Part I: M51 is observed at a wavelength of 850 mum, where most radiation is emitted by dust. We find prominent spiral arms and an underlying exponential disk. The properties of the disk and the... Show morePart I: M51 is observed at a wavelength of 850 mum, where most radiation is emitted by dust. We find prominent spiral arms and an underlying exponential disk. The properties of the disk and the arms are studied. Part II and III: Gas in Galaxy Centers is exposed to intense radiation from a starburst region, an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), or both. The OB stars in starforming regions mostly radiate in the far-ultraviolet (FUV) and accreting black holes mostly in the X-ray regime. FUV and X-ray photons lead to a totally different chemical composition of gas clouds. Therefore, molecules such as H2, CO, HCN and HCO+ emit different line intensities. In the thesis, we model the line emission of the molecules in these gas clouds with Photon Dominated Regions models (FUV: PDR) and X-ray Dominated Region models (X-rays: XDR). These models are applied to nearby active galaxies such as NGC 253 and NGC 1068. Show less
Planets form in disks that are commonly found around young stars. The intimate relationship that exists between planet and disk can account for a lot of the exotic extrasolar planetary systems... Show morePlanets form in disks that are commonly found around young stars. The intimate relationship that exists between planet and disk can account for a lot of the exotic extrasolar planetary systems known today. In this thesis we explore disk-planet interaction using numerical hydrodynamical simulations. We study the growth and migration of embedded planets, as well as the condition for gap formation in the disk. These planetary gaps provide an important link to future observations of circumstellar disks. Show less
Planets form in disks of gas and dust around young stars. Since the gas makes up 99 % of the disk mass, it is critical for our understanding of planet formation to gain direct information from the... Show morePlanets form in disks of gas and dust around young stars. Since the gas makes up 99 % of the disk mass, it is critical for our understanding of planet formation to gain direct information from the gas, independently of what can be learned from dust emission. In this thesis, calculations are presented of the chemistry and gas temperature in disks, and the resulting atomic and molecular emission lines are investigated. The main focus of the thesis is on the effects of dust settling on gas-phase emission lines of disks around T-Tauri and Herbig Ae stars. It is found that dust settling has little effect on the overall chemistry and molecular lines; the main effect is a decrease in the gas temperature, which is reflected in atomic fine-structure lines and especially in the [O I] lines. The chemistry, and especially the CO abundance and HCN/CN ratio, is affected more by the total gas mass than by the dust gas ratio in a disk. The models were also applied to the disk around HD 141569A, which is in a transitional stage between a gas-rich Herbig Ae disk and a debris disk. Using chemical models to fit the observed CO rotational lines it is concluded that gas and small dust particles have an approximately interstellar mass ratio, and that gas is still present in the inner hole in the dust distribution Show less
The search for organic molecules and traces of life on Mars has been a major topic in planetary science for several decades, and is the future perspective of several missions to Mars. In order to... Show moreThe search for organic molecules and traces of life on Mars has been a major topic in planetary science for several decades, and is the future perspective of several missions to Mars. In order to determine where and what those missions should be looking for, laboratory experiments under simulated Mars conditions have been performed. This thesis describes the effects of simulated martian surface conditions on organic material (amino acids) and living organisms (halophilic archaea). Experiments have been performed to study the stability of thin films of glycine and alanine against UV irradiation under different conditions. Thin films of glycine and alanine have a half-life of 22 ± 5 hours and 3 ± 1 hours, respectively, when extrapolated to Mars-like UV flux levels in vacuum. The presence of a 7 mbar CO2 atmosphere does not affect these destruction rates. Cooling the thin films to 210 K (average Mars temperature) lowers the destruction rate by a factor of 7. The intrinsic amino acid composition of two martian soil analogues, JSC Mars-1 and Salten Skov, has been investigated. The results demonstrated that these analogues are inappropriate for a life-science study in their raw state. Besides amino acids, the response of the halophilic archaea Natronorubrum sp. strain HG-1 to Mars-like conditions, such as low pressure, UV radiation and low temperatures, has been studied. From the results we concluded that this strain would not be a good model organism to survive on the surface of Mars. Show less
