Magnetic fields in galaxy clusters can be investigated using a variety of techniques. Recent studies including radio halos, Inverse Compton hard X-ray emissions and Faraday rotation measure, are briefly outlined. A numerical approach for investigating cluster magnetic fields strength and structure is presented. It consists of producing simulated rotation measure, radio halo images, and radio ha...

Compton scattering within the accretion column of magnetic cataclysmic variables (mCVs) can induce a net polarization in the X-ray emission. We investigate this process using Monte Carlo simulations and find that significant polarization can arise as a result of the stratified flow structure in the shock-ionized column. We find that the degree of linear polarization can reach levels up to ∼ 8% ...

This thesis describes the numerical investigation of the production of ultra-cold particle ensembles and the manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) clouds. Ultra-cold particle ensembles are commonly obtained by several cooling steps, the last and most effective of which is the evaporation of particles from a trap. A simulation program has been developed for the simulation of the evapora...

As a strange star spins down, the nuclear matter in its crust contracts continuously into the quark core. The confined nuclear matter is dissolved into quark matter, liberating a lot of thermal energy. This process is called deconfinement heating. It is found that deconfinement heating dramatically changes the thermal evolution of a strange star. For a strange star with a strong surface magneti...

We present a dual chamber atom chip apparatus for generating ultracold (87)Rb and (39)K atomic gases. The apparatus produces quasi-pure Bose-Einstein condensates of 10(4) (87)Rb atoms in an atom chip trap that features a dimple and good optical access. We have also demonstrated production of ultracold (39)K and subsequent loading into the chip trap. We describe the details of the dual chamber v...

The structure, magnetic response, and dielectric response of the grown epitaxial thin films of the orthorhombic phase of YMnO3 oxide on Nb:SrTiO3 (001) substrates have been measured. We have found that a substrate-induced strain produces an in-plane compression of the YMnO3 unit cell. The magnetization versus temperature curves display a significant zero-field cooling (ZFC)-field cooling hyster...

Zero-field-cooling and field-cooling FC measurements were performed on ferrofluids of cobalt magnetic nanoparticles MNPs in various organic solvent. Two peaks, one broad peak corresponding to the blocking transition TB , and one sharp peak corresponding to the melting of the solvent TM , were observed. Furthermore, for a given MNP size, when the blocking and melting transitions were superposed ...

We demonstrate a general and efficient informational cooling technique for atoms that is an experimental realization of a one-dimensional Maxwell’s demon. The technique transfers atoms from a magnetic trap into an optical trap via a single spontaneous Raman transition that is discriminatively driven near each atom’s classical turning point. In this way, nearly all of the atomic ensemble’s kinet...

Caloric effects are currently under intense study due to the prospect of environment-friendly cooling applications. Most of the research is centred on large magnetocaloric effects and large electrocaloric effects, but the former require large magnetic fields that are challenging to generate economically and the latter require large electric fields that can only be applied without breakdown in t...

The effect of the magnetic field on the energy loss rate in the direct Urca reactions is studied. The general expression for the neutrino emissivity at arbitrary magnetic field B is derived. The main emphasis is laid on a case, in which the field is not superstrong, and charged reacting particles (e and p) populate many Landau levels. The magnetic field keeps the process operative if ∆k/kFn . N...