• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.57.2-57.2
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• 2016

Polarimetry is an important tool for studying the physical processes in the interstellar medium, including star-forming regions. Polarimetry of young stellar objects and their circumstellar structures provides invaluable information about distributions of matter and configurations of magnetic fields in their environments. However, only a few near-infrared circular polarization (CP) observations were reported so far (before our survey). A systematic near-infrared CP survey has been firstly conducted in various star-forming regions, covering high-mass, intermediate-mass, and low-mass young stellar objects. All the observations were made using the SIRPOL imaging polarimeter on the Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF) 1.4 m telescope at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). In this presentation, we present the first CP survey results. The polarization patterns, extents, and maximum degrees of circular and linear polarizations are used to determine the prevalence and origin of CP in the star-forming regions. Our results are explained with a combination of circumstellar scattering and dichroic extinction mechanism generating the high degrees of CP in star-forming regions. The universality of the large and extended CPs in star-formaing regions can also be linked with the origin of homochirality of life.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.61.3-62
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• 2016

NGC 4522 is a spiral galaxy located in the Virgo cluster which appears to be undergoing active ram pressure stripping due to the intracluster medium (ICM). What makes this galaxy special is the extraplanar CO gas, some of which coincides with the extraplanar $H{\alpha}$ patches. As one of the few cases where the interstellar molecular gas is thought to have been pushed out from the stellar disk by the ICM, this galaxy provides an opportunity to study the impact of ICM pressure on the dense/star forming gas and its fate in the extraplanar space after stripping. In order to probe detailed molecular gas properties inside and outside the stellar disk and the associated star formation activities, we have observed NGC 4522 in 12CO (1-0) and 13CO (1-0) using the ALMA. We have targeted two regions, one around the center of the galaxy and one centered on the peak of the extraplanar CO, detecting both lines in both regions. Particularly, this is the first case where 13CO gas has been detected outside the stellar disk in a galaxy undergoing ram pressure stripping. In this work, we present preliminary results from the ALMA observations and discuss the evolution of molecular gas properties and star formation activities inside and outside the stellar disk.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.40.2-40.2
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• 2016

The attenuation of starlight by dust in galactic environments is investigated through models of radiative transfer in a spherical, clumpy interstellar medium (ISM). We show that the attenuation curves are primarily determined by the wavelength dependence of absorption rather than by the underlying extinction (absorption+scattering) curve; the observationally derived attenuation curves cannot constrain a unique extinction curve unless the absorption or scattering efficiency is specified. Attenuation curves consistent with the Calzetti curve are found by assuming the silicate-carbonaceous dust model for the Milky Way (MW), but with the $2175{\AA}$ bump suppressed or absent. The discrepancy between our results and previous work that claimed the Small Magellanic Cloud dust to be the origin of the Calzetti curve is ascribed to the difference in adopted albedos; we use the theoretically calculated albedos whereas the previous ones adopted empirically derived albedos from observations of reflection nebulae. It is found that the model attenuation curves calculated with the MW dust are well represented by a modified Calzetti curve with a varying slope and UV bump strength. The strong correlation between the slope and UV bump strength, as found in star-forming galaxies at 0.5 < z < 2.0, is well reproduced if the abundance of the UV bump carriers is assumed to be 30-40% of that of the MW-dust; radiative transfer effects lead to shallower attenuation curves with weaker UV bumps as the ISM is more clumpy and dustier. We also argue that some of local starburst galaxies have a UV bump in their attenuation curves, albeit very weak.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.169-170
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• 1996

In the past, it. was very difficult to distinguish thermal and non-thermal emission. Broadbent et a1. (1989) has developed a new technique with the help of the IRAS 60 micron emission. The distribution of non-thermal or synchrotron emission in the Galactic disk has been modeled from the 408 MHz all sky survey of Haslam et a1. (1982) after removal of the thermal component.. At. 408 MHz, t.here is very little absorption in the interstellar medium and the distribution along the line-of-sight. is inferred mainly from its presumed relationship to other tracers of spiral structure via a. number of fitted parameters. But. at lower frequencies, free-free absorption becomes important and can give some direct. information on the line of sight. distribution. We have modeled the thermal electron density according to the spiral arm models and the distribution of ionized hydrogen in the Galactic plane by Lockman (1976) and Cersosimo et. al. (1989) and have made predictions to compare with the surveys of Dwarakanath et al. (1990) at. 34.5 MHz and .Jones and Finlay (1974) at 29.9 MHz. The result confirms that the absorption model of the synchrotron emissivity in the Galactic plane is broadly corrected and illustrates the potential of the absorption technique.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.173-174
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• 1996

We have mapped $17 deg^2$ region toward Galactic anticenter in $^{12}CO$ J = 1 - 0 using the 3 mm SIS receiver on the 14 m telescope at Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO). The region mapped in this paper is the first target of the Galactic AntiCenter CO Survey Project (GACCOS) and was selected comparing with IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA) images at 100${\mu}m$. Molecular emission of the target area is found to be very extended and is well matching with the FIR emission boundary. There are several pieces of clouds, and as some of spectra show several peaks, there seem to be several clouds overlapped in some directions. The Velocity of Local Standard of Rest ($V_{LSR}$) of the CO emission of the mapped region ranges from -20 to +10 km/s. It is also found that the two cloudlets located around I = $180^{\circ}$ have $V_{LSR}$ = -20 km/s, which is very abnormal. The peak antenna temperature of 13 K arises near the H II Region S241.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2010

We present results of a test-study of the large-scale survey using the multi-beam receiver system recently installed on the 14 m telescope at Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO). We have tested several modes of mapping, and found suitable (time-saving) mapping parameters of 'ON-SOURCE' = 8, 'OFF-SOURCE' = 1 when using 'RPT' = 3 as a position-switching mode. We observed 504 spectra towards the NGC 7538, a star forming molecular cloud in the transition of J = 1 - 0 of $^{12}CO$. From the Outer Galaxy Survey database (Heyer et al., 1998) we obtained 504 spectra for the same region. We compared integrated intensities, line profiles of two databases, and found that they are consistent to each other. From the intensity ratio of these two databases we also found that the value of forward spillover scattering of the TRAO telescope system is 0.58.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.69.1-69.1
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• 2017

According to structure formation simulations, weak shocks with typical Mach number, M<3, are expected to form in merging galaxy clusters. The presence of such shocks has been indicated by X-ray and radio observations of many merging clusters. In particular, diffuse radio sources known as radio relics could be explained by synchrotron-emitting electrons accelerated via diffusive shock acceleration (Fermi I) at quasi-perpendicular shocks. Here we also consider possible roles of stochastic acceleration (Fermi II) by compressive MHD turbulence downstream of the shock. Then we explore a puzzling discrepancy that for some radio relics, the shock Mach number inferred from the radio spectral index is substantially larger than that estimated from X-ray observations. This problem could be understood, if shock surfaces associated with radio relics consist of multiple shocks with different strengths. In that case, X-ray observations tend to pick up the part of shocks with lower Mach numbers and higher kinetic energy flux, while radio emissions come preferentially from the part of shocks with higher Mach numbers and higher cosmic ray (CR) production. We also show that the Fermi I reacceleration model with preexisting fossil electrons supplemented by Fermi II acceleration due to postshock turbulence could reproduce observed profiles of radio flux densities and integrated radio spectra of two giant radio relics. This study demonstrates the CR electrons can be accelerated at collisionless shocks in galaxy clusters just like supernova remnant shock in the interstellar medium and interplanetary shocks in the solar wind.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.165-169
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• 2007

The numerical simulations associated with the interaction of High Velocity Clouds (HVC) with the Magnetized Galactic Interstellar Medium (ISM) are a powerful tool to describe the evolution of the interaction of these objects in our Galaxy. In this work we present a new project referred to as Theoretical Virtual i Observatories. It is oriented toward to perform numerical simulations in real time through a Web page. This is a powerful astrophysical computational tool that consists of an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) and a database produced by numerical calculations. In this Website the user can make use of the existing numerical simulations from the database or run a new simulation introducing initial conditions such as temperatures, densities, velocities, and magnetic field intensities for both the ISM and HVC. The prototype is programmed using Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP), based on the open source philosophy. All simulations were performed with the MHD code ZEUS-3D, which solves the ideal MHD equations by finite differences on a fixed Eulerian mesh. Finally, we present typical results that can be obtained with this tool.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.171-177
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• 2007

In external galaxies, the velocity dispersion of the atomic hydrogen gas shows a remarkably flat distribution with the galactocentric radius. This has been a long-standing puzzle because if the gas velocity dispersion is due to turbulence caused by supernova explosions, it should decline with radius. After a discussion on the role of spiral arms and ram pressure in driving interstellar turbulence in the outer parts of galactic disks, we argue that the constant bombardment by tiny high-velocity halo clouds can be a significant source of random motions in the outer disk gas. Recent observations of the flaring of H I in the Galaxy are difficult to explain if the dark halo is nearly spherical as the survival of the streams of tidal debris of Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy suggests. The radial enhancement of the gas velocity dispersion (at R > 25 kpc) due to accretion of cloudy gas might naturally explain the observed flaring in the Milky Way. Other motivations and implications of this scenario have been highlighted.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.37-48
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• 2018

Massive stars blow powerful stellar winds throughout their evolutionary stages from the main sequence to Wolf-Rayet phases. The amount of mechanical energy deposited in the interstellar medium by the wind from a massive star can be comparable to the explosion energy of a core-collapse supernova that detonates at the end of its life. In this study, we estimate the kinetic energy deposition by massive stars in our Galaxy by considering the integrated Galactic initial mass function and modeling the stellar wind luminosity. The mass loss rate and terminal velocity of stellar winds during the main sequence, red supergiant, and Wolf-Rayet stages are estimated by adopting theoretical calculations and observational data published in the literature. We find that the total stellar wind luminosity due to all massive stars in the Galaxy is about ${\mathcal{L}}_w{\approx}1.1{\times}10^{41}erg\;s^{-1}$, which is about 1/4 of the power of supernova explosions, ${\mathcal{L}}_{SN}{\approx}4.8{\times}10^{41}erg\;s^{-1}$. If we assume that ~ 1 - 10 % of the wind luminosity could be converted to Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) through collisonless shocks such as termination shocks in stellar bubbles and superbubbles, colliding-wind shocks in binaries, and bow-shocks of massive runaway stars, stellar winds might be expected to make a significant contribution to GCR production, though lower than that of supernova remnants.