• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.41.1-41.1
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• 2006

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.193-197
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• 2004

Anomalies in the far-infrared [C II] 158 ${\mu}m$ line emission observed in the central one-kiloparsec regions of spiral galaxies are reviewed. Low far-infrared intensity ratios of the [C II] line to the continuum were observed in the center of the Milky Way, because the heating ratio of the gas to the dust is reduced by the soft interstellar radiation field due to late-type stars in the Galactic bulge. In contrast, such low line-to-continuum ratios were not obtained in the center of the nearby spiral M31, in spite of its bright bulge. A comparison with numerical simulations showed that a typical column density of the neutral interstellar medium between illuminating sources at $hv {\~} 1 eV $ is $N_H {\le}10^{21}\;cm^{-2}$ in the region; the medium is translucent for photons sufficiently energetic to heat the grains but not sufficiently energetic to heat the gas. This interpretation is consistent with the combination of the extremely high [C Il]/CO J = 1-0 line intensity ratios and the low recent star-forming activity in the region; the neutral interstellar medium is not sufficiently opaque to protect the species even against the moderately intense incident UV radiation. The above results were unexpected from classical views of the [C II] emission, which was generally considered to trace intense interstellar UV radiation enhanced by active star formation.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.135-139
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• 2017

We have performed systematic studies of the properties of dust in various environments of nearby galaxies with AKARI. The unique capabilities of AKARI, such as near-infrared (near-IR) spectroscopy combined with all-sky coverage in the mid- and far-IR, enable us to study processing of dust, particularly carbonaceous grains includings polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), for unbiased samples of nearby galaxies. In this paper, we first review our recent results on individual galaxies, highlighting the uniqueness of AKARI data for studies of nearby galaxies. Then we present results of our systematic studies on nearby starburst and early-type galaxies. From the former study based on the near-IR spectroscopy and mid-IR all-sky survey data, we find that the properties of PAHs change systematically from IR galaxies to ultraluminous IR galaxies, depending on the IR luminosity of a galaxy or galaxy population. From the latter study based on the mid- and far-IR all-sky survey data, we find that there is a global correlation between the amounts of dust and old stars in early-type galaxies, giving an observational constraint on the origin of the dust.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.263-265
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• 2017

We present the mid-infrared (MIR) luminosity function (LF) of local (z < 0.3) star-forming (SF) galaxies in the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) field. This work is based on the NEP-Wide point source catalogue and the spectroscopic redshift (z) data for ~ 1700 galaxies obtained by the optical follow-up survey with MMT/Hectospec and WIYN/Hydra. The AKARI's continuous $2-24{\mu}m$ coverage and the spectroscopic redshifts enable us to determine the spectral energy distribution (SED) in the mid-infrared and derive the luminosity functions of galaxies. Our $8{\mu}m$ LF finds good agreements with the results from SWIRE field over the wide luminosity range, while showing significant difference from the NOAO deep data in the faint end. The comparison with higher-z sample shows significant luminosity evolution from z > 0.3 to local universe. $12{\mu}m$ LF also shows a clear indication of luminosity evolution.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.62.1-62.1
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• 2016

We study the near-infrared photometric properties of red-supergiant stars (RSGs) in three nearby galaxies located within 15 Mpc: NGC 4214, NGC 4736 and NGC 5194 / NGC 5195. The near-infrared (JHK) imaging data were obtained using the WFCAM detector mounted on UKIRT telescope in Hawaii. We used the DAOPHOT/ALLSTAR pacakge to carry out the photometry. We applied MARCS synthetic fluxes to estimate the effective temperatures and luminosities of the RSGs in all the three galaxies. The results were plotted in the Hertzsprung-Russell(H-R) diagram along with the theoretical evolutionary tracks with different masses. We explore the spatial correlation between the RSGs and H II regions by examing the H-R diagram of the RSGs in the dominant H II regions for each of these three galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.77.1-77.1
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• 2010

I summarize highlights from extragalactic research activities performed with AKARI infrared space telescope. The main emphasis will be given to the works carried out by Korean astronomers. The activities span a wide range of topics, such as MIR properties of nearby galaxies in cluster environment, MIR diagnosis of star-forming galaxies at z=0 through z=2 in the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) survey field, the Extended Groth Strip (EGS), and the First Look Survey (FLS) field, and the NIR spectroscopy of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs) and Active Galactic Nuclei/Super-massive Black Holes at low redshift as well as near the re-ionization epoch of z~6. I describe FIR and MIR all sky data which can be used as a precious resource for extragalactic research, and other future and ongoing works with AKARI. These AKARI results will form a strong basis for future studies using other facilities, such as infrared surveys with UKIRT, FIR study of dusty universe with Herschel, and the SPICA mission.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.275-279
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• 2012

We investigate the mid-infrared (MIR) to far-infrared (FIR) properties of a nearly complete sample of local active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected in the Swift/Burst Alert telescope (BAT) all-sky hard X-ray (14-195 keV) survey, based on the cross correlation with the infrared survey catalogs of AKARI, IRAS and WISE. Out of 135 non-blazar AGNs in the Swift/BAT 9-month catalog, we obtain the MIR photometric data for 128 sources in either the 9, 12, 18, 22, and $25{\mu}m$ band. We find a good correlation between their hard X-ray and MIR luminosities ranging three orders of magnitude (42 < log ${\lambda}L_{\lambda}$(9, $18{\mu}m$) < 45), which is tighter than that with the FIR luminosities at $90{\mu}m$. Both X-ray unabsorbed and absorbed AGNs follow the same correlation, implying isotropic infrared emission, as expected in clumpy dust tori models rather than homogeneous ones.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.57.1-57.1
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• 2011

It has been suggested that merging plays an important role in the formation and the evolution of early-type galaxies (ETGs). Optical-NIR color gradients of ETGs in high density environments are found to be less steep than those of ETGs in low density environments, hinting frequent merger activities in ETGs in high density environments. In order to examine if the flat color gradients are the result of dry mergers, we studied the relations between merging features, color gradient, and environments of 281 low redshift ETGs selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Stripe82. The sample contains 222 relaxed ETGs, 38 ETGs with tidal features, 10 galaxies with dust features and 11 galaxies with tidal and dust features, and Near Infrared (NIR) images are taken from UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Large Area Survey (LAS). We find that r-K color gradients of field sample galaxies are steeper than those of sample ETGs within cluster environments. For the field sample galaxies, a relatively large number of galaxies with peculiar features contribute to the steeper color gradients, while the absence of these peculiar early-type galaxies make color gradients of the cluster sample galaxies intact. In high density environment, ETGs are already evolved and relaxed, resulting flat color gradients. However, in low density environments, a majority of ETGs undergone merging recently which makes the color gradients steep.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.335-338
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• 2012

We present the $18{\mu}m$ luminosity function (LF) of galaxies at 0.006 < z < 0.8 (the average redshift is ~ 0.04) using the AKARI mid-infrared All-Sky Survey catalogue. We have selected 243 galaxies at $18{\mu}m$ from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopic region. These galaxies then have been classified into five types; Seyfert 1 galaxies (Sy1, including quasars), Seyfert 2 galaxies (Sy2), low ionization narrow emission line galaxies (LINER), galaxies that are likely to contain both star formation and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) activities (composites), and star forming galaxies (SF) using optical emission lines such as the line width of $H{\alpha}$ or the emission line ratios of [OIII]/$H{\beta}$ and [NII]/$H{\alpha}$. As a result of constructing the LF of Sy1 and Sy2, we found the following results; (i) the number density ratio of Sy2 to Sy1 is $1.64{\pm}0.37$, larger than the results obtained from optical LF and (ii) the fraction of Sy2 in the entire AGN population may decrease with $18{\mu}m$ luminosity. These results suggest that most of the AGNs in the local universe are obscured by dust and the torus structure probably depends on the mid-infrared luminosity.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.287-291
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• 2017

We present the results of our mid-infrared (MIR) observations of distant clusters of galaxies with AKARI. The wide-field of view of IRC/AKARI ($10^{\prime}{\times}10^{\prime}$) is ideally suited for studying dust-obscured star-formation (SF) activity of galaxies along the cosmic web in the distant universe. We performed a deep and wide-field $15{\mu}m$ (rest-frame ${\approx}8{\mu}m$) imaging observation of the RXJ1716+6708 cluster (z = 0.81) with IRC. We find that $15{\mu}m$-detected cluster member galaxies (with total infrared luminosities of $L_{IR}{\geq}10^{11}L_{\odot}$) are most preferentially located in the cluster outskirt regions, whilst such IR-luminous galaxies avoid the cluster centre. Our $H{\alpha}$ follow-up study of this field confirmed that a significant fraction of $15{\mu}m$-detected cluster galaxies are heavily obscured by dust (with $AH{\alpha}$>3 mag in extreme cases). The environment of such dusty star-burst galaxies coincides with the place where we see a sharp "break" of the colour-density relation, suggesting an important link between dust-obscured SF activity and environmental quenching. We also report the discovery of a new cluster candidate around a radio galaxy at z = 1.52 (4C 65.22), where we obtained one of the deepest IRC imaging datasets with all the nine filters at $2-24{\mu}m$. This field will provide us with the final, excellent laboratory for studying the dust-enshrouded SF activity in galaxies along the cosmic web at the critical epoch of cluster galaxy evolution with AKARI.