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In a magnetized plasma, naturally occurring pressure anisotropies facilitate instabilities that are expected to modify the transport properties of the system. In this thesis we examine two such instabilities and, where appropriate, their effects on transport. First we consider the collisional (fluid) magnetized magnetorotational instability (MRI) in the presence of the Braginskii viscosity. We conduct a global linear analysis of the instability in a galactic rotation profile for three magnetic field configurations: purely azimuthal, purely vertical and slightly pitched. Our analysis, numerical and asymptotic, shows that the first two represent singular configurations where the Braginskii viscosity's primary role is dissipative and the maximum growth rate is proportional to the Reynolds number when this is small. For a weak pitched field, the Braginskii viscosity is destabilising and when its effects dominate over the Lorentz force, the growth rate of the MRI can be up to 2√2 times faster than the inviscid limit. If the field is strong, an over-stability develops and both the real and imaginary parts of the frequency increase with the coefficient of the viscosity. Second, in the context of the ICM of galaxy clusters, we consider the pressure-anisotropy-driven firehose instability. The linear instability is fast (~ ion cyclotron period) and small-scale (ion Larmor radius ρi) and so fluid theory is inapplicable. We determine its nonlinear evolution in an ab initio kinetic calculation (for parallel gradients only). We use a particular physical asymptotic ordering to derive a closed nonlinear equation for the firehose turbulence, which we solve. We find secular (α t) growth of magnetic fluctuations and a k-||3 spectrum, starting at scales >~ ρi. When a parallel ion heat flux is present, the parallel firehose instability mutates into the new gyrothermal instability. Its nonlinear evolution also involves secular magnetic energy growth, but its spectrum is eventually dominated by modes with a maximal scale ~ρilT/λmfp,(lT is the parallel temperature gradient scale). Throughout we discuss implications for modelling, transport and other areas of magnetized plasma physics.

I have carried out three-dimensional numerical simulations of self-gravitating discs to determine under what circumstances they fragment to form bound clumps that may grow into giant planets. Through radiation hydrodynamical simulations using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics code, I find that the disc opacity plays a vital role in determining whether a disc fragments. Specifically, opacities that are smaller than interstellar Rosseland mean values promote fragmentation (even at small radii, R < 25AU) since low opacities allow a disc to cool quickly. This may occur if a disc has a low metallicity or if grain growth has occurred. Given that the standard core accretion model is less likely to form planets in a low metallicity environment, I predict that gravitational instability is the dominant planet formation mechanism in a low metallicity environment. In addition, I find that the presence of stellar irradiation generally acts to inhibit fragmentation (since the discs can only cool to the temperature defined by stellar irradiation). However, fragmentation may occur if the irradiation is sufficiently weak that it allows the disc to attain a low Toomre stability parameter. With specific reference to the HR 8799 planetary system, I find that it is only possible for fragments to form in the radial range where the HR 8799 planets are located (approximately 24-68 AU) if the disc is massive. In such a high mass regime, mass transport occurs in the disc causing the surface mass density to alter. Therefore, fragmentation is not only affected by the disc temperature and cooling, but also by any restructuring due to the gravitational torques. The high mass discs also pose a problem for the formation of this system because the protoplanets accrete from the disc and end up with masses greater than those inferred from observation and thus, the growth of planets would need to be inhibited. In addition, I find that further subsequent fragmentation at small radii also takes place. By way of analytical arguments in combination with hydrodynamical simulations using a parameterised cooling method, I explore the fragmentation criteria which in the past, has placed emphasis on the cooling timescale in units of the orbital timescale, beta. I find that at a given radius the surface mass density (i.e. disc mass and profile) and star mass also play a crucial role in determining whether a disc fragments or not as well as where in the disc fragments form. I find that for shallow surface mass density profiles (p<2, where the surface mass density is proportional to R^{-p}), fragments form in the outer regions of the disc. However for steep surface mass density profiles (p is greater than or similar to 2), fragments form in the inner regions of a disc. In addition, I find that the critical value of the cooling timescale in units of the orbital timescale, beta_crit, found in previous simulations is only applicable to certain disc surface mass density profiles and for particular disc radii and is not a general rule for all discs. I obtain an empirical fragmentation criteria between the cooling timescale in units of the orbital timescale, beta, the surface mass density, the star mass and the radius. Finally, I carry out crucial resolution testing by performing the highest resolution disc simulations to date. My results cast some serious doubts on previous conclusions concerning fragmentation of self-gravitating discs.

Abstract: Stellar mass black holes (BHs) accreting in binary systems provide valuable insight into how binary systems evolve and how mass is transferred via accretion. Although in recent years a canonical picture of the outburst evolution in black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) has emerged, these systems actually exhibit a wide range of unorthodox behaviour as well. Using today's more sensitive all-sky X-ray instruments, which have made an in-depth exploration of the X-ray Universe possible, we have the ability to classify the range of behaviours exhibited by these accreting BHs. Taking advantage of these resources, we have established a comprehensive database of BH (and BH candidate) XRB activity over the last 18 years as revealed by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), Monitor of All-Sky X-ray Image (MAXI) telescope, Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), and the INTErnational Gamma-ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL). As a result we have detected 90 outbursts occurring in 43 transient BHXRBs, tracked the long-term behaviour of 9 persistent BHXRBs, and estimate that the current suite of instruments in space can detect ~ 6-12 transient outbursts every year, more than a factor of two larger than with RXTE alone. Perhaps our most noteworthy result comes in the discovery that, despite the prevailing opinion, the outbursts undergone by BHXRBs that do not complete the canonical pattern (i.e., those that fail to transition to the soft accretion states) make up ~ 50% of all outbursts occurring in transient BHXRBs in the past 18 years. Interestingly enough, we find that these "failed" outbursts are not just limited to the transient systems but are also exhibited by a fair number of persistently accreting systems in the form of long continuous periods spent in the hard state. This "failed" behaviour being neither a rare nor recent phenomena, challenges the standard paradigm for accretion behaviour in both transient and persistent BHXRBs. The questions that remain are, "what ramifications do the larger number of these "failed" outbursts have on the mass-transfer history of the Galactic BHXRB population" and "what observational parameters best probe the degree to which this behaviour impacts the population as a whole". In this thesis we present the detailed findings of our database making use of X-ray hardness, luminosity, disc fraction, and mass-transfer rate to probe canonical and anomalous outburst behaviour exhibited by BHXRBs, its impact on the physical observables of individual systems alone, and the universal properties of the population as a whole. We show that enumerating the frequency at which outbursts occur and quantitatively classifying the wide range of behaviour exhibited during outburst is critical to furthering our understanding of the physical mechanisms driving mass-accretion in BHXRBs and a key step toward filling in the many gaps in our knowledge of how BHXRBs form, accrete, and evolve.