• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.41-54
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• 2010

We report relative proper motion measurements of $H_{2}O$ masers in massive star-forming region W51 Main, based on data sets of VLBI observations for $H_{2}O$ masers at 22 GHz with Japanese VERA telescopes from 2003 to 2006. Data reductions and single-beam imaging analysis are to measure internal kinematics of maser spots and eventually to estimate the three-dimensional kinematics of $H_{2}O$ masers in W51 Main. Average space motions and proper motion measurements of $H_{2}O$ masers are given both graphical and in table formats. We find in this study that W51 Main appears to be associated with hyper-compact H II region with multiple massive proto-stars whose spectral types are of late O.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.86.4-87
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• 2017

Symbiotic stars are binary systems composed of a hot white dwarf and a mass losing giant. Many symbiotic stars are known to exhibit broad wings around Balmer emission line. We show high resolution spectra of S-type symbiotic stars, Z Andromedae and AG Draconis, obtained with the ESPaDOnS and the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, in which we find prominent broad wings around Balmer lines. We adopt Monte-Carlo technique to consider two types of wing formation mechanisms, which are Thomson scattering by free electron in H II region and Raman scattering by atomic hydrogen in H I region. We find that Thomson wings of $H{\alpha}$ and $H{\beta}$ have the same widths in the Doppler space due to the cross section independent of wavelength. In contrast, Raman $H{\alpha}$ wings are 3 times broader widths than $H{\beta}$ counterparts, which is attributed to the different cross sections and branching ratios. Our CFHT data show that $H{\alpha}$ wings of Z Andromedae and AG Draconis are broader than $H{\beta}$ wings, lending strong support to the Raman scattering origin of Balmer wings in these objects.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.49-58
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• 2008

Resonance doublets including O VI 1032, 1038, NV 1239, 1243 and C IV 1548, 1551 constitute prominent emission lines in symbiotic stars and planetary nebulae. Spectroscopic studies of symbiotic stars and planetary nebulae from UV space telescopes show various line ratios of these doublets deviating from the theoretical ratio of 2:1. Using a Monte Carlo technique, we investigate the collisional de-excitation effect in these emission nebulae. We consider an emission nebula around the hot component of a symbiotic star characterized by the collisional de-excitation probability $p_{coll}\;{\sim}\;10^{-3}\;-\;10^{-4}$ per each resonance scattering, and the line center optical depths for major resonance doublets in the range ${\tau}_0\;{\sim}\;10^2\;-\;10^5$. We find that various line ratios are obtained when the product $p_{coll}{\tau}_0$ is of order unity. Our Monte Carlo calculations show that the flux ratio can be approximately fitted by a linear function of ${\log}{\tau}_0$ when ${\tau}_0p_{coll}\;{\sim}\;1$. It is briefly discussed that this corresponds to the range relevant to the emission nebulae of symbiotic stars.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.77.2-77.2
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• 2016

We present preliminary results of the analysis of chemical abundances for seven hypervelocity star (HVS) candidates. These objects are G and K dwarfs in the Galactic disk selected from the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration. Unlike other HVSs discovered thus far, their stellar orbits and kinematics suggest that they do not originate in the Galactic center or in an accretion event. These factors imply yet-unknown mechanisms that give rise to these kinematically-extreme disk stars. In order to study in detail their progenitors and possible formation mechanisms, we obtained spectra of these stars at a resolving power of R~6000, with the Dual Imaging Spectrograph at the Apache Point Observatory. We derive the abundances of chemical elements, C, Mg, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, and Ba from the observed spectra, using MOOG. We compare them with the ones of typical Galactic disk stars and discuss discrepancies between them to search for clues to their origin.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.109-112
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• 2015

We present [$Fe\;{\small{II}}$] ${\lambda}1.257{\mu}m$ spectra toward the interacting binary UY Aur with 0".14 angular resolution, obtained with the Near infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) combined with the adaptive optics system Altair of the GEMINI observatory. In the [$Fe\;{\small{II}}$] emission, UY Aur A (primary) is brighter than UY Aur B (secondary). The blueshifted and redshifted emission between the primary and secondary show a complicated structure. The radial velocities of the [$Fe\;{\small{II}}$] emission features are similar for UY Aur A and B: ${\sim}-100km\;s^{-1}$ and ${\sim}+130km\;s^{-1}$ for the blueshifted and redshifted components, respectively. Considering the morphologies of the [$Fe\;{\small{II}}$] emissions and bipolar outflow context, we concluded that UY Aur A drives fast and widely opening outflows with an opening angle of ${\sim}90^{\circ}$ while UY Aur B has micro collimated jets.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.35.3-36
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• 2018

One of the most prevalent knowledge about disk galaxies, which dominate the population of the local Universe, is that they consist of stellar structures with different kinematics, such as thin disk, bulge, and halo. Therefore, investigating when and how these components develop in a galaxy is the key to understanding the evolution of galaxies. Using the NewHorizon simulation, we can resolve the detailed structures of galaxies, in the field environment, from the early Universe where star formation and mergers were most active. We first decompose stellar particles in a galaxy into a disk and a dispersion-dominated, spheroidal, component based on their orbits and then see how these components evolve in terms of mass and structure. At high redshift z~3, galaxies are mostly dispersion-dominated as stars are formed misaligned with the galactic rotational axis. At z=1~2, massive galaxies start to dominantly form disk stars, while less massive galaxies do much later. Furthermore, massive galaxies are forming thinner and larger disks with time, and the preexistent disks are heated or even disrupted to become a part of dispersion-dominated component. Thus, the mass growth of spheroidal components at later epochs is dominated by disrupted stars with disk origins and accreted stars at large radii.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.35.2-35.2
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• 2021

Blue straggler stars (BSs) are "rejuvenated" main sequence stars first recognized by Allan Sandage from his observation of the prominent northern globular cluster M3 in the year of 1953. BSs are now known to be present in diverse stellar environments including open clusters, globular clusters, dwarf galaxies, and even the field populations of the Milky Way. This makes them a very useful tool in a wide range of astrophysical applications: Particularly BSs are considered to have a crucial role in the evolution of stellar clusters because they affect on the dynamics, the binary population, and the history of the stellar evolution of the cluster they belong to. Here we report a part of the preliminary results from our ongoing research on the BSs in the two metal-poor globular clusters (GCs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), Hodge 11 and NGC1466. Using the high precision multi-band images obtained with the Advanced Camera for Survey (ACS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we extract time-series photometry to search for the signal of periodic variations in the luminosity of the BSs. Our preliminary results confirm that several BSs are intrinsic "short period (0.05 < P < 0.25 days)" variable stars with either pulsating or eclipsing types. We will discuss our investigation on the properties of those variable BS candidates in the context of the formation channels of these exotic main sequence stars, and their roles in the dynamical evolution of the host star clusters.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.253-262
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• 2023

This work presents four high-amplitude variable YSOs (≃3 mag at near- or mid-IR wavelengths) arising from the SPICY catalog. Three outbursts show a duration that is longer than 1 year, and are still ongoing. And additional YSO brightened over the last two epochs of NEOWISE observations and the duration of the outburst is thus unclear. Analysis of the spectra of the four sources confirms them as new members of the eruptive variable class. We find two YSOs that can be firmly classified as bona fide FUors and one object that falls in the V1647 Ori-like class. Given the uncertainty in the duration of its outburst, an additional YSO can only be classified as a candidate FUor. Continued monitoring and follow-up of these particular sources is important to better understand the accretion process of YSOs.

• 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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.44.1-44.1
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• 2016

The Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm in the Galaxy contains several massive young open clusters. We present a deep optical photometric study on the massive young open clusters in the Sagittarius-Carina arm, Westerlund 2 and the young open clusters in the ${\eta}$ Carina nebula. Westerlund 2 is a less studied starburst-type cluster in the Galaxy. An abnormal reddening law for the intracluster medium of the young starburst-type cluster Westerlund 2 is determined to be $R_{V,cl}=4.14{\pm}0.08$. The distance modulus is determined from zero-age main-sequence fitting to the reddening-corrected color-magnitude diagrams of the early-type members to be $V_0-M_V=13.9{\pm}0.14mag$. The pre-main sequence (PMS) members of Westerlund 2 are selected by identifying the optical counterparts of X-ray emission sources from the Chandra X-ray observation and mid-infrared emission sources from the Spitzer/IRAC (the Infrared Array Camera) observation. The initial mass function (IMF) shows a slightly flat slope of ${\Gamma}=-1.1{\pm}0.1$ down to $5M_{\odot}$. The age of Westerlund 2 is estimated to be. 1.5 Myr from the main-sequence turn-on luminosity and the age distribution of PMS stars. The ${\eta}$ Carina nebula is the best laboratory for the investigation of the Galactic massive stars and low-mass star formation under the influence of numerous massive stars. We have performed deep wide-field CCD photometry of stars in the ${\eta}$ Carina nebula to determine the reddening law, distance, and the IMF of the clusters in the nebula. We present VRI and $H{\alpha}$ photometry of 130,571 stars from the images obtained with the 4m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). RV,cl in the η Carina nebula gradually decreases from the southern part (~4.5, around Trumpler 14 and Trumpler 16) to the northern part around Trumpler 15 (~3.5). Distance to the young open clusters in the ${\eta}$ Carina nebula is partly revised based on the zero-age main-sequence fitting to the reddening-corrected color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and the (semi-) reddening-independent CMDs. We select the PMS members and candidates by identifying the optical counterparts of X-ray sources from the Chandra Carina Complex Survey and mid-infrared excess emission stars from the Spitzer Vela-Carina survey. From the evolutionary stage of massive stars and PMS stars, we obtain that the northern young open cluster Trumpler 15 is distinctively older than the southern young open clusters, Trumpler 14 (${\leq}2.5 Myr$) and Trumpler 16 (2.5-3.5 Myr). The slopes of the IMF of Trumpler 14, Trumpler 15, and Trumpler 16 are determined to be $-1.2{\pm}0.1$, $-1.5{\pm}0.3$, and $-1.1{\pm}0.1$, respectively. Based on the RV,cl of several young open clusters determined in this work and the previous studies of our group, We suggest that higher RV,cl values are commonly found for very young open clusters with the age of < 4 Myr. We also confirm the correlation between the slope of the IMF and the surface mass density of massive stars.