• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.145.2-145.2
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• 2011

We present the results of simultaneous observations of SiO v = 1, 2, J = 1-0, $^{29}SiO$ v = 0, J = 1-0, and $H_2O$ $6_{16}-5_{23}$ maser lines toward 152 known $H_2O$-only maser sources (the sources which are previously detected only in the 22 GHz $H_2O$ maser emission) using Yonsei and Tamna 21-m radio telescopes of the Korean VLBI Network from 2009 June to 2011 January. Both SiO and $H_2O$ maser emission were detected from 62 sources giving a detection rate of 40.8 %. SiO-only maser emission was detected from 27 sources, while $H_2O$-only maser was detected from 22 sources. We have identified 19 new detections of SiO maser emission for previous non-detection sources and 51 new detections of SiO maser for previously not observed sources. Characteristics of all observed sources in the IRAS two-color diagram is investigated including their evolutionary sequence and mutual relations between SiO and $H_2O$ maser emission. These observational results will be useful for statistical study of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and future VLBI observation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.79.2-79.2
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• 2010

We present the results of simultaneous observations of SiO v=1, 2, J=1-0, $^{29}SiO$ v=0, J=1-0, and $H_2O$ $6_{16}-5_{23}$ maser lines performed with the KVN Yonsei 21 m radio telescope from 2009 Nov. to 2010 Jan (ApJ, 719, 126, 2010). We searched for these masers in 47 symbiotic stars and detected maser emission from 21 stars, giving the first time detection from 19 stars. Both SiO and $H_2O$ masers were detected from seven stars of which six stars are D-type symbiotic and one is an S-type star, WRAY 15-1470. In the SiO maser emission, the $^{28}SiO$ v=1 maser was detected from 10 stars, while the v=2 maser detected from 15 stars. In particular, the $^{28}SiO$ v=2 maser emission without the v=1 maser detection was detected from nine stars with its detection rate of 60 %, which is much higher than that of isolated Miras/red giants. The $^{29}SiO$ v=0 maser emission was also detected from two stars, H 2-38 and BF Cyg, together with the $^{28}SiO$ v=2 maser. We conclude that these different observational results between isolated Miras/red giants and symbiotic stars may be related with the presence of hot companions in a symbiotic binary system.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.63.1-63.1
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• 2013

We present the results of time monitoring observations of $^{28}SiO$ v = 1, 2, J = 1-0, $^{29}SiO$ v = 0, J = 1-0 and $H_2O$ $6_{16}-5_{23}$ maser lines toward radio Source I in Orion KL. The observations have been performed from 2009 June to 2013 April using the 21m single dish radio telescopes of the Korean VLBI Network. Both SiO and $H_2O$ maser lines were simultaneously obtained at 20 epochs. In particular, the third outburst of $H_2O$ maser emission (the first: 1985, the second: 1998) was detected and the flux density variation curve was obtained. The maximum flux density flared up to an order of $10^5$ Jy during 2012 May-July at peak velocity of 7.33 km $s^{-1}$. Hirota et al. (2011) reported that the bursting maser features are located at 8" from Source I and coincident with the interacting region between the outflow from Source I and a dense ambient gas, Orion Compact Ridge. In the case of SiO masers arising from close to the Source I, the peak emission of the v = 1, J = 1-0 maser line appeared in 2010 April. We are investigating the possible relation between this SiO maser peak emission and the third $H_2O$ maser flaring.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.237.2-237.2
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• 2012

We performed simultaneous observations of SiO v=1, 2, $^{29}SiO$ v=0, J=1-0 and $H_2O$ $6_{16}-5_{23}$ maser lines toward 132 AGB and 183 post-AGB stars in order to investigate how evolutionary characteristics from AGB to post-AGB stars appear in these two maser emissions. The observations were carried out from 2011 February to 2012 March using the Korean VLBI Network 21-m radio telescopes. We have detected SiO and/or $H_2O$ maser emission from 29 sources out of 183 post-AGB stars including 19 new detections. Of 132 AGB stars which are mainly selected based on the IRAS Point Source Catalog, we detected SiO and/or $H_2O$ maser emission from 38 stars including 18 newly detected sources. An evolutionary characteristic from AGB to post-AGB stars is discussed in IRAS two-color diagram. It is found that SiO v=2, J=1-0 maser emission without SiO v=1 maser detections was detected from 8 sources among 21 SiO detected post-AGB stars and the intensity of SiO v=2, J=1-0 maser tends to be much stronger than that of SiO v=1. We also found that for the post-AGB stars the maser detection rate of blue group sources (which have higher outflow velocities than red group) are higher than that of red group. Especially, only $H_2O$ maser emission was detected from 7 sources among 94 red group sources without SiO maser detections.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.35.2-35.2
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• 2015

We present the results of simultaneous observations of the H2O and SiO masers emitted from the circumstellar envelopes (CSEs) of the late-type stars. These observations have been carried out at the four frequency bands (K, Q, W and D bands) using KVN to apply the source frequency phase referencing (SFPR) analysis to the maser lines. We obtain the relative positions between the H2O and the SiO maser spots by using the SFPR method, which are very important to study the physical links between the inner and the outer parts of the CSEs of the late-type stars. The relative positions between the SiO maser spots of the different transitions are also obtained very accurately, which are very crucial to investigate the pumping mechanism of the SiO maser lines. From our results, the capability of the simultaneous multi-band observation of KVN is proved to be powerful to study the complicated physical environments of the CSEs and the stellar evolution of the late-type stars.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.240.1-240.1
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• 2012

We performed simultaneous observations of SiO v=1, 2, $^{29}SiO$ v=0, J=1-0 and $H_2O$ $6_{16}-5_{23}$ maser lines toward 252 OH/IR stars using the Korean VLBI Network 21m telescopes. The observations were carried out from 2011 November to 2012 July for studying SiO and $H_2O$ maser properties associated with the evolutionary stages of OH/IR stars. Both $H_2O$ and SiO masers were detected from 49 sources, one-side maser of SiO and $H_2O$ was detected from 109 and 11 sources, respectively. Mutual relations between SiO and $H_2O$ maser properties are investigated based on statistical analyses. We also investigate these maser properties in the IRAS two-color diagram related with stellar evolutionary sequence.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.267-275
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• 2015

Simultaneous time monitoring observations of H₂O and SiO maser lines were performed toward the D-type symbiotic binary system V407 Cyg with the Korean VLBI Network single dish radio telescope. These monitoring observations were carried out from March 2, 2010 (optical phase ϕ = 0.0), 8 days before the nova outburst on March 10, 2010 to June 5, 2014 (ϕ = 2.13). Eight days before the nova outburst, we detected the SiO v = 1, 2, J = 1–0 maser lines which exhibited values of 0.51 K (∼ 6.70 Jy) and 0.71 K (∼ 9.30 Jy), respectively, while after the outburst we could not detect them on April 2 (ϕ = 0.04), May 5 (ϕ = 0.09), May 8 (ϕ = 0.09), or on June 5, 2010 (ϕ = 0.13) within the upper limits of our KVN observations. After restarting our monitoring observations, we detected SiO v = 2, J = 1–0 masers starting on October 20, 2011 (ϕ = 0.83) and detected SiO v = 1, J = 1–0 masers starting on December 22, 2011 (ϕ = 0.92). These results provide clear evidence of the interaction between the shock from the nova outburst and the SiO maser regions of the Mira envelope. The peak emission of SiO v = 1, 2, J = 1–0 masers always occurred at blueshifted velocities with respect to the stellar velocity except for that of SiO v = 1 at one epoch. These phenomena may be related to the redistribution of SiO maser regions after the outburst. The peak velocity variations of SiO masers associated with stellar pulsation phases show an increasing blueshifted trend during our monitoring interval after the outburst.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.133-146
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• 1994

We have detected a SiO maser line (v=1, J=2- 1) for 15 stars out of about 80 long period variables in the wide range of period. No new sources are detected; all detected sources are variables with period longer than 300 days; no evidence is found that the dust grains in the outer envelope have influenced on this line. The time variation of this maser line for 7 stars, T Cep, ${\mu} Cep$, U Her, R Leo, R Lmi, U Ori, and R Ser is observed and compared with optical light curve at the same epoch of maser observation. No universial relation between the time variation and the optical light curve is found. It implies that the radiation from a central star does not much play an important role for the direct pumping of the SiO maser line.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.114-114
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• 2014

We present our activities linking to planning of possible forms of large program to study on circumstellar H2O and SiO maser sources with KaVA. A great advantage of KaVA for the stellar maser observations is the combination of the unique capability of the multi-frequency phase referencing technique of KVN and the dual-beam astrometry of VERA with the KaVA's relative dense antenna configuration. We have demonstrated this advantage through the test observations conducted by the KaVA Evolved Stars Sub-working Group since 2012 March. Snapshot KaVA imaging is confirmed to be possible in integration time of 0.5 hour at the 22 GHz band and 1.0 hour at the 43 GHz band in typical cases. This implies that large snapshot imaging surveys towards many H2O and SiO stellar masers are possible within a reasonable machine time (e.g., scans on ~100 maser sources within 200 hours). This possibility enables us to select the maser sources, which are suitable for future long-term (10 years) intensive (biweekly-monthly) monitoring observations, from 1000 potential target candidates selected from dual-frequency band (K/Q-bands) KVN single-dish observations. The output of the survey programs will be used for statistical analysis of the structures of individual stellar maser clumps and the spatio-kinematical structures of circumstellar envelopes with accelerating outflows. The combination of astrometry in milliarcsecond(mas) level and the multi-phase referencing technique yields not only trigonometric parallax distances to the masers but also precise position reference for registration of different maser lines. The accuracy of the map registration affects interpretation of the excitation mechanism of the SiO maser lines and the origin of the variety of the maser actions, which are expected to reflect periodic behaviors of the circumstellar envelope with stellar pulsation. Currently we are checking the technical feasibility of KaVA operations for this combination. After this feasibility test, the long-term monitoring campaign program will run as one of KaVA's legacy projects.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.261-288
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• 2016

We present the results of simultaneous monitoring observations of $H_2O$ $6_{1,6}-5_{2,3}$ (22GHz) and SiO J=1-0, 2-1, 3-2 maser lines (43, 86, 129GHz) toward five post-AGB (candidate) stars, using the 21-m single-dish telescopes of the Korean VLBI Network. Depending on the target objects, 7 - 11 epochs of data were obtained. We detected both $H_2O$ and SiO maser lines from four sources: OH16.1-0.3, OH38.10-0.13, OH65.5+1.3, and IRAS 19312+1950. We could not detect $H_2O$ maser emission toward OH13.1+5.1 between the late OH/IR and post-AGB stage. The detected $H_2O$ masers show typical double-peaked line profiles. The SiO masers from four sources, except IRAS 19312+1950, show the peaks around the stellar velocity as a single peak, whereas the SiO masers from IRAS 19312+1950 occur above the red peak of the $H_2O$ maser. We analyzed the properties of detected maser lines, and investigated their evolutionary state through comparison with the full widths at zero power. The distribution of observed target sources was also investigated in the IRAS two-color diagram in relation with the evolutionary stage of post-AGB stars. From our analyses, the evolutionary sequence of observed sources is suggested as OH65.5+1.3${\rightarrow}$OH13.1+5.1${\rightarrow}$OH16.1-0.3${\rightarrow}$OH38.10-0.13, except for IRAS 19312+1950. In addition, OH13.1+5.1 from which the $H_2O$ maser has not been detected is suggested to be on the gateway toward the post-AGB stage. With respect to the enigmatic object, IRAS 19312+1950, we could not clearly figure out its nature. To properly explain the unusual phenomena of SiO and $H_2O$ masers, it is essential to establish the relative locations and spatial distributions of two masers using VLBI technique. We also include the $1.2-160{\mu}m$ spectral energy distribution using photometric data from the following surveys: 2MASS, WISE, MSX, IRAS, and AKARI (IRC and FIS). In addition, from the IRAS LRS spectra, we found that the depth of silicate absorption features shows significant variations depending on the evolutionary sequence, associated with the termination of AGB phase mass-loss.