• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.42.3-43
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• 2021

At high redshift, unlike local, many galaxy clusters are still at their stages of building. Likewise, they show a wide range in their star formation properties: some are still forming stars actively unlike their local counterparts, while others have very low level of star formation already. Here we report the two high-redshift (z~1) galaxy clusters, confirmed via Magellan MOS observation. While existing at similar redshift and having similar mass, these two clusters show very different quiescent galaxy fraction. The origin of this difference is investigated, and will be presented in the presentation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.48.2-48.2
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• 2010

Korean-Japanese Planet Search Program has been carried out since 2005 to search for planets around intermediate-mass giant stars (1.5-5.0 solar masses) by an international collaboration between Korean and Japanese researchers. In this program, we have been carrying out a precise radial velocity survey of about 190 G-type giant stars (6.21.9 solar masses) giant stars. These results extend the planet mass distribution of massive intermediate-mass stars to higher and lower mass region, and may further constrain substellar system formation mechanisms. We report the recent results and current status of Korean-Japanese Planet Search Program.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.255-259
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• 2015

Recent narrow-band Ca photometry discovered two distinct red giant branch (RGB) populations in some massive globular clusters (GCs) including M22, NGC 1851, and NGC 288. In order to investigate the differences in light/heavy elements abundances between the two subpopulations, we have performed low-resolution spectroscopy for stars on the two RGBs in these GCs. We find a significant difference (more than $4{\sigma}$) in calcium abundance from the spectroscopic HK' index for both M22 and NGC 1851. We also find a more than $8{\sigma}$ difference in CN band strength between the Ca-strong and Ca-weak subpopulations. For NGC 288, however, we detect the presence of a large difference only in the CN strength. The calcium abundances of the two subpopulations in this GC are identical within errors. We also find interesting differences in CN-CH relations among these GCs. While CN and CH indices are correlated in M22, they show an anti-correlation in NGC 288. However, NGC 1851 shows no difference in CH between two groups of stars having different CN strengths. The CN bimodality in these GCs could be explained by pollution from intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch stars and/or fast-rotating massive stars. For the presence or absence of calcium bimodality and the differences in CN-CH relations, we suggest these would be best explained by how strongly type II supernovae enrichment has contributed to the chemical evolutions of these GCs.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.267-268
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• 2015

One of the long-standing problems in modern astronomy is the curious division of globular clusters (GCs) into two groups, according to the mean period (<$P_{ab}$>) of type ab RR Lyrae variables. In light of the recent discovery of multiple populations in GCs, we suggest a new model explaining the origin of the Sandage period-shift and the difference in mean period of type ab RR Lyrae variables between the two Oosterhoff groups. In our models, the instability strip in the metal-poor group II clusters, such as M15, is populated by second generation stars (G2) with enhanced helium and CNO abundances, while the RR Lyraes in the relatively metal-rich group I clusters like M3 are mostly produced by first generation stars (G1) without these enhancements. This population shift within the instability strip with metallicity can create the observed period-shift between the two groups, since both helium and CNO abundances play a role in increasing the period of RR Lyrae variables. The presence of more metal-rich clusters having Oosterhoff-intermediate characteristics, such as NGC 1851, as well as of most metal-rich clusters having RR Lyraes with the longest periods (group III) can also be reproduced, as more helium-rich third and later generations of stars (G3) penetrate into the instability strip with further increase in metallicity. Therefore, although there are systems where the suggested population shift cannot be a viable explanation, for the most general cases, our models predict that RR Lyraes are produced mostly by G1, G2, and G3, respectively, for the Oosterhoff groups I, II, and III.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.45.2-45.2
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• 2013

We studied recent evolution of M31 and M33 with star-forming regions and hot massive stars. We use GALEX far-UV and near-UV imaging to detect the star-forming regions and trace the recent star formation across the entire disk of galaxies. The GALEX imaging, combining deep sensitivity and entire coverage of these galaxies, provides a complete picture of the recent star formation in M31 and M33, and its variation with environment throughout these galaxies. We also show results from recent extensive surveys in M31 and M33 with Hubble Space Telescope multi-wavelength data including UV filters, which imaged several regions at a linear resolution of less than half a pc in these galaxies. Both datasets allow us to study the hierarchical structure of star formation: the youngest stellar groups are the most compact, and are often arranged withing broader, sparser structures. The derived recent star-formation rates are rather similar for the two galaxies, when scaled for the respective areas.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.67-79
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• 2019

We present a semi-analytical method to calculate the global evolution of the ionized state of the intergalactic medium, on the basis of physically motivated star formation histories in the early universe. This method incorporates not only the conventional scenarios in which the star formation rate is proportional to the growth rate of the halo collapse fraction, but also the more sophisticated scenarios in which the star formation is self-regulated. We show that this variance in the star-formation model strongly impacts the resulting reionization history, which bears a prospect for observational discrimination of these models. We discuss how observations of the anisotropic polarization of the cosmic microwave background and the global 21cm signal from the high-redshift universe, most notably by Planck and EDGES, may probe the history of reionization.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.76-76
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• 2013

The current hierarchical model of galaxy formation predicts that galaxy halos contain merger relics in the form of long stellar streams. In order to find stellar substructures in galaxy, we focused our investigation on the stellar spatial density around globular clusters and on the quantitative properties of the evolved sequences in the color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). First, we investigated the spatial configuration of stars around five metal-poor globular clusters in halo region (M15, M30, M53, NGC 5053, and NGC 5466) and one metal-poor globular cluster in bulge region (NGC 6626). Our findings indicate that all of these globular clusters show strong evidence of extratidal features in the form of extended tidal tails around the clusters. The orientations of the extratidal features show the signatures of tidal tails tracing the clusters' orbits and the effects of dynamical interactions with the galaxy. These features were also confirmed by the radial surface density profiles and azimuthal number density profiles. Our results suggest that these six globular clusters are potentially associated with the satellite galaxies merged into the Milky Way. Second, we derived the morphological parameters of the red giant branch (RGB) from the near-infrared CMDs of 12 metal-poor globular clusters in the Galactic bulge. The photometric RGB shape indices such as colors at fixed magnitudes, magnitudes at fixed colors, and the RGB slope were measured for each cluster. The magnitudes of the RGB bump and tip were also estimated. The derived RGB parameters were used to examine the overall behavior of the RGB morphology as a function of cluster metallicity. The behavior of the RGB shape parameters was also compared with the previous observational calibration relation and theoretical predictions of the Yonsei-Yale isochrones. Our results of studies for stellar spatial distribution around globular clusters and the morphological properties of RGB stars in globular clusters could add further observational evidence of merging scenario of galaxy formation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.58.3-59
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• 2015

Dynamical expansion of H II regions plays a key role in dispersing surrounding gas and therefore in limiting the efficiency of star formation in molecular clouds. We use analytic methods and numerical simulations to explore expansions of spherical dusty H II regions, taking into account the effects of direct radiation pressure, gas pressure, and total gravity of the gas and stars. Simulations show that the structure of the ionized zone closely follows Draine (2011)'s static equilibrium model in which radiation pressure acting on gas and dust grains balances the gas pressure gradient. Strong radiation pressure creates a central cavity and a compressed shell at the ionized boundary. We analytically solve for the temporal evolution of a thin shell, finding a good agreement with the numerical experiments. We estimate the minimum star formation efficiency required for a cloud of given mass and size to be destroyed by an HII region expansion. We find that typical giant molecular clouds in the Milky Way can be destroyed by the gas-pressure driven expansion of an H II region, requiring an efficiency of less than a few percent. On the other hand, more dense cluster-forming clouds in starburst environments can be destroyed by the radiation pressure driven expansion, with an efficiency of more than ~30 percent that increases with the mean surface density, independent of the total (gas+stars) mass. The time scale of the expansion is always smaller than the dynamical time scale of the cloud, suggesting that H II regions are likely to be a dominant feedback process in protoclusters before supernova explosions occurs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.31.3-32
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• 2016

We present the radial variations of the scale heights and the vertical velocity dispersions in a sample of nearby edge-on galaxies using BIMA/CARMA $^{12}CO$ ($J=1{\rightarrow}0$), VLA/EVLA HI, and Spitzer $3.6{\mu}m$ data. Both the disk thicknesses and the velocity dispersions of gas and stars vary with radius, contrary to assumptions of previous studies. We investigate how the interstellar gas pressure and the gravitational instability parameter differ from values derived assuming constant velocity dispersions and scale heights. Using the measurement of the disk thicknesses and the derived radial profiles of gas and stars, we estimate the corresponding volume densities. The gravitational instability parameter Q follows a fairly uniform profile with radius and is ${\geq}1$ across the star-forming disk. The star formation law has a slope that is significantly different from those found in more face-on galaxy studies. The midplane gas pressure appears to roughly hold a power-law correlation with the midplane volume density ratio (${\rho}_{H2}/{\rho}_{HI}$).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.64.2-64.2
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• 2017

The Population III (Pop III) stars are thought to be massive. If massive Pop III stars form binary system and they experience mass transfer via the Roche lobe overflow, this may significantly change the properties of the system. For example, mass transfer in such system may shorten the period of the system, forming short period binary black hole (BBH) system, which is the most promising candidate for recently detected gravitational wave radiation sources. Also, there is an expectation that due to the stripped envelope of donor star by mass transfer, this system can play a significant role in the cosmic reionization by emitting more UV photons. However, this outcome highly depends on the initial properties of the system. We perform grid calculation on Pop III binary models with various initial primary masses (20 ~ 100 solar mass), initial separations, and initial mass ratios (q = 0.5 ~ 0.9). We find that 1) in most cases binary models show no increase in the number of ionizing photons and 2) formation of short period BBH system via mass transfer is highly unlikely.