• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.54.2-54.2
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• 2011

We present a study of HII regions in M51 using HST/ACS images taken as part of the Hubble Heritage Program. We found about 19,600 HII regions in M51 with $H_{\alpha}$ luminosity in the range of $L=10^{35.5}-10^{39.0}\;erg\;s^{-1}$. The $H_{\alpha}$ luminosity function of HII regions (HII LF) in M51 is well represented by a double power law with its index ${\alpha}=-2.25{\pm}0.02$ for the bright part and ${\alpha}=-1.42{\pm}0.01$ for the faint part, separated at a break point $L=10^{37.1}\;erg\;s^{-1}$. Comparison with simulated HII LFs suggests that this break is caused by the transition of HII region ionizing sources, from low-mass clusters (including several OB stars) to more massive clusters (including several tens of OB stars). The HII LFs with L < $10^{37.1}\;erg\;s^{-1}$ are found to have different slopes for different parts in M51: the HII LF for the interarm region is steeper than those for the arm and the nuclear regions. This observed difference in HII LFs can be explained by evolutionary effects: HII regions in the interarm region are relatively older than those in the other parts of M51. The size distribution of the HII regions is fitted by a double power law with a break at D = 30 pc. The power law index for the small HII regions with 15 pc < D < 30 pc is ${\alpha}=-1.78{\pm}0.04$, whereas ${\alpha}=-5.04{\pm}0.08$ for the large HII region with 30 pc < D < 110 pc. The power law indices of the size distribution are related with those of HII LF, and the relation between the luminosities and sizes of HII regions is fitted well by $L{\propto}D^{3.04{\pm}}$.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.165-175
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• 2015

We investigate physical properties of the nearby (∼ 7.5 pc) astrometric binary μ Cas in the context of standard evolutionary theory. Based on the spectroscopically determined relative abundances ([α/Fe] ≳ +0.4 dex, [Fe/H] ∼ −0.7 dex), all physical inputs such as opacities and equation of state are consistently generated. By combining recent spectroscopic analyses with the astrometric observations from the HIPPARCOS parallaxes and the CHARA array, the evolutionary model grids have been constructed. Through the statistical evaluation of the χ²-minimization among alternative models, we find a reliable evolutionary solution (M_A, M_B, t_age) = (0.74 M_⊙, 0.19 M_⊙, 11 Gyr) which excellently satisfies observational constraints. In particular, we find that the helium abundance of μ Cas is comparable with the primordial helium contents (Y_p ∼ 0.245). On the basis of the well-defined stellar parameters of the primary star, the internal structure and the p-mode frequencies have been estimated. From our seismic computation, μ Cas is expected to have a first order spacing ∆ν ∼ 169 μHz. The ultimate goal of this study is to describe physical processes inside a low-mass star through a complete modelling from the spectroscopic observation to the evolutionary computation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.66.3-67
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• 2021

Low-mass stars form by the gravitational collapse of dense molecular cores. Observations and theories of low-mass protostars both suggest that accretion bursts happen in timescales of ~100 years with high accretion rates, so called episodic accretion. One mechanism that triggers accretion bursts is infalling fragments from the outer disk. Such fragmentation happens when the disk is massive enough, preferentially activated during the embedded phase of star formation (Class 0 and I). Most observations and models focus on the gas structure of the protostars undergoing episodic accretion. However, the dust and ice composition are poorly understood, but crucial to the chemical evolution through thermal and energetic processing via accretion burst. During the burst phase, the surrounding material is heated up, and the chemical compositions of gas and ice in the disk and envelope are altered by sublimation of icy molecules from grain surfaces. Such alterations leave imprints in the ice composition even when the temperature returns to the pre-burst level. Thus, chemical compositions of gas and ice retain the history of past bursts. Infrared spectral observations of the Spitzer and AKARI revealed a signature caused by substantial heating, toward many embedded protostars at the quiescent phase. We present the AKARI IRC 2.5-5.0 ㎛ spectra for embedded protostars to trace down the characteristics of accretion burst across the evolutionary stages. The ice compositions obtained from the absorption features therein are used as a clock to measure the timescale after the burst event, comparing the analyses of the gas component that traced the burst frequency using the different refreeze-out timescales. We discuss ice abundances, whose chemical change has been carved in the icy mantle, during the different timescales after the burst ends.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.87-91
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• 2017

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are considered to be carriers of the unidentified infrared bands, which are ubiquitously observed in the Universe. PAHs are mainly formed around evolved carbon-rich stars and injected into interstellar space. Planetary nebulae (PNe), a late stage of low- and intermediate stellar mass evolution, are suitable objects to investigate the formation and evolution of PAHs. The shortest PAH feature is located in $3.3{\mu}m$, which is important to examine the excitation and size distribution of PAHs. While the number of samples had been limited before, the high sensitivity of AKARI /IRC has drastically increased the number of samples. We obtained the $2-5{\mu}m$ spectra of Galactic PNe with AKARI /IRC and compiled a near-infrared spectral catalog, containing 73 PNe. We investigate the detection rate and the evolution of the PAH features. The characteristics of the catalog are illustrated and the origin of the evolution of the PAH features is discussed.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.141.1-141.1
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• 2011

New CCD BVR light curves of BD And are presented. Our light curves with nearly equal depths for both primary and secondary eclipses show well-defined photometric waves outside eclipse for all of BVR bandpasses. The orbital period is greatly revised as $0.^d92580519$ which is twice longer than that known previously. Sixteen timings from our observations and thirteen ones from the SuperWASP measurements were calculated. All available timings over 76 years, including ours, were analyzed to figure out the dynamical behavior of the system. It was found that the recent CCD O-C residuals varied in a cyclical way with a period of $9.^y18$ and a semi-amplitude of $0.^d0046$. The secondary period of $9.^y18$ is the most shortest one among those which have been ever found in the short period RS CVn binary stars. The periodic variation most likely arises from the light-travel time effect due to a low-mass ($m_3{\sim}0.88\;M_{\odot}$) tertiary companion moving in an orbit with an large eccentricity ($e_3$=0.70) and a low inclination ($i_3{\sim}28^{\circ}$). The Applegate mechanism could not operate properly in both components because the model parameters require too much large luminosity changes of ${\Delta}L/L_{p,s}$ > 10. The new light curves were synthesized using the 2003 version of Wilson-Divinney code. It was found useful to model two huge spots on the surface of the hotter star and a third-light in order to minimize the residuals from the observations. Astronomical basic parameters were deduced from our photometric solution.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.50.3-51
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• 2021

The progenitor of Type Ia supernovae is largely expected as a close binary system of a carbon/oxygen white dwarf (WD) primary and its secondary non-degenerate (single degenerate; SD) or degenerate companion (double degenerate; DD). Here we present a high-cadence monitoring observation of SN 2021hpr in a spiral galaxy, NGC 3147. SN 2021hpr shows typical characteristics as a normal type Ia supernova from its photometric (Δm₁₅(B)=1.01±0.03, dust free M_B,max=-19.45±0.02) and spectroscopic data. To investigate its progenitor system, we fit the early part of BVRI-band light curve simultaneously with a combined version of ejecta-companion and simple power-law model. As a result, we found a significant feature of an early excess possibly from a 7.63±0.52R_⊙-sized companion at the optimal viewing angle while the fit is not successful at the common viewing angle. No possible red sources brighter than F555W=-7.01 AB mag is detected at the SN location in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) pre-explosion images, excluding massive stars with initial mass of >16M_⊙ as companions. We suggest the progenitor system of SN 2021hpr can be a fairly large companion such as a main sequence, a low mass subgiant, and a helium giant star. In addition, a possibility of the ejecta-Disk Originated Matter (DOM) interaction for the DD scenario considering linearly-rising early flux still remains.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

We present the photometric properties of V608 Cas from detailed studies of light curves and eclipse timings. The light curve synthesis indicates that the eclipsing pair is an overcontact binary with parameters of ∆T = 155 K, q = 0.328, and f = 26%. We detected the third light ℓ₃, which corresponds to about 8% and 5% of the total systemic light in V and R bands, respectively. Including our 6 timing measurements, a total of 38 times of minimum light were used for a period study. It was found that the orbital period of V608 Cas has varied in some combination of an upward parabola and two periodic variations. The continuous period increase with a rate of +3.99 × 10^-7 d yr^-1 can be interpreted as a mass transfer from the secondary component to the primary star at a rate of 1.51 × 10^-7 M_⊙ yr^-1. The periods and semi-amplitudes of the two periodic variations are about P₃ = 16.0 yr and P₄ = 26.3 yr, and K₃ = 0.0341 d and K₄ = 0.0305 d, respectively. The most likely explanation of both cycles is a pair of light-traveling time effects operated by the possible presence of third and fourth components with estimated masses of M₃ = 2.20 M_⊙ and M₄ = 1.27 M_⊙ in eccentric orbits of e₃ = 0.66 and e₄ = 0.52. Because the contribution of ℓ₃ is very low compared to the estimated masses of two circumbinary objects, they can be inferred as very faint compact objects.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.84.2-84.2
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• 2019

We present the absolute properties of the double-lined eclipsing binary KIC 6206751 exhibiting multiperiodic pulsations. The Kepler light curve of this system was simultaneously solved with the previously published radial-velocity data. The results indicate that the binary star is a short-period semi-detached system with fundamental parameters of $M_1=1.66{\pm}0.04M_{\odot}$, $M_2=0.215{\pm}0.006M_{\odot}$, $R_1=1.53{\pm}0.02R_{\odot}$, $R_2=1.33{\pm}0.02R_{\odot}$, $L_1=5.0{\pm}0.6L_{\odot}$, and $L_2=0.96{\pm}0.09L_{\odot}$. We applied multiple frequency analyses to the eclipse-subtracted light residuals and detected the 42 frequencies below $2.5days^{-1}$. Among these, three independent frequencies of $f_2$, $f_3$, and $f_4$ can be identified as high-order ($38{\leq}n{\leq}40$) low-degree (l=2) gravity-mode oscillations, whereas the other frequencies may be orbital harmonics and combination terms. The ratios between the orbital frequency and the pulsation frequencies are $f_{orb}:f_{2-4}{\simeq}2:3$, which implies that the ${\gamma}$ Dor pulsations of the detached primary star may be excited by the tidal interaction of the secondary companion. The short orbital period, and the low mass ratio and $M_2$ demonstrate that KIC 6206751 is an R CMa-type star, which is most likely evolving into an EL CVn star. Of seven well-studied R CMa-type stars, our program target is the only eclipsing binary with a ${\gamma}$ Dor pulsating component.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.38.2-38.2
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• 2013

Several studies have reported the presence of sodium excess objects having neutral atomic absorption lines at $5895{\AA}$ (NaD) and $8190{\AA}$ that are deeper than expected based on stellar population models that match the stellar continuum. The origin of these lines is therefore hotly debated. van Dokkum & Conroy proposed that low-mass stars (0.3M) are more prevalent in massive early-type galaxies, which may lead to a strong NaI 8190 line strength. It is necessary to test this prediction, however, against other prominent optical line indices such as NaD, Mgb, and Fe5270, which can be measured with a significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio than NaI 8190. We identified a new sample of roughly one thousand NaD excess objects (NEOs; ~8% of galaxies in the sample) based on NaD line strength in the redshift range 0.00${\alpha}$-enhanced" ([${\alpha}/Fe$] ~ 0.3), "metal-rich" ([Z/H] ~ 0.3), and, especially, "Na-enhanced" ([Na/Fe] ~ 0.3).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.47.2-47.2
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• 2014

Several studies have reported the presence of sodium excess objects having neutral atomic absorption lines at $5895{\AA}$ (NaD) and $8190{\AA}$ that are deeper than expected based on stellar population models that match the stellar continuum. The origin of these lines is therefore hotly debated. van Dokkum & Conroy proposed that low-mass stars (0.3M) are more prevalent in massive early-type galaxies, which may lead to a strong NaI 8190 line strength. It is necessary to test this prediction, however, against other prominent optical line indices such as NaD, Mgb, and Fe5270, which can be measured with a significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio than NaI 8190. We identified a new sample of roughly one thousand NaD excess objects (NEOs; ~8% of galaxies in the sample) based on NaD line strength in the redshift range 0.00$H{\beta}$ line strengths and significant emission lines, which are indicative of the presence of young stellar populations. This result implies that the presence of the interstellar medium and/or dust contributes to the increase in NaD line strengths observed for these galaxies.