymers facilitate the systematic modification of the material's optoelectronic properties. The ability to tune the optical band gap and to optimize the molecular frontier orbitals as well as the manifold of structural sites that enable chemical modifications has created a tremendous variety of copolymer structures. Today, these materials reach or even exceed the performance of amorphous inorganic semiconductors. Most impressively, the charge carrier mobility of D-A copolymers has been pushed to the technologically important value of 10 cm^{2}V^{-1}s^{-1}. Furthermore, owed to their enormous variability they are the material of choice for the donor component in organic solar cells, which have recently surpassed the efficiency threshold of 10\%. Because of the great number of available D-A copolymers and due to their fast chemical evolution, there is a significant lack of understanding of the fundamental physical properties of these materials. Furthermore, the complex chemical and electronic structure of D-A copolymers in combination with their semi-crystalline morphology impede a straightforward identification of the microscopic origin of their superior performance. In this thesis, two aspects of prototype D-A copolymers were analysed. These are the investigation of electron transport in several copolymers and the application of low band gap copolymers as acceptor component in organic solar cells. In the first part, the investigation of a series of chemically modified fluorene-based copolymers is presented. The charge carrier mobility varies strongly between the different derivatives, although only moderate structural changes on the copolymers structure were made. Furthermore, rather unusual photocurrent transients were observed for one of the copolymers. Numerical simulations of the experimental results reveal that this behavior arises from a severe trapping of electrons in an exponential distribution of trap states. Based on the comparison of simulation and experiment, the general impact of charge carrier trapping on the shape of photo-CELIV and time-of-flight transients is discussed. In addition, the high performance naphthalenediimide (NDI)-based copolymer P(NDI2OD-T2) was characterized. It is shown that the copolymer posses one of the highest electron mobilities reported so far, which makes it attractive to be used as the electron accepting component in organic photovoltaic cells.\par Solar cells were prepared from two NDI-containing copolymers, blended with the hole transporting polymer P3HT. I demonstrate that the use of appropriate, high boiling point solvents can significantly increase the power conversion efficiency of these devices. Spectroscopic studies reveal that the pre-aggregation of the copolymers is suppressed in these solvents, which has a strong impact on the blend morphology. Finally, a systematic study of P3HT:P(NDI2OD-T2) blends is presented, which quantifies the processes that limit the efficiency of devices. The major loss channel for excited states was determined by transient and steady state spectroscopic investigations: the majority of initially generated electron-hole pairs is annihilated by an ultrafast geminate recombination process. Furthermore, exciton self-trapping in P(NDI2OD-T2) domains account for an additional reduction of the efficiency. The correlation of the photocurrent to microscopic morphology parameters was used to disclose the factors that limit the charge generation efficiency. Our results suggest that the orientation of the donor and acceptor crystallites relative to each other represents the main factor that determines the free charge carrier yield in this material system. This provides an explanation for the overall low efficiencies that are generally observed in all-polymer solar cells.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Orgis2014,
  author    = {Orgis, Thomas},
  title     = {Unstetige Galerkin-Diskretisierung niedriger Ordnung in einem atmosph{\"a}rischen Multiskalenmodell},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-70687},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Die Dynamik der Atmosph{\"a}re der Erde umfasst einen Bereich von mikrophysikalischer Turbulenz {\"u}ber konvektive Prozesse und Wolkenbildung bis zu planetaren Wellenmustern. F{\"u}r Wettervorhersage und zur Betrachtung des Klimas {\"u}ber Jahrzehnte und Jahrhunderte ist diese Gegenstand der Modellierung mit numerischen Verfahren. Mit voranschreitender Entwicklung der Rechentechnik sind Neuentwicklungen der dynamischen Kerne von Klimamodellen, die mit der feiner werdenden Aufl{\"o}sung auch entsprechende Prozesse aufl{\"o}sen k{\"o}nnen, notwendig. Der dynamische Kern eines Modells besteht in der Umsetzung (Diskretisierung) der grundlegenden dynamischen Gleichungen f{\"u}r die Entwicklung von Masse, Energie und Impuls, so dass sie mit Computern numerisch gel{\"o}st werden k{\"o}nnen. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Eignung eines unstetigen Galerkin-Verfahrens niedriger Ordnung f{\"u}r atmosph{\"a}rische Anwendungen. Diese Eignung f{\"u}r Gleichungen mit Wirkungen von externen Kr{\"a}ften wie Erdanziehungskraft und Corioliskraft ist aus der Theorie nicht selbstverst{\"a}ndlich. Es werden n{\"o}tige Anpassungen beschrieben, die das Verfahren stabilisieren, ohne sogenannte „slope limiter" einzusetzen. F{\"u}r das unmodifizierte Verfahren wird belegt, dass es nicht geeignet ist, atmosph{\"a}rische Gleichgewichte stabil darzustellen. Das entwickelte stabilisierte Modell reproduziert eine Reihe von Standard-Testf{\"a}llen der atmosph{\"a}rischen Dynamik mit Euler- und Flachwassergleichungen in einem weiten Bereich von r{\"a}umlichen und zeitlichen Skalen. Die L{\"o}sung der thermischen Windgleichung entlang der mit den Isobaren identischen charakteristischen Kurven liefert atmosph{\"a}rische Gleichgewichtszust{\"a}nde mit durch vorgegebenem Grundstrom einstellbarer Neigung zu(barotropen und baroklinen)Instabilit{\"a}ten, die f{\"u}r die Entwicklung von Zyklonen wesentlich sind. Im Gegensatz zu fr{\"u}heren Arbeiten sind diese Zust{\"a}nde direkt im z-System(H{\"o}he in Metern)definiert und m{\"u}ssen nicht aus Druckkoordinaten {\"u}bertragen werden.Mit diesen Zust{\"a}nden, sowohl als Referenzzustand, von dem lediglich die Abweichungen numerisch betrachtet werden, und insbesondere auch als Startzustand, der einer kleinen St{\"o}rung unterliegt, werden verschiedene Studien der Simulation von barotroper und barokliner Instabilit{\"a}t durchgef{\"u}hrt. Hervorzuheben ist dabei die durch die Formulierung von Grundstr{\"o}men mit einstellbarer Baroklinit{\"a}t erm{\"o}glichte simulationsgest{\"u}tzte Studie des Grades der baroklinen Instabilit{\"a}t verschiedener Wellenl{\"a}ngen in Abh{\"a}ngigkeit von statischer Stabilit{\"a}t und vertikalem Windgradient als Entsprechung zu Stabilit{\"a}tskarten aus theoretischen Betrachtungen in der Literatur.},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Herenz2014,
  author    = {Herenz, Peter},
  title     = {A study of the absorption characteristics of gaseous galaxy halos in the local Universe},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-70513},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Today, it is well known that galaxies like the Milky Way consist not only of stars but also of gas and dust. The galactic halo, a sphere of gas that surrounds the stellar disk of a galaxy, is especially interesting. It provides a wealth of information about in and outflowing gaseous material towards and away from galaxies and their hierarchical evolution. For the Milky Way, the so-called high-velocity clouds (HVCs), fast moving neutral gas complexes in the halo that can be traced by absorption-line measurements, are believed to play a crucial role in the overall matter cycle in our Galaxy. Over the last decades, the properties of these halo structures and their connection to the local circumgalactic and intergalactic medium (CGM and IGM, respectively) have been investigated in great detail by many different groups. So far it remains unclear, however, to what extent the results of these studies can be transferred to other galaxies in the local Universe. In this thesis, we study the absorption properties of Galactic HVCs and compare the HVC absorption characteristics with those of intervening QSO absorption-line systems at low redshift. The goal of this project is to improve our understanding of the spatial extent and physical conditions of gaseous galaxy halos in the local Universe. In the first part of the thesis we use HST /STIS ultraviolet spectra of more than 40 extragalactic background sources to statistically analyze the absorption properties of the HVCs in the Galactic halo. We determine fundamental absorption line parameters including covering fractions of different weakly/intermediately/highly ionized metals with a particular focus on SiII and MgII. Due to the similarity in the ionization properties of SiII and MgII, we are able to estimate the contribution of HVC-like halo structures to the cross section of intervening strong MgII absorbers at z = 0. Our study implies that only the most massive HVCs would be regarded as strong MgII absorbers, if the Milky Way halo would be seen as a QSO absorption line system from an exterior vantage point. Combining the observed absorption-cross section of Galactic HVCs with the well-known number density of intervening strong MgII absorbers at z = 0, we conclude that the contribution of infalling gas clouds (i.e., HVC analogs) in the halos of Milky Way-type galaxies to the cross section of strong MgII absorbers is 34\%. This result indicates that only about one third of the strong MgII absorption can be associated with HVC analogs around other galaxies, while the majority of the strong MgII systems possibly is related to galaxy outflows and winds. The second part of this thesis focuses on the properties of intervening metal absorbers at low redshift. The analysis of the frequency and physical conditions of intervening metal systems in QSO spectra and their relation to nearby galaxies offers new insights into the typical conditions of gaseous galaxy halos. One major aspect in our study was to regard intervening metal systems as possible HVC analogs. We perform a detailed analysis of absorption line properties and line statistics for 57 metal absorbers along 78 QSO sightlines using newly-obtained ultraviolet spectra obtained with HST /COS. We find clear evidence for bimodal distribution in the HI column density in the absorbers, a trend that we interpret as sign for two different classes of absorption systems (with HVC analogs at the high-column density end). With the help of the strong transitions of SiII λ1260, SiIII λ1206, and CIII λ977 we have set up Cloudy photoionization models to estimate the local ionization conditions, gas densities, and metallicities. We find that the intervening absorption systems studied by us have, on average, similar physical conditions as Galactic HVC absorbers, providing evidence that many of them represent HVC analogs in the vicinity of other galaxies. We therefore determine typical halo sizes for SiII, SiIII, and CIII for L = 0.01L∗ and L = 0.05L∗ galaxies. Based on the covering fractions of the different ions in the Galactic halo, we find that, for example, the typical halo size for SiIII is ∼ 160 kpc for L = 0.05L∗ galaxies. We test the plausibility of this result by searching for known galaxies close to the QSO sightlines and at similar redshifts as the absorbers. We find that more than 34\% of the measured SiIII absorbers have galaxies associated with them, with the majority of the absorbers indeed being at impact parameters ρ ≤160 kpc.},
  language  = {en}
}