• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.1-5
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• 1996

Recent discussions of observational constraints on the standard hot big bang model are reviewed and it is argued that now there is room for considering alternative cosmologies. The quasi-steady state cosmology is briefly described. This model seems to explain most of the observed features of the universe, including the m-z relation, radio source count, the light nuclear abundances and the microwave background.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.29.1-29.1
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• 2020

I review the status of the concordance (standard) LCDM model of cosmology in light of current observations discussing about the apparent tensions in estimation of the key cosmological parameters. I will also briefly discuss the future of the field at the era of the next generation of the astronomical/cosmological surveys.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.27.3-27.3
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• 2021

Supernova (SN) cosmology is based on the assumption that the width-luminosity relation (WLR) in the type Ia SN luminosity standardization would not vary with progenitor age. Unlike this expectation, recent age datings of stellar populations in host galaxies have shown significant correlations between progenitor age and Hubble residual (HR). It was not clear, however, how this correlation arises from the SN luminosity standardization process, and how this would impact the cosmological result. Here we show that this correlation originates from a strong progenitor age dependence of the WLR and color-luminosity relation (CLR), in the sense that SNe from younger progenitors are fainter each at given light-curve parameters x1 and c. This is reminiscent of Baade's discovery of two Cepheid period-luminosity relations, and, as such, causes a serious systematic bias with redshift in SN cosmology. We illustrate that the differences between the high-z and low-z SNe in the WLR and CLR, and in HR after the standardization, are fully comparable to those between the correspondingly young and old SNe at intermediate redshift, indicating that the observed dimming of SNe with redshift is most likely an artifact of over-correction in the luminosity standardization. When this systematic bias with redshift is properly taken into account, there is no evidence left for an accelerating universe, and the SN data now support a decelerating cosmic expansion. Since the SN cosmology has long been considered as the most direct evidence for an accelerating universe with dark energy, this finding poses a serious question to one of the cornerstones of the concordance model.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.42.1-42.1
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• 2014

Neutrino science has received a boost of attention quite recently in cosmology, since the outstanding discovery in particle physics over the last decade that neutrinos are massive: pinpointing the neutrino masses is one of the greatest challenges in science today, at the cross-road between particle-physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Cosmology offers a unique 'laboratory' with the best sensitivity to the neutrino mass, as primordial massive neutrinos comprise a small portion of the dark matter and are known to significantly alter structure formation. I will first introduce a new suite of state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations with cold dark matter, baryons and massive neutrinos, specifically targeted for modeling the low-density regions of the intergalactic medium as probed by the Lyman-Alpha forest at high-redshift. I will then present and discuss how these simulations are used to constrain the parameters of the LCDM cosmological model in presence of massive neutrinos, in combination with BOSS data and other cosmological probes, leading to the strongest bound to date on the total neutrino mass.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.53-58
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• 2010

The origin of the galaxies represents an important focus of current cosmological research, both observational and theoretical. Its resolution involves a comprehensive understanding of star formation and evolution, galaxy dynamics, supermassive black holes, and the cosmology of the very early universe. In this paper, I will review our current understanding of galaxy formation and review some of the challenges that lie ahead. Specific issues that I address include the galaxy luminosity function, feedback by supernovae and by AGN, and downsizing. I argue that current evidence favours two distinct modes of star formation in the early universe, in order to account for the origin of disk and massive spheroidal galaxies. However perhaps the most urgent need is for a robust theory of star formation.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.315-319
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• 2015

We consider a late decaying dark matter model in which cold dark matter begins to decay into relativistic particles at a recent epoch ($z{\leqslant}1$). A complete set of Boltzmann equations for dark matter and other relevant particles particles is derived, which is necessary to calculate the evolution of the energy density and density perturbations. We show that the large entropy production and associated bulk viscosity from such decays leads to a recently accelerating cosmology consistent with observations. We determine the constraints on the decaying dark matter model with bulk viscosity by using a MCMC method combined with observational data of the CMB and type Ia supernovae.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2023

An unexplained acceleration on the order of 10^-8 cm s^-2, which is close to cH, where c is the speed of light and H is the Hubble constant, is detected in gravitationally bound systems of different scales, from the solar system to clusters of galaxies. We found that any test body located inside a fractal structure with fractal dimension D = 2 experiences acceleration of the same order and confirmed the previous work that photons propagating through this structure decrease the frequency owing to gravitational redshift. The acceleration can be directed against the movement of the test body. The fractal distribution of the matter should be at scales of at least hundreds of megaparsecs to a few gigaparsecs for the existence of this acceleration.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.21-55
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• 2015

If the Universe is dominated by cold dark matter and dark energy as in the currently popular ${\Lambda}CDM$ cosmology, it is expected that large scale structures form gradually, with galaxy clusters of mass $M{\geq}10^{14}M_{\odot}$ appearing at around 6 Gyrs after the Big Bang (z ~ 1). Here, we report the discovery of 59 massive structures of galaxies with masses greater than a few times $10^{13}M_{\odot}$ at redshifts between z = 0.6 and 4.5 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey fields. The massive structures are identified by running top-hat filters on the two dimensional spatial distribution of magnitude-limited samples of galaxies using a combination of spectroscopic and photometric redshifts. We analyze the Millennium simulation data in a similar way to the analysis of the observational data in order to test the ${\Lambda}CDM$ cosmology. We find that there are too many massive structures (M > $7{\times}10^{13}M_{\odot}$) observed at z > 2 in comparison with the simulation predictions by a factor of a few, giving a probability of < 1/2500 of the observed data being consistent with the simulation. Our result suggests that massive structures have emerged early, but the reason for the discrepancy with the simulation is unclear. It could be due to the limitation of the simulation such as the lack of key, unrecognized ingredients (strong non-Gaussianity or other baryonic physics), or simply a difficulty in the halo mass estimation from observation, or a fundamental problem of the ${\Lambda}CDM$ cosmology. On the other hand, the over-abundance of massive structures at high redshifts does not favor heavy neutrino mass of ~ 0.3 eV or larger, as heavy neutrinos make the discrepancy between the observation and the simulation more pronounced by a factor of 3 or more.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.565-568
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• 2015

In this work, we study the correlation between the photon index (${\Gamma}$) of the X-ray spectrum and the 2-10 keV X-ray luminosity ($L_X$) for black hole X-ray binaries (BHBs). The BHB sample is mainly from the quiescent, hard and intermediate states, with values of $L_X$ ranging from ${\sim}10^{30.5}$ to $10^{37.5}$ erg $s^{-1}$. We find that the photon index ${\Gamma}$ is positively or negatively correlated with the X-ray luminosity $L_X$, for $L_X$ above or below a critical value, ${\sim}10^{36.5}$ erg $s^{-1}$. This result is consistent with previous works. Moreover, when $L_X{\leq}{\sim}10^{33}$ erg $s^{-1}$, we found that the photon index is roughly independent of the X-ray luminosity. We interpret the above correlations in the framework of a coupled hot accretion flow - jet model. Besides, we also find that in the moderate-luminosity region, different sources may have different anti-correlation slopes, and we argue this diversity is caused by the different value of ${\delta}$, which describes the fraction of turbulent dissipation that directly heats electrons.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.487-488
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• 2015

In type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) cosmology, a well-established correlation exists between the mass of host galaxies and the Hubble residual (HR) of SNe Ia. In order to investigate the origin of this correlation, we used low-resolution spectroscopic data of early-type host galaxies obtained from our YOnsei Nearby Supernovae Evolution Investigation (YONSEI) project. We measured velocity dispersions and Lick/IDS absorption line indices from these fully calibrated spectra. These indices were used to estimate the luminosity-weighted mean age, metallicity and mass of host galaxies. We found a tight correlation between host mass and population age, which is consistent with the "downsizing" trend in early-type galaxies. This suggests that the well-established correlation between HR and host mass is most likely due to the difference in population age. More observations, which are in progress, are required to understand the impact of luminosity evolution on SNe Ia cosmology.