• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.117.2-117.2
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• 2014

Astrochemistry is a tool to understand the physical processes occurring in the interstellar medium in a variety of astrophysical environments. Many ALMA sciences are utilizing our knowledge of astrochemistry, which has grown explosively in recent years thanks to sensitive observations and laboratory work. We will review the ALMA sciences employing astrochemistry and discuss how astrochemistry can serve to answer some unique astrophysical questions.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2010

Astrochemistry provides powerful tools to understand various cosmic phenomena, including those in our solar system to the large-scale structure of the universe. In addition, the chemical property of an astronomical body is a crucial factor which governs the evolution of the system. Recent progress in astrophysical theories, computational modelings, and observational techniques requires a detailed understanding of the interactions between the constituents of an astronomical system, which are atoms and molecules within the system. Especially the far-infrared/sub-millimeter wave range, which is called as the last frontier in astronomical observations, contains numerous molecular lines, which may provide a huge amount of new information. However, we need an astrochemical understanding to use this information fully. Although this review is very limited, I would like to stress the importance of astrochemical approach in this overview for the field, which is getting much more attention than ever before.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.93-95
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• 2017

The existence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) astronomically is well accepted, but the specific molecular forms observed remain uncertain. To better understand the molecular structures which may be present along a given sightline, the $3.0-3.6{\mu}m$ region is modelled with careful consideration given to the underlying sub-features arising from specific structures within emitting molecules.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.759-762
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• 2013

Four prominent features of Titan's haze are found within the '3.4-${\mu}m$' absorption to be uniform with recent vertically resolved Cassini/VIMS spectra. These are absorptions at 2998 $cm^{-1}$ (3.34 ${\mu}m$), 2968 $cm^{-1}$ (3.37 ${\mu}m$), 2927 $cm^{-1}$ (3.42 ${\mu}m$), and 2882 $cm^{-1}$ (3.47 ${\mu}m$). A detailed fitting suggests that the 2998 $cm^{-1}$ feature could originate from amorphous acetonitrile ($CH_3CN$) carrying about 25% of integrated optical depth; the remaining features, which account for 75% of the integrated optical depth, could arise from a distinct triplet (C-H stretching) structure of radiolyzed hydrocarbons. An additional feature was possibly evidenced at altitudes higher than 300 km and attributable to 'polymer-capped' methane ($CH_4$), significantly constraining the chemical composition of organic haze layers under Titan's active radiation field.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.83-89
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• 2007

A new type of object called "Very Low Luminosity Objects (VeLLOs)" has been discovered by the Spitzer Space Telescope. VeLLOs might be substellar objects forming by accretion. However, some VeLLOs are associated with strong outflows, indicating the previous existence of massive accretion. The thermal history, which significantly affects the chemistry, between substellar objects with a continuous low accretion rate and objects in a quiescent phase after massive accretion (outburst) must be greatly different. In this study, the chemical evolution has been calculated in an episodic accretion model to show that CO and $N_2H^+$ have a relation different from starless cores or Class 0/I objects. Furthermore, the $CO_2$ ice feature at $15.2{\mu}m$ will be a good tracer of the thermal process in VeLLOs.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.107-111
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• 2007

The original environment of the solar system can be inferred by studying the oxygen isotope ratios in the Sun as well as in primitive meteorites and comets. The oxygen isotopic fractionation measured in primitive meteorites is mass-independent, which can be explained by the isotopic-selective photodissociation of CO. The isotopic-selective photodissociation model in a collapsing cloud by Lee et al. (2007) imply the birth of the Sun in a stellar cluster with an enhanced radiation field, which is consistent with the inferred presence of $^{60}Fe$.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.105.2-105.2
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• 2011

거대 분자운의 중심에서 생성되는 무거운 별들의 탄생에 대하여는 아직도 많은 연구가 필요하다. 그것은 대부분의 이들 천체가 우리로부터 1-2 kpc 거리 이상의 먼 곳에 존재하며 별탄생 지역이 너무나 복잡하기 때문이다. 최근의 전파간섭계 등 고 분해능 관측은 이들 지역에 매우 다양한 천체물리 현상들이 함께 혼재하며, 초기 진화 과정의 알려지지 않았던 새로운 흥미로운 많은 사실들을 밝혀주고 있다. 특히 성간먼지의 얼음 맨틀과 연관되어 이들 지역에 집중적으로 존재하는 여러 복합 성간분자들은 무거운 별 탄생지역을 이해하는 매우 강력한 수단을 제공하여 준다. 물리적 환경의 차이에 따라 이들 분자들은 서로 다른 뚜렷한 천체화학적 특성을 보이며, 이것은 때로 무거운 별 탄생 현상을 이해하는 유일한 연구 수단이기도 하다. 이번 발표에서는 백조자리 X에 위치한 대표적인 별 탄생지역인 W75N와 DR21(OH) 지역에서 서브밀리미터 전파간섭계 어레이(SMA)로 관측된 복합 성간분자들의 흥미롭고 다양한 현상들을 소개한다.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.105-107
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• 2017

We present results of AKARI/IRC near-infrared (NIR) slit-spectroscopy ($2.5-5.0{\mu}m$, R ~ 100) of Galactic sources, focusing on ice absorption features. We investigate the abundance of $H_2O$ and $CO_2$ ices and other ice species (CO and XCN ices) along lines of sight towards Galactic H $\small{II}$ regions, massive YSOs, and infrared diffuse sources. Even among those different kinds of astronomical objects, the abundance ratio of $CO_2$ to $H_2O$ ices does not vary significantly, suggesting that the pathway to $CO_2$ ice formation driven by UV irradiation is not effective at least among the present targets.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.29-34
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• 2014

We have observed the deuterated methanol, $CH_3OD$, toward the hot core MM1 in the massive star-forming region DR21 (OH) using the Submillimeter Array with a high angular resolution of about 1 arcsecond. The position of the hot core associated with the sub-core MM1a was confirmed to coincide with the continuum peak where an embedded young stellar object is located. The column density of $CH_3OD$ was found to be about $(2{\pm}1){\times}10^{16}cm^{-2}$ toward the MM1a center. The abundance ratio $CH_3OD/CH_3OH$ was measured to be ~ 0.45, which is about the median value for low mass star-forming cores but much larger than those of the massive star-forming cores. The ratio is believed to change depending on, for example, the chemical condition, the temperature and the density of the source. This ratio may further depend on the evolutionary phase especially in the massive-star-forming cores. The sub-core MM1a is thought to be in the very early phase of star formation. This large abundance ratio found in this source indicates that even the massive star-forming cores, during a relatively short period in the very early stage of star formation, may also show a chemical state resulted from the cold and dense pre-collapsing phase, the enhanced deuteration as found in low mass star-forming cores.