• 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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.36.1-36.1
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• 2018

Understanding the origin of strong galactic outflows and the suppression of star formation in dwarf galaxies is a key problem in galaxy formation. Using a set of radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of an isolated dwarf galaxy, we show that the momentum transferred from resonantly scattered Lyman-alpha(LyA) photons can suppress star formation by a factor of two in metal-poor galaxies by regulating the dynamics of star-forming clouds before the onset of supernova explosions (SNe). This is possible because each LyA photon resonantly scatters and imparts ~10-300 times greater momentum than in the single scattering limit. Consequently, the number of star clusters predicted in the simulations is reduced by a factor of ~5, compared to the model without the early feedback. More importantly, we find that galactic outflows become weaker in the presence of strong LyA radiation feedback, as star formation and associated SNe become less bursty. We also examine a model in which radiation field is arbitrarily enhanced by a factor of up to 10, and reach the same conclusion. The typical mass-loading factors in our metal-poor dwarf system are estimated to be ~5-10 near the mid-plane, while it is reduced to ~1 at larger radii.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.82.2-82.2
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• 2011

Infra-Red Dark Clouds (IRDCs) seen silhouette against the bright Galactic background in mid-IR are a class of interstellar clouds that are dense and cold with very high column densities. While IRDCs are believed to be the precursors to massive stars and star clusters, individual IRDCs show diverse star forming activities within them. We report a remarkable example of such cloud, the IRDC at ${\Gamma}53.2^{\circ}$, and star formation activity in this cloud. The IRDC was previously identified in part as three separate, arcmin-size clouds in the catalogue of MSX IRDC candidates, but we found that the IRDC is associated with a long, filamentary CO cloud at 2 kpc from the Galactic Ring Survey data of $^{13}CO$ J = 1-0 emission, and that its total extent reaches ~ 30pc. The Spitzer MIPSGAL 24mm data show a number of reddened mid-IR sources distributed along the IRDC which are probably young stellar objects (YSOs), and the UWISH2 $H_2$ data (2.122mm) reveal ubiquitous out flows around them. These observations indicate that the IRDC is a site of active star formation with YSOs in various evolutionary stages. In order to investigate the nature of mid-IR sources, we have performed photometry of MIPSGAL data, and we present a catalogue of YSOs combining other available point source catalogues from optical to IR. We discuss the evolutionary stages and characteristics of YSOs from their IR colors and spectral energy distributions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.65-65
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• 2011

Early-type galaxies represent the end point of galaxy evolution and, despite pervasive residual star formation, are generally considered "red and dead", that is composed exclusively of old stars with no star formation. Here, their molecular gas content is constrained and discussed in relation to their evolution, supporting the continuing importance of minor mergers and/or cold gas accretion. First, as part of the Atlas3D survey, the first complete, large, volume-limited survey of CO in normal early-type galaxies is presented. At least of 23% of local early-types possess a substantial amount of molecular gas, the necessary ingredient for star formation, independent of mass and environment but dependent on the specific stellar angular momentum. Second, using CO synthesis imaging, the extent of the molecular gas is constrained and a variety of morphologies is revealed. The kinematics of the molecular gas and stars are often misaligned, implying an external gas origin in over a third of all systems, more than half in the field, while external gas accretion must be shot down in clusters. Third, many objects appear to be in the process of forming regular kpc-size decoupled disks, and a star formation sequence can be sketched by piecing together multi-wavelength information on the molecular gas, current star formation, and young stars. Fourth, early-type galaxies do not seem to systematically obey all our usual prejudices regarding star formation (e.g. Schmidt-Kennicutt law, far infrared-radio continuum correlation), suggesting a greater diversity in star formation processes than observed in disk galaxies and the possibility of "morphological quenching". Lastly, a first step toward constraining the physical properties of the molecular gas is taken, by modeling the line ratios of density- and opacity-sensitive molecules in a few objects. Taken together, these observations argue for the continuing importance of (minor) mergers and cold gas accretion in local early-types, and they provide a much greater understanding of the gas cycle in the galaxies harbouring most of the stellar mass. In the future, better dust masses and dust-to-gas mass ratios from Herschel should allow to place entirely independent constraints on the gas supply, while spatially-resolved high-density molecular gas tracers observed with ALMA will probe the interstellar medium and star formation laws locally in a regime entirely different from that normally probed in spiral galaxies.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.21-30
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• 2018

Formation processes of high-mass stars have been long-standing issues in astronomy and astrophysics. This is mainly because of major difficulties in observational studies such as a smaller number of high-mass young stellar objects (YSOs), larger distances, and more complex structures in young high-mass clusters compared with nearby low-mass isolated star-forming regions (SFRs), and extremely large opacity of interstellar dust except for centimeter to submillimeter wavelengths. High resolution and high sensitivity observations with Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) at millimeter/submillimeter wavelengths will overcome these observational difficulties even for statistical studies with increasing number of high-mass YSO samples. This review will summarize recent progresses in high-mass star-formation studies with ALMA such as clumps and filaments in giant molecular cloud complexes and infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), protostellar disks and outflows in dense cores, chemistry, masers, and accretion bursts in high-mass SFRs.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.491-494
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• 2015

We present 12CO (2-1) data for four spiral galaxies (NGC 4330, NGC 4402, NGC 4522, NGC 4569) in the Virgo cluster that are undergoing different ram pressure stages. The goal is to probe the detailed molecular gas properties under strong intra-cluster medium (ICM) pressure using high-resolution millimeter data taken with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Combining this with Institut de RadioAstronomie $Millim{\acute{e}}trique$ (IRAM) data, we also study spatially resolved temperature and density distributions of the molecular gas. Comparing with multi-wavelength data (optical, $H\small{I}$, UV, $H{\alpha}$), we discuss how molecular gas properties and star formation activity change when a galaxy experiences $H\small{I}$ stripping. This study suggests that ICM pressure can modify the physical and chemical properties of the molecular gas significantly even if stripping does not take place. We discuss how this affects the star formation rate and galaxy evolution in the cluster environment.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.50.2-50.2
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• 2001

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.42.1-42.1
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• 2006

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.78.2-78.2
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• 2008

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.40.1-40.1
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• 2009