• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.29.1-29.1
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• 2010

Recent observations reveal that some early-type galaxies show a color-magnitude relation of blue globular clusters (GCs) in the color-magnitude diagrams, which is referred to as 'blue tilt'. This phenomenon is interpreted as a mass-metallicity relation -- metallicities of blue GCs increase with increasing mass, and thus provides a crucial clue to the chemical enrichment processes of GCs as a function of their mass. However, some galaxies show 'non-tilt' or even 'reverse blue tilt' on the blue GC sequence, and thus the origin of blue tilt still remains a puzzle. In this study, we put forward the theoretical explanation for the phenomenon and discuss its implications towards galaxy formation scenarios.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.79.2-79.2
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• 2016

The presence of multiple stellar populations is now well established in most globular clusters (GCs) in the Milky Way. The origin of this, however, is yet to be understood. In this respect, the study of NGC 2808, a GC which hosts five sub-populations differing only in light-element abundances, would help to understand the origin of this multiple stellar populations. In order to investigate CN, CH, and Ca abundances among different populations in NGC 2808, we have performed low-resolution spectroscopy for the red giant branch (RGB) stars in this GC. Here we report preliminary results from this spectroscopic analysis.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.27-27
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• 2014

The past three decades have witnessed a renaissance in the field of extragalactic globular clusters (GCs). GC systems have now been investigated in galaxies ranging from dwarfs to giants and spanning all the morphological types. Detailed studies of GCs provide strong constraints on galaxy formation that can be obtained in the near-field. In this talk I will review some of the pivotal studies performed with the HST and large ground-based telescopes and state-of-the-art simulations. Also, I will attempt to introduce my new solution to a long-standing puzzle in this field----the origin of GC bimodality in color. I will show that the theory gives a simple, cohesive explanation for the key observations of extragalactic GCs. The implication of the results will be discussed in the context of formation of GC systems and their parent galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.38.1-38.1
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• 2019

Globular clusters (GCs) are one of the excellent tools to trace the assembly history of their host galaxies. Especially, the ages and abundances of the GCs give important clues about the star formation epochs and merging progenitors. We investigate the stellar population of the GCs in M87 based on a stacking analysis using about 900 MMT/Hectospec spectra of the GCs. We measure the ages, [Z/H], and [a/Fe] from the stacked spectra of the GCs within radial bins based on Lick indices. We find clear radial gradients for [Z/H] and [a/Fe] in the GC system. In addition to the radial trends, we investigate the stellar populations of the GC subgroups divided according to colors, radial velocities, and spatial locations. We discuss the formation history of M87 based on the stellar populations of the GCs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.34.3-34.3
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• 2021

We present Ca-CN-CH-NH photometry for the globular cluster (GC) M3. Our new photometric system combined with robust and self-consistent theoretical fine model grids allows us to measure key elements in stellar populations, [Fe/H], [C/Fe], and [N/Fe], even in the extremely crowded fields. Our results show that M3 consists of two GCs with different chemical abundances, structural and kinematical properties. Furthermore, each GC has its own carbon-nitrogen anticorrelation with whose fractions of the CN-weak populations are consistent with those in the Magellanic Clouds. We suggest that M3 is a merger remnant of two GCs, most likely in a dwarf galaxy environment and accreted to our Milky Way Galaxy later in time.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.58.3-58.3
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• 2015

Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs), kind of unusual main sequence stars, are the brighter and bluer stars than the main sequence turn off (MSTS) stars in coeval clusters. Since the first detection in globular clusters (GCs), BSSs have been shown to reveal an anti-correlation between the luminosity of their host star cluster and the number of BSSs in the cluster. Further, conclusions based on this result can be expanded to the open clusters. BSSs seem to play an important role in GCs according to the relation between the dynamical time scale of GCs and the number of BSSs along the cluster radius. This relation, however, remains to be verified in open clusters, In this study, we divide open clusters by the existence of BSSs into two groups. Then we compare parameters between these groups to specify the role of BSSs in open clusters.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.69-79
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• 1992

To estimate soil behavior and structural characteristics under the conditions of cyclic loading, freezing & thawing and initial state, several testing was performed and obtained following results. 1.After repeated freezing and thawing processes, original soil structure was destroyed and changed to globular structure from honeycomb or tube in its structure types. Also above processes resulted increasing the soil compression strain while decreasing the failure stress in stress-strain relationship and reached the soil structure into the mode of brittle fracture. Under cyclic loading conditions, soil cluster which was originally dispersed structure colloided with each other, seperated, and finally the soil failed due to the effect of overcompaction. 2.Through the stabilization processes seperated by four steps, the structure of soil skeleton was changed to quite different globular type. The degree of compressibility of soil was decreased in the normally consolidated zone, while the strength against external load increased due to soil particle stabilization. 3.Soil stress-strain chracteristics were largely influenced by repeated up and down processes of temperature. The maximum deformation was obtained in the case of temperature between 0 10˚C by the reseon of particle cluster reformation. 4.Soil compressibility was largely influenced by the optimum moisture content. Under freezing process, swelling could be found and its magnitude was proportional to the density of soil. 5.Density of soil was decreased as increasing the number or repeated freezing and thawing processes and the largest decreasing rate was found at the first turning point from freezing to thawing cycle.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.31.2-31.2
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• 2012

We present the Yonsei Evolutionary Population Synthesis (YEPS) models for spectroscopic and photometric evolutions of simple and composite stellar populations. The models are based on the most up-to-date Yonsei-Yale stellar evolutionary tracks and BaSel 3.1 flux libraries, and provide integrated spectroscopic quantities of Lick/IDS system including high-order Balmer absorption-lines. Special care has been taken to incorporate the systematic variation of horizontal branch (HB) morphology as functions of metallicity, age, alpha-element mixture, and helium abundance of simple stellar populations. Our models for normal-helium stellar populations indicate that the realistic modeling of HB and alpha-element brings about 5 Gyr and 0.1 dex differences in age and metallicity estimations, respectively, compared to those without these effects. The HB effect does not depend on the specific choice of stellar libraries and alpha-element enhancements, and this effect is non-negligible even in the metal sensitive absorption indices, such as Mg2 and Mg b. Comparison of the models to observations reveals that the HB and alpha-element effects are critical in understanding otherwise inexplicable phenomena found in globular cluster systems in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, including the observed bimodality of the line strengths of globular clusters in massive galaxies. In addition, we found that helium-enhanced stellar populations, which are the major sources of extreme HB stars, bring about increased FUV, NUV fluxes, and thus the model colors of those filters become extremely blue. Age dating based on the YEPS model with normal-helium stellar populations reveals that the evidence for 'downsizing' of elliptical galaxies is found not only in the local field but also in Coma cluster, and that the mean age of elliptical galaxies in Coma cluster is about 1.4 Gyr younger than the mean age of those in the local field. We also find that our models with helium-enhanced subpopulations can naturally reproduce the strong UV-upturns observed in giant elliptical galaxies assuming an age similar to that of old GCs in the Milky Way.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.36-36
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• 2013

Globular clusters (GCs) are among the oldest stellar objects in the universe and provide valuable constraints on many aspects of galaxy evolution. GC systems typically exhibit bimodal color distributions the phenomenon of which has been a major topic in the area of GC research. GC color bimodality established a paradigm where scenarios to explain its origin require two GC groups with different formation origins. The GC division, asserted mainly by photometric color bimodality so far, has been viewed as the presence of two distinct metallicity subgroups within individual galaxies. In this study, we make use of spectroscopy of GC systems associated with two giant galaxies, M31 (the Andromeda) and M87 (NGC 4486), to investigate the GC bimodality and the underlying metallicity distributions. Recent spectroscopy on the globular cluster (GC) system of M31 with unprecedented precision witnessed a clear bimodality in absorption-line index distributions of old GCs. Given that spectroscopy is a more detailed probe into stellar population than photometry; the discovery of index bimodality may point to the very existence of dual GC populations. However, here we show that the observed spectroscopic dichotomy of M31 GCs emerges due to the nonlinear nature of metallicity-to-index conversion and thus one does not necessarily have to invoke two separate GC subsystems. We present spectra of 130 old globular clusters (GCs) associated with the Virgo giant elliptical galaxy M87, obtained using the Multi-Object Spectrography (MOS) mode of Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) on the Subaru telescope. M87 GCs with reliable metallicity measurements exhibit significant inflection along the color-metallicity relations, through which observed color bimodality is reproduced from a broad, unimodal metallicity distribution. Our findings lend further support to this new interpretation of the GC color bimodality, which could change much of the current thought on the formation of GC systems and their host galaxies.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.295-306
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• 2016

We present the results of BV time-series photometry of the globular cluster NGC 288. Observations were carried out to search for variable stars using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) 1.6-m telescopes and a 4k pre-science CCD camera during a test observation from August to December, 2014. We found a new SX Phe star and confirmed twelve previously known variable stars in NGC 288. For the semi-regular variable star V1, we newly determined a period of 37.3 days from light curves spanning 137 days. The light-curve solution of the eclipsing binary V10 indicates that the system is probably a detached system. The pulsation properties of nine SX Phe stars were examined by applying multiple frequency analysis to their light curves. We derived a new Period-Luminosity (P-L) relation, ${\langle}M_V{\rangle}=-2.476({\pm}0.300){\log}P-0.354({\pm}0.385)$, from six SX Phe stars showing the fundamental mode. Additionally, the period ratios of three SX Phe stars that probably have a double-radial mode were investigated; $P_{FO}/P_F=0.779$ for V5, $P_{TO}/P_{FO}=0.685$ for V9, $P_{SO}/P_{FO}=0.811$ for V11. This paper is the first contribution in a series assessing the detections and properties of variable stars in six southern globular clusters with the KMTNet system.