• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.31.2-31.2
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• 2021

To estimate the contribution of quasars on keeping the IGM ionized, building a quasar luminosity function (LF) is necessary. Quasar LFs derived from multiple quasar surveys, however, are incompatible, especially for the faint regime, emphasizing the need for deep images. In this study, we construct quasar LF reaching M₁₄₅₀~-21.5 AB magnitude at z ~ 5, which is 1.5 mag deeper than previously reported LFs, using deep images from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP). We trained an artificial neural network (ANN) by inserting the colors as inputs to classify the quasars at z ~ 5 from the late-type stars and low-redshift galaxies. The accuracy of ANN is > 99 %. We also adopted the Bayesian information criterion to elaborate on the quasar-like objects. As a result, we recovered 5/5 confirmed quasars and remarkably minimized the contamination rate of high-redshift galaxies by up to six times compared to the selection using color selection alone. The constructed quasar parametric LF shows a flatter faint-end slope α=-127^+0.16_-0.15 similar to the recent LFs. The number of faint quasars (M₁₄₅₀ < -23.5) is too few to be the main contributor to IGM ionizing photons.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.54.3-54.3
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• 2021

The Coma cluster serves as an ideal laboratory to study the cluster assembly history. It is known as a typical example of relaxed galaxy clusters. However, recent X-ray, radio and optical observations revealed a number of substructures in Coma. The NGC 4839 group is an interesting substucture in the sense that it is overlappled with the X-ray bright component in the south-west region. Recent hydrodynamical simulations in the literature suggest that the NGC 4839 group came from the north-east direction of Coma, passed the apocenter about 1 Gyr ago, and started a second infall to the Coma core recently. Interestingly a number of E+A galaxies are located along the filament connecting the NGC 4839 group and the Coma core. We are surveying a wide area covering the NGC 4839 group to search for globular clusters and use them to investigate any connection between the globular clusters and the merger scenario of the NGC 4839 group. We utilized Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam archival images of two circular fields with diameter ~1.8 deg, covering the Coma core and the NGC 4839 group. We discuss the results with regard to the formation history of the NGC 4839 group.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2008

Productivity of the Giant Magellan Telescope is estimated based on the annual number of papers produced by the currently operating large telescopes such as the telescope at the ESO La Silla observatory, CFHT, AAT, the Magellan telescopes, ESO VLT, Japanese Subaru, the Gemini telescopes, and the Keck telescopes. We find that the amount of papers produced by a large telescope is roughly proportional to the diameter of its primary mirror. With this fact, we estimate the SCI-paper productivity of the Giant Magellan Telescope by extrapolating the productivity of the above-mentioned large telescopes. Moreover, according to the paper written in 2001 by Benn and Sanchez, the amount of highly-cited papers produced by a large telescope is roughly proportional to the light-gathering power of the telescope or the square of the diameter. Hence, we survey the productivity of Nature-class papers of the large telescopes and extrapolate the relationship to estimate the productivity of the Nature-class papers by using the Giant Magellan telescope of a filled aperture 21.4 meters in diameter. We expect that Korean astronomers will be able to produce annually 60 SCI-class papers and 20 Nature-class papers with high scientific impact by using the telescope-time corresponding to the 10% share of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.281-284
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• 2012

We utilize AKARI's slitless spectroscopic capability to detect the $3.3{\mu}m$ polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emission and measure star formation (SF) activity for various AKARI programs. First, we obtain $2{\sim}5{\mu}m$ spectra of 20 flux-limited galaxies with mixed SED classes in order to calibrate the $3.3{\mu}m$ PAH luminosity ($L_{PAH3.3}$) as a star formation rate (SFR) indicator. We find that $L_{PAH3.3}$ correlates with $L_{IR}$ as well as with the $6.2{\mu}m$ PAH luminosity ($L_{PAH6.2}$). The correlations does not depend on SED classes. We find that ULIRGs deviate from the correlation between PAH luminosities and $L_{IR}$, while they do not for the correlation between PAH luminosities. We suggest possible effects to cause this deviation. On the other hand, how AGN activity is linked to SB activity is one of the most intriguing questions. While it is suggested that AGN luminosity of quasars correlates with starburst (SB) luminosity, it is still unclear how AGN activity is connected to SF activity based on host galaxy properties. We are measuring SFRs for the LQSONG sample consisting of reverberation mapped AGNs and PG-QSOs. This is an extension of the ASCSG program by which we investigated the connection between SB and AGN activities for Seyferts type 1s at z ~ 0.36. While we found no strong correlation between $L_{PAH3.3}$ and AGN luminosity for these Seyferts 1s, $L_{PAH3.3}$ measured from the central part of galaxies correlates with AGN luminosity, implying that SB and AGN activities are directly connected in the nuclear region.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.36-36
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• 2013

Globular clusters (GCs) are among the oldest stellar objects in the universe and provide valuable constraints on many aspects of galaxy evolution. GC systems typically exhibit bimodal color distributions the phenomenon of which has been a major topic in the area of GC research. GC color bimodality established a paradigm where scenarios to explain its origin require two GC groups with different formation origins. The GC division, asserted mainly by photometric color bimodality so far, has been viewed as the presence of two distinct metallicity subgroups within individual galaxies. In this study, we make use of spectroscopy of GC systems associated with two giant galaxies, M31 (the Andromeda) and M87 (NGC 4486), to investigate the GC bimodality and the underlying metallicity distributions. Recent spectroscopy on the globular cluster (GC) system of M31 with unprecedented precision witnessed a clear bimodality in absorption-line index distributions of old GCs. Given that spectroscopy is a more detailed probe into stellar population than photometry; the discovery of index bimodality may point to the very existence of dual GC populations. However, here we show that the observed spectroscopic dichotomy of M31 GCs emerges due to the nonlinear nature of metallicity-to-index conversion and thus one does not necessarily have to invoke two separate GC subsystems. We present spectra of 130 old globular clusters (GCs) associated with the Virgo giant elliptical galaxy M87, obtained using the Multi-Object Spectrography (MOS) mode of Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) on the Subaru telescope. M87 GCs with reliable metallicity measurements exhibit significant inflection along the color-metallicity relations, through which observed color bimodality is reproduced from a broad, unimodal metallicity distribution. Our findings lend further support to this new interpretation of the GC color bimodality, which could change much of the current thought on the formation of GC systems and their host galaxies.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.67-71
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• 2017

Debris disks are circumstellar dust disks around main-sequence stars. They are important observational clues to understanding the planetary system formation. The zodiacal light is the thermal emission from the dust disk in our Solar system. For a comprehensive understanding of the nature and the evolution of dust disks around main-sequence stars, we try a comparative study of debris disks and the zodiacal light. We search for debris disks using the AKARI mid-infrared all-sky point source catalog. By applying accurate flux estimate of the photospheric emission based on the follow-up near-infrared observations with IRSF, we have improved the detection rate of debris disks. For a detailed study of the structure and grain properties in the zodiacal dust cloud, as an example of dust disks around main-sequence stars, we analyze the AKARI mid-infrared all-sky diffuse maps. As a result of the debris disks search, we found old (>1 Gyr) debris disks which have large excess emission compared to their age, which cannot be explained simply by the conventional steady-state evolution model. From the zodiacal light analysis, we find the possibility that the dust grains trapped in the Earth's resonance orbits have increased by a factor of ~3 in the past ~20 years. Combining these results, we discuss the non-steady processes in debris disks and the zodiacal light.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.73-75
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• 2017

Debris disks are important observational clues to understanding on-going planetary system formation. They are usually identified by significant mid-infrared excess on top of the photospheric emission of a central star on the basis of prediction from J-, H-, and Ks-band fluxes and the stellar model spectra. For bright stars, 2MASS near-infrared fluxes suffer large uncertainties due to the near-infrared camera saturation. Therefore we have performed follow-up observations with the IRSF 1.4 m near-infrared telescope located in South Africa to obtain accurate J-, H-, and Ks-band fluxes of the central stars. Among 754 main-sequence stars which are detected in the AKARI $18{\mu}m$ band, we have performed photometry for 325 stars with IRSF. As a result, we have successfully improved the flux accuracy of the central stars from 9.2 % to 0.5 % on average. Using this dataset, we have detected $18{\mu}m$ excess emission from 57 stars in our samples with a $3{\sigma}$ level. We find that some of them have high ratios of the excess to the photospheric emission even around very old stars, which cannot be explained by the current planet-formation theories.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.197-199
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• 2017

Using the InfraRed Camera (IRC) on board the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI we study the ${3.3{\mu}m}$ polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature and its connection to active galactic nucleus (AGN) properties for a sample of 54 hard X-ray selected bright AGN, including both Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 type objects. The sample is selected from the 9-month Swift/BAT survey in the 14-195 keV band and all of the sources have known neutral hydrogen column densities ($N_H$). The ${3.3{\mu}m}$ PAH luminosity ($L_{3.3{\mu}m}$) is used as a proxy for star-formation (SF) activity and hard X-ray luminosity ($L_{14-195keV}$) as an indicator of the AGN power. We explore for possible difference of SF activity between type 1 (un-absorbed) and type 2 (absorbed) AGN. We use several statistical analyses taking the upper-limits of the PAH lines into account utilizing survival analysis methods. The results of our log($L_{14-195keV}$) versus log($L_{3.3{\mu}m}$) regression shows a positive correlation and the slope for the type 1/unobscured AGN is steeper than that of type 2/obscured AGN at a $3{\sigma}$ level. Also our analysis shows that the circum-nuclear SF is more enhanced in type 2/absorbed AGN than type 1/un-absorbed AGN for low $L_{14-195keV}$ luminosity/low Eddington ratio AGN, while there is no significant dependence of SF activity on the AGN type in the high $L_{14-195keV}$ luminosities/Eddington ratios.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.39.2-39.2
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• 2017

Over the last decade, deep studies of nearby galaxies have led to the discovery of vast stellar envelopes that are often rich in substructure. These components are naturally predicted in models of hierarchical galaxy assembly, and their observed properties place important constraints on the amount, nature, and history of satellite accretion. One of the most effective ways of mapping the peripheral regions of galaxies is through resolved star studies. Using wide-field cameras equipped to 8 m class telescopes, it has recently become possible to extend these studies to systems beyond the Local Group. Located at a distance of 3.6 Mpc, M81 is a prime target for wide-field mapping of its resolved stellar content. In this talk, we present the detailed results from our deep wide-field imaging survey of the M81 group with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), on the Subaru Telescope. We report on the analysis of the structures, stellar populations, and metallicities of old dwarf galaxies such as NGC3077, IKN, KDG061, as well as young stellar systems such as Arp's Loop and Holmberg IX. Several candidates for yet-undiscovered faint dwarf galaxies and young stellar clumps in the M81 group will also be introduced. The peculiar galaxy NGC3077 has been classified as the irregular galaxy. Okamoto et al. (2015, ApJ 809, L1) discovered an extended halo structure with S-shape elongated tails, obvious feature of tidal interaction. With a help of numerical simulation by Penarrubia et al. (2009, ApJ 698, 222), we will demonstrate that this tidal feature was formed during the latest close encounters between M81, M82, and NGC 3077, which induced star formation in tidally stripped gas far from the main bodies of galaxies. It is not clear whether the latest tidal interaction was the first close encounters of three galaxies. If NGC3077 is still surrounded by the dark matter halo, it implies that NGC3077 has undergone the first tidal stripping by larger companions. Kinematic studies of inter galactic globular clusters and planetary nebulae would tell us the past history of tidal interaction in this group of galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.61.2-61.2
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• 2010

GMTNIRS (the GMT Near Infrared Spectrograph) is one of the first generation instrument candidates for GMT (Giant Magellan Telescope). Conceptual design studies for nine instruments were proposed last year, and the GMT organization selected 6 instruments including GMTNIRS for the next phase. GMTNIRS will be developed by an international collaboration between KASI and UT(University of Texas). KASI and UT have been also developing IGRINS (the Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrometer) which is a fore-runner instrument of GMTNIRS since 2009. In this talk, we will present the instrument details and development plan, and discuss the science case for GMTNIRS.