• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.253-256
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• 2012

We present the IRC images of M51, a pair of interacting galaxies. Given the high angular resolution (7.4") and the wide field of view (~ 10') covering almost the entire M51 system, we investigate dust properties and their connection to the spiral arm structure. We have applied image-filtering processes including the wavelet analysis to the N3 image, which traces the total stellar mass best among the IRC bands. From this filtered image, the center, arm, and interarm regions are defined. A color, or flux ratio among the MIR bands, has been measured at each pixel (3.7" in size). We find a wide variety of S7/S11 with a difference between arm and interarm regions. We also find that at some positions S11 seems to be higher than predicted by MW dust models. Estimated contributions from the stellar continuum and gas emission lines to the band are not enough to explain this discrepancy. From these results, we deduce that the PAH ionization condition and its fraction to the total dust mass in M51 are different from those in MW.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.109-111
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• 2017

We detected bright mid- to far-infrared emission from the helium nova V445 Puppis in the AKARI all-sky survey data taken in 2006. Assuming an optically thin condition, we decomposed the spectral energy distribution (SED) of V445 Puppis in October 2006 by model fitting and found that the SED can be explained by a combination of cold amorphous carbon (125 K and the mass of $4.5^{+6.6}_{-2.7}{\times}10^{-4}M_{\odot}$) and warm amorphous carbon (250 K and the mass of $1.8^{+1.0}_{-0.5}{\times}10^{-5}M_{\odot}$). Assuming that the former is pre-existing dust formed in the past nova outbursts and the latter is newly formed dust in December 2000's nova wind, this result suggests that the amount of dust formed around V445 Puppis in a single outburst is larger than $10^{-5}M_{\odot}$, which is larger than those in any other classical novae ever reported.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.321-324
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• 2012

Using extensive mid-IR datasets from AKARI, i.e. 9-band photometry covering the wavelength range from $2{\mu}m$ to $24{\mu}m$ and the unbiased spectroscopic survey for sources with $S_{\nu}$($9{\mu}m$)>0.3 mJy, we study starburst galaxies specifically at the redshift of z ~ 0.5, whose mid-IR spectra are clearly dominated by the PAH emission features. PAH-selected galaxies, selected with extremely red mid-IR colour due to PAHs, have high rest-frame PAH-to-stellar luminosity ratios, comparable to those in the most active regions in nearby starburst galaxies. Thus, they seem to have active starburst regions spreading over the whole body. Furthermore, some of PAH-selected galaxies are found to have peculiar rest-frame 11-to-$8{\mu}m$ flux ratios, which is systematically smaller than nearby starburst/AGN spectral templates. This may indicate a systematic difference in the physical condition of ISM between nearby and distant starburst galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.43.1-43.1
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• 2017

A three-dimensional (3D) $Ly{\alpha}$ radiative transfer code is developed to study the Wouthuysen-Field effect, which couples the 21 cm spin temperature of neutral hydrogen and the $Ly{\alpha}$ radiation field, and the escape fraction of $Ly{\alpha}$ from galaxies. The Monte Carlo code is capable of treating arbitrary 3D distributions of $Ly{\alpha}$ source, neutral hydrogen and dust densities, gas temperature, and velocity field. It is demonstrated that the resonance-line profile at the center approaches to the Boltzmann distribution with the gas temperature. A plane-parallel ISM model, which is appropriate for the neutral ISM of our Galaxy, is used to calculate the $Ly{\alpha}$ radiation field strength as a function of height above the galactic plane. We also use a two-phase, clumpy medium model which is composed of the cold and warm neutral media (WNM). It is found that the $Ly{\alpha}$ radiation field is strong enough to thermalize the 21 cm spin temperature in the WNM to the gas kinetic temperature. The escape fraction of $Ly{\alpha}$ is found to be a few percent, which is consistent with the $Ly{\alpha}$ observations of our Galaxy and external galaxies.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.77-85
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• 2020

In the molecular cloud G33.92+0.11A, massive stars are forming sequentially in dense cores, probably due to interaction with accreted gas. Cold dense gas, which is likely the pristine gas of the cloud, is traced by DCN line and dust continuum emission. Clear chemical differences were observed in different source locations and for different velocity components in the same line of sight. Several distinct gas components coexist in the cloud: the pristine cold gas, the accreted dense gas, and warm turbulent gas, in addition to the star-forming dense clumps. Filaments of accreted gas occur in the northern part of the A1 and A5 clumps, and the velocity gradient along these features suggests that the gas is falling toward the cloud and may have triggered the most recent star formation. The large concentration of turbulent gas in the A2 clump seems to have formed mainly through disturbances from the outside.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2006

We carried out CO survey toward IR-excess clouds using SRAO 6-m telescope in search of molecular $H_2$. These clouds, which show far-infrared excess over what is expected from HI column density, are considered to be candidates of molecular clouds. In order to find new high Galactic latitude clouds, we made mapping observations for 14 IR-excess clouds selected from Reach et al.(1998) in $^{12}CO$ J = 1 - 0 line, supplementing the similar survey in southern hemisphere (Onishi et al. 2001). $^{12}CO$ emission is detected from three IR-excess clouds among 14 objects. Three newly detected clouds exhibit somewhat clumpy morphology and column densities amount to ${\sim}10^{21}\;cm^{-2}$. One of three clouds, DIR120-28, show discrepancy between IR-excess center and CO emission center. It seems that IR-excess may not be an effective tracer of molecular gas. Instead, optical depth$(\tau)$ excess, i.e., IR-excess corrected for temperature dependence, may be more effective tracer of molecular clouds, since, by combining statistics from both hemispheres, we found that the detection rate is higher for IR-excess clouds with lower dust temperature.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.117-122
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• 2012

The interstellar dust grains are formed and supplied to interstellar space from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars or supernova remnants, and become constituents of the star- and planet-formation processes that lead to the next generation of stars. Both a qualitative, and a compositional study of this cycle are essential to understanding the origin of the pre-solar grains, the missing sources of the interstellar material, and the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. The AKARI/MIR all-sky survey was performed with two mid-infrared photometric bands centered at 9 and $18{\mu}m$. These data have advantages in detecting carbonaceous and silicate circumstellar dust of AGB stars, and the interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons separately from large grains of amorphous silicate. By using the AKARI/MIR All-Sky point source catalogue, we surveyed C-rich and O-rich AGB stars in our Galaxy, which are the dominant suppliers of carbonaceous and silicate grains, respectively. The C-rich stars are uniformly distributed across the Galactic disk, whereas O-rich stars are concentrated toward the Galactic center, following the metallicity gradient of the interstellar medium, and are presumably affected by the environment of their birth place. We will compare the distributions of the dust suppliers with the distributions of the interstellar grains themselves by using the AKARI/MIR All-Sky diffuse maps. To enable discussions on the faint diffuse interstellar radiation, we are developing an accurate AKARI/MIR All-Sky diffuse map by correcting artifacts such as the ionising radiation effects, scattered light from the moon, and stray light from bright sources.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.217-218
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• 2012

Among the AKARI all-sky survey data, the $9{\mu}m$ diffuse map is crucial to study the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission features on large spatial scales, while the $18{\mu}m$ map is useful to trace hot dust emission. To utilize these advantages, we have improved the AKARI mid-infrared (MIR) all-sky survey diffuse maps. For example, we have established special methods to remove the effects of the ionizing radiation in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) and of the scattered light from the moon. Using improved diffuse map data, we study the properties of PAHs and dust in the Galactic center region associated with high-energy phenomena.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.355-358
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• 2015

We have conducted a near-infrared monitoring campaign at the UK InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT), of the Local Group galaxy M33. The main aim was to identify stars in the very final stage of their evolution, and for which the luminosity is more directly related to the birth mass than the more numerous less-evolved giant stars that continue to increase in luminosity. The pulsating giant stars (AGB and red supergiants) are identified and their distributions are used to derive the star formation rate as a function of age. These stars are also important dust factories; we measure their dust production rates from a combination of our data with Spitzer Space Telescope mid-IR photometry. The mass-loss rates are seen to increase with increasing strength of pulsation and with increasing bolometric luminosity. Low-mass stars lose most of their mass through stellar winds, but even super-AGB stars and red superginats lose ~40% of their mass via a dusty stellar wind. We construct a 2-D map of the mass-return rate, showing a radial decline but also local enhancements due to agglomerations of massive stars. By comparing the current star formation rate with total mass input to the ISM, we conclude that the star formation in the central regions of M33 can only be sustained if gas is accreted from further out in the disc or from circum-galactic regions.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.353-356
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• 2012

We present new constraints on the cosmic optical background (COB) obtained from an analysis of the Pioneer 10/11 Imaging Photopolarimeter (IPP) data. After careful examination of the data quality, the usable measurements free from the zodiacal light are integrated into sky maps at the blue (${\sim}0.44{\mu}m$) and red (${\sim}0.64{\mu}m$) bands. Accurate starlight subtraction was achieved by referring to all-sky star catalogs and a Galactic stellar population synthesis model down to 32.0 mag. We find that the residual light is separated into two components: one component shows a clear correlation with the thermal $100{\mu}m$ brightness, whilst the other shows a constant level in the lowest $100{\mu}m$ brightness region. The presence of the second component is significant after all the uncertainties and possible residual light in the Galaxy are taken into account, thus it most likely has an extragalactic origin (i.e., the COB). The derived COB brightness is ($(1.8{\pm}0.9){\times}10^{-9}$ and $(1.2{\pm}0.9){\times}10^{-9}\;erg\;s^{-1}\;cm^{-2}\;sr^{-1}\;{\AA}^{-1}$ in the blue and red spectral regions, respectively, or $7.9{\pm}4.0$ and $7.7{\pm}5.8\;nW\;m^{-2}\;sr^{-1}$. Based on a comparison with the integrated brightness of galaxies, we conclude that the bulk of the COB is comprised of normal galaxies which have already been resolved by the current deepest observations. There seems to be little room for contributions from other populations including "first stars" at these wavelengths. On the other hand, the first component of the IPP residual light represents the diffuse Galactic light (DGL)-scattered starlight by the interstellar dust. We derive the mean DGL-to-$100{\mu}m$ brightness ratios of $2.1{\times}10^{-3}$ and $4.6{\times}10^{-3}$ at the two bands, which are roughly consistent with previous observations toward denser dust regions. Extended red emission in the diffuse interstellar medium is also confirmed.