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The H.E.S.S. array is a third generation Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) array. It is located in the Khomas Highland in Namibia, and measures very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays. In Phase I, the array started data taking in 2004 with its four identical 13 m telescopes. Since then, H.E.S.S. has emerged as the most successful IACT experiment to date. Among the almost 150 sources of VHE gamma-ray radiation found so far, even the oldest detection, the Crab Nebula, keeps surprising the scientific community with unexplained phenomena such as the recently discovered very energetic flares of high energy gamma-ray radiation. During its most recent flare, which was detected by the Fermi satellite in March 2013, the Crab Nebula was simultaneously observed with the H.E.S.S. array for six nights. The results of the observations will be discussed in detail during the course of this work. During the nights of the flare, the new 24 m × 32 m H.E.S.S. II telescope was still being commissioned, but participated in the data taking for one night. To be able to reconstruct and analyze the data of the H.E.S.S. Phase II array, the algorithms and software used by the H.E.S.S. Phase I array had to be adapted. The most prominent advanced shower reconstruction technique developed by de Naurois and Rolland, the template-based model analysis, compares real shower images taken by the Cherenkov telescope cameras with shower templates obtained using a semi-analytical model. To find the best fitting image, and, therefore, the relevant parameters that describe the air shower best, a pixel-wise log-likelihood fit is done. The adaptation of this advanced shower reconstruction technique to the heterogeneous H.E.S.S. Phase II array for stereo events (i.e. air showers seen by at least two telescopes of any kind), its performance using MonteCarlo simulations as well as its application to real data will be described.
Diffusion of finite-size particles in two-dimensional channels with random wall configurations
(2014)
Diffusion of chemicals or tracer molecules through complex systems containing irregularly shaped channels is important in many applications. Most theoretical studies based on the famed Fick–Jacobs equation focus on the idealised case of infinitely small particles and reflecting boundaries. In this study we use numerical simulations to consider the transport of finite-size particles through asymmetrical two-dimensional channels. Additionally, we examine transient binding of the molecules to the channel walls by applying sticky boundary conditions. We consider an ensemble of particles diffusing in independent channels, which are characterised by common structural parameters. We compare our results for the long-time effective diffusion coefficient with a recent theoretical formula obtained by Dagdug and Pineda [J. Chem. Phys., 2012, 137, 024107].
It is generally agreed upon that stars typically form in open clusters and stellar associations, but little is known about the structure of the open cluster system. Do open clusters and stellar associations form isolated or do they prefer to form in groups and complexes? Open cluster groups and complexes could verify star forming regions to be larger than expected, which would explain the chemical homogeneity over large areas in the Galactic disk. They would also define an additional level in the hierarchy of star formation and could be used as tracers for the scales of fragmentation in giant molecular clouds? Furthermore, open cluster groups and complexes could affect Galactic dynamics and should be considered in investigations and simulations on the dynamical processes, such as radial migration, disc heating, differential rotation, kinematic resonances, and spiral structure.
In the past decade there were a few studies on open cluster pairs (de La Fuente Marcos & de La Fuente Marcos 2009a,b,c) and on open cluster groups and complexes (Piskunov et al. 2006). The former only considered spatial proximity for the identification of the pairs, while the latter also required tangential velocities to be similar for the members. In this work I used the full set of 6D phase-space information to draw a more detailed picture on these structures. For this purpose I utilised the most homogeneous cluster catalogue available, namely the Catalogue of Open Cluster Data (COCD; Kharchenko et al. 2005a,b), which contains parameters for 650 open clusters and compact associations, as well as for their uniformly selected members. Additional radial velocity (RV) and metallicity ([M/H]) information on the members were obtained from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE; Steinmetz et al. 2006; Kordopatis et al. 2013) for 110 and 81 clusters, respectively. The RAVE sample was cleaned considering quality parameters and flags provided by RAVE (Matijevič et al. 2012; Kordopatis et al. 2013). To ensure that only real members were included for the mean values, also the cluster membership, as provided by Kharchenko et al. (2005a,b), was considered for the stars cross-matched in RAVE.
6D phase-space information could be derived for 432 out of the 650 COCD objects and I used an adaption of the Friends-of-Friends algorithm, as used in cosmology, to identify potential groupings. The vast majority of the 19 identified groupings were pairs, but I also found four groups of 4-5 members and one complex with 15 members. For the verification of the identified structures, I compared the results to a randomly selected subsample of the catalogue for the Milky Way global survey of Star Clusters (MWSC; Kharchenko et al. 2013), which became available recently, and was used as reference sample. Furthermore, I implemented Monte-Carlo simulations with randomised samples created from two distinguished input distributions for the spatial and velocity parameters. On the one hand, assuming a uniform distribution in the Galactic disc and, on the other hand, assuming the COCD data distributions to be representative for the whole open cluster population.
The results suggested that the majority of identified pairs are rather by chance alignments, but the groups and the complex seemed to be genuine. A comparison of my results to the pairs, groups and complexes proposed in the literature yielded a partial overlap, which was most likely because of selection effects and different parameters considered. This is another verification for the existence of such structures.
The characteristics of the found groupings favour that members of an open cluster grouping originate from a common giant molecular cloud and formed in a single, but possibly sequential, star formation event. Moreover, the fact that the young open cluster population showed smaller spatial separations between nearest neighbours than the old cluster population indicated that the lifetime of open cluster groupings is most likely comparable to that of the Galactic open cluster population itself. Still even among the old open clusters I could identify groupings, which suggested that the detected structure could be in some cases more long lived as one might think.
In this thesis I could only present a pilot study on structures in the Galactic open cluster population, since the data sample used was highly incomplete. For further investigations a far more complete sample would be required. One step in this direction would be to use data from large current surveys, like SDSS, RAVE, Gaia-ESO and VVV, as well as including results from studies on individual clusters. Later the sample can be completed by data from upcoming missions, like Gaia and 4MOST. Future studies using this more complete open cluster sample will reveal the effect of open cluster groupings on star formation theory and their significance for the kinematics, dynamics and evolution of the Milky Way, and thereby of spiral galaxies.
Based on extensive Monte Carlo simulations and analytical considerations we study the electrostatically driven adsorption of flexible polyelectrolyte chains onto charged Janus nanospheres. These net-neutral colloids are composed of two equally but oppositely charged hemispheres. The critical binding conditions for polyelectrolyte chains are analysed as function of the radius of the Janus particle and its surface charge density, as well as the salt concentration in the ambient solution. Specifically for the adsorption of finite-length polyelectrolyte chains onto Janus nanoparticles, we demonstrate that the critical adsorption conditions drastically differ when the size of the Janus particle or the screening length of the electrolyte are varied. We compare the scaling laws obtained for the adsorption–desorption threshold to the known results for uniformly charged spherical particles, observing significant disparities. We also contrast the changes to the polyelectrolyte chain conformations close to the surface of the Janus nanoparticles as compared to those for simple spherical particles. Finally, we discuss experimentally relevant physico-chemical systems for which our simulations results may become important. In particular, we observe similar trends with polyelectrolyte complexation with oppositely but heterogeneously charged proteins.
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.
In dieser Arbeit werden nichtlineare Kopplungsmechanismen von akustischen Oszillatoren untersucht, die zu Synchronisation führen können. 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 vollständig auf den aeroakustischen und fluiddynamischen Grundprinzipien basierendes nichtlinear gekoppeltes Modell selbst-erregter Oszillatoren für die Beschreibung des Verhaltens zweier wechselwirkender Orgelpfeifen entwickelt. Die durchgeführten 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 für den nichtlinearen Zusammenhang von Kopplungsstärke und Synchronisation des gekoppelten Zwei-Pfeifen Systems, welcher sich in einem nichtlinearen Verlauf der Arnoldzunge darstellt, geklärt werden. Mit den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen wird der Einfluss des Raumes auf die Tonentstehung bei Orgelpfeifen betrachtet. Dafür 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 Schwellkästen auf die Tonentstehung und die Klangbildung der Orgelpfeife wird studiert. In weiteren, neuartigen Synchronisationsexperimenten mit identisch gestimmten Orgelpfeifen, sowie mit Mixturen wird die Synchronisation für verschiedene, horizontale und vertikale Pfeifenabstände in der Ebene der Schallabstrahlung, untersucht. Die dabei erstmalig beobachteten räumlich isotropen Unstetigkeiten im Schwingungsverhalten der gekoppelten Pfeifensysteme, deuten auf abstandsabhängige Wechsel zwischen gegen- und gleichphasigen Sychronisationsregimen hin. Abschließend wird die Möglichkeit dokumentiert, das Phänomen der Synchronisation zweier Orgelpfeifen durch numerische Simulationen, also der Behandlung der kompressiblen Navier-Stokes Gleichungen mit entsprechenden Rand- und Anfangsbedingungen, realitätsnah abzubilden. Auch dies stellt ein Novum dar.
During this work I built a four wave mixing setup for the time-resolved femtosecond spectroscopy of Raman-active lattice modes. This setup enables to study the selective excitation of phonon polaritons. These quasi-particles arise from the coupling of electro-magnetic waves and transverse optical lattice modes, the so-called phonons. The phonon polaritons were investigated in the optically non-linear, ferroelectric crystals LiNbO₃ and LiTaO₃.
The direct observation of the frequency shift of the scattered narrow bandwidth probe pulses proofs the role of the Raman interaction during the probe and excitation process of phonon polaritons. I compare this experimental method with the measurement where ultra-short laser pulses are used. The frequency shift remains obscured by the relative broad bandwidth of these laser pulses. In an experiment with narrow bandwidth probe pulses, the Stokes and anti-Stokes intensities are spectrally separated. They are assigned to the corresponding counter-propagating wavepackets of phonon polaritons. Thus, the dynamics of these wavepackets was separately studied. Based on these findings, I develop the mathematical description of the so-called homodyne detection of light for the case of light scattering from counter propagating phonon polaritons.
Further, I modified the broad bandwidth of the ultra-short pump pulses using bandpass filters to generate two pump pulses with non-overlapping spectra. This enables the frequency-selective excitation of polariton modes in the sample, which allows me to observe even very weak polariton modes in LiNbO₃ or LiTaO₃ that belong to the higher branches of the dispersion relation of phonon polaritons. The experimentally determined dispersion relation of the phonon polaritons could therefore be extended and compared to theoretical models. In addition, I determined the frequency-dependent damping of phonon polaritons.
Scientific inquiry requires that we formulate not only what we know, but also what we do not know and by how much. In climate data analysis, this involves an accurate specification of measured quantities and a consequent analysis that consciously propagates the measurement errors at each step. The dissertation presents a thorough analytical method to quantify errors of measurement inherent in paleoclimate data. An additional focus are the uncertainties in assessing the coupling between different factors that influence the global mean temperature (GMT).
Paleoclimate studies critically rely on `proxy variables' that record climatic signals in natural archives. However, such proxy records inherently involve uncertainties in determining the age of the signal. We present a generic Bayesian approach to analytically determine the proxy record along with its associated uncertainty, resulting in a time-ordered sequence of correlated probability distributions rather than a precise time series. We further develop a recurrence based method to detect dynamical events from the proxy probability distributions. The methods are validated with synthetic examples and
demonstrated with real-world proxy records. The proxy estimation step reveals the interrelations between proxy variability and uncertainty. The recurrence analysis of the East Asian Summer Monsoon during the last 9000 years confirms the well-known `dry' events at 8200 and 4400 BP, plus an additional significantly dry event at 6900 BP.
We also analyze the network of dependencies surrounding GMT. We find an intricate, directed network with multiple links between the different factors at multiple time delays. We further uncover a significant feedback from the GMT to the El Niño Southern Oscillation at quasi-biennial timescales. The analysis highlights the need of a more nuanced formulation of influences between different climatic factors, as well as the limitations in trying to estimate such dependencies.
Molecular motors pulling cargos in the viscoelastic cytosol: how power strokes beat subdiffusion
(2014)
The discovery of anomalous diffusion of larger biopolymers and submicron tracers such as endogenous granules, organelles, or virus capsids in living cells, attributed to the viscoelastic nature of the cytoplasm, provokes the question whether this complex environment equally impacts the active intracellular transport of submicron cargos by molecular motors such as kinesins: does the passive anomalous diffusion of free cargo always imply its anomalously slow active transport by motors, the mean transport distance along microtubule growing sublinearly rather than linearly in time? Here we analyze this question within the widely used two-state Brownian ratchet model of kinesin motors based on the continuous-state diffusion along microtubules driven by a flashing binding potential, where the cargo particle is elastically attached to the motor. Depending on the cargo size, the loading force, the amplitude of the binding potential, the turnover frequency of the molecular motor enzyme, and the linker stiffness we demonstrate that the motor transport may turn out either normal or anomalous, as indeed measured experimentally. We show how a highly efficient normal active transport mediated by motors may emerge despite the passive anomalous diffusion of the cargo, and study the intricate effects of the elastic linker. Under different, well specified conditions the microtubule-based motor transport becomes anomalously slow and thus significantly less efficient.
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.