• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.203-224
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• 2013

Wide-field $JHK_s$ images obtained with the SIRIUS near-infrared camera of the IRSF 1.4m telescope are used to examine the tidal structures of the spatial stellar configuration around six metal-poor ([Fe/H]< -1.0) globular clusters located within 3 kpc from the Galactic center. The radial surface density profiles are obtained from the surface photometry of the cluster images and the star counting for the photometric data. For the star counting, candidates of cluster member stars are selected with an filtering algorithm in color-magnitude diagrams. We find that the six target clusters show tidal overdensity features in the radial surface density profiles. There is a break inside the tidal radius for each cluster, and the profile in the outer overdensity region is characterized by a power law. Two-dimensional density maps of all the clusters show distorted asymmetric stellar configurations in the outer region. In five out of the six target clusters, the overdensity features are likely to be associated with the effects of the Galaxy dynamical interaction and the cluster space motions. The observed tidal configurations of stars suggest that several metal-poor clusters in the Galactic bulge are possibly surviving remnants of mergers to build the old stellar system of the Galactic bulge.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 1989

Luminosity profile of the late type spiral galaxy NGC 2403 was obtained using the PDS scan of the plate. Some physical parameters (scale length, total magnitude, central brightness, disk to bulge ratio and concentric indices) were calculated from the brightness distribution. Total mass and the mass to luminosity ratio were estimated from the fitting of various mass models.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2000

Long-slit spectra, covering the wavelength range 4050~5150$\AA$, have been used to investigate the radial behavior of absorption line features (G4300, Fe4383, Ca4455, Fe4531, Fe4668, and H$\beta$) along the major and minor axes of the bulge of M104. The heliocentric recession velocity of M104 has been derived as 1260$\pm$190${kms}^{-1}$. The strength of a number of metal absorption lines is decreasing with increasing radius, and the minor axis shows much steeper radial line gradients than the major axis. Line index of H$\beta$ has an opposite trend to other metal lines, i.e., increasing outward. The results in this paper imply that the properties of absorption line index distribution in M104 bulge have in many aspects similar trends to those of elliptical galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.68.2-68.2
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• 2011

We present the detailed image decomposition of Hubble Space Telescope archival images for 235 nearby (z < 0.35) unobscured type 1 AGNs. It allows us to perform robust measurements of host galaxy properties and AGN luminosity contribution. We examine how the host properties correlate with AGN properties. Broad line type 1 and radio-loud AGNs are hosted preferentially by early type galaxies. Narrow line type 1 AGNs show a low fraction of tidal interaction, that might suggest the secular evolution may play an important role for triggering AGN activity, while the fraction of merging hosts is rather higher in luminous AGNs. We compare the nucleus luminosity and bulge luminosity and find that either our sample might have a smaller zero point in the M(BH)-L(bulge) relation (i.e. less massive black hole at a given bulge luminosity) relation compared to the normal galaxies or Eddington ratio of our sample could be systematically overestimated.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.31.1-31.1
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• 2018

While astronomers are working hard to detect the earliest galaxies and to follow their evolution to redshift z~0, they remain baffled by the present-day dichotomy between disky, star forming (aka late-type) galaxies and quiescent, spheroidal (aka early-type) galaxies. The key is to find galaxies in transition from one class to the other, whose spectra indicate intense recent star formation that has now ended. We have identified thousands of such "post-starburst galaxies" and discovered that they are often the products of late-type galaxy-galaxy mergers. Their current kinematics, stellar populations, and morphologies are consistent with late- to early-type galaxy evolution. I will discuss recent work that suggests new connections between this violent history and the central supermassive black hole. In particular, the molecular gas reservoir of a post-starburst galaxy declines rapidly after the starburst ends and in a manner consistent with feedback from an active nucleus. Furthermore, a star is ~300x more likely to be tidally disrupted by the nucleus of a post-starburst galaxy than in other galaxies. Like the well-known black hole-bulge mass correlation, these surprising links between the properties of a galaxy on kpc scales and its supermassive black hole on pc scales require explanation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.31.3-32
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• 2021

We quantify the relative role of galaxy environment and bar presence on AGN triggering in face-on spiral galaxies using a volume-limited sample with 0.02 < z < 0.055, Mr < 19.5, and σ > 70 km s-1 selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7. To separate their possible entangled effects, we divide the sample into bar and non-bar samples, and each sample is further divided into three environment cases of isolated galaxies, interacting galaxies with a pair, and cluster galaxies. The isolated case is used as a control sample. For these six cases, we measure AGN fractions at a fixed central star formation rate and central velocity dispersion, σ. We demonstrate that the internal process of the bar-induced gas inflow is more efficient in AGN triggering than the external mechanism of the galaxy interactions in groups and cluster outskirts. The significant effects of bar instability and galaxy environments are found in galaxies with a relatively less massive bulge. We conclude that from the perspective of AGN-galaxy coevolution, a massive black hole is one of the key drivers of spiral galaxy evolution. If it is not met, a bar instability helps the evolution, and in the absence of bars, galaxy interactions/mergers become important. In other words, in the presence of a massive central engine, the role of the two gas inflow mechanisms is reduced or almost disappears. We also find that bars in massive galaxies are very decisive in increasing AGN fractions when the host galaxies are inside clusters.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.82.1-82.1
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• 2010

We have investigated the spatial configuration of stars within the tidal radius of metal poor globular cluster NGC 6626 in the bulge direction. Data were obtained in near-IR J,H,Ks bands with wide-field ($20'\times20'$) detector, WIRCam at CFHT. To trace the stellar density around target cluster, we sorted cluster's member stars by using a mask filtering algorithm and weighting the stars on the color-magnitude diagram. From the weighted surface density map, we found that the stellar spatial distributions within the tidal radius appear asymmetric and distorted features. Especially, we found that more prominent over-density features are extending toward the direction of Galactic plane rather than toward the directions of the Galactic center and its orbital motion. This orientation of the stellar density distribution can be interpreted with result of disk-shock effect of the Galaxy that the cluster had been experienced. Indeed, this over-density feature are well represented in the radial surface density profile for different angular sections. As one of the metal poor globular clusters with extended horizontal branch (EHB) in the bulge direction, NGC 6626 is kinematically decoupled from the normal clusters and known to have disk motion of peculiar motion. Thus, our result will be able to add further constraints to understand the origin of this cluster and the formation of bulge region in early universe.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.231-253
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• 1992

A model for the distribution of stars in the disk and the spheroid of our Galaxy is reexamined from an edge-on view of the Galaxy obtained by selecting infrared sources from the IRAS Point Source Catalog. The sources are counted as a function of galactic latitude. longitude and $12{\mu}m$ apparent magnitude. The source counts are reasonably separated into the disk component and the spheroid component contributions and each of the contributions is further interpreted as a convolution of a spatial density distribution and a luminosity function based on the least-square fit method. The spatial density of the disk component has an exponential radial scale length of $h_R{\sim}2.6\;kpc$ and the vertical distribution follows a canonical $sech^2$ law with a scale height $h_z{\sim}240\;pc$. The distribution of the spheroid component can be represented by an oblate spheriod with an axis ratio $k{\sim}0.61$ and a de Vaucouleurs' $r^{1/4}$ law with an effective radius of $R_e{\sim}120\;pc$. The steep density gradient of the spheroid component is consistent with that of late M giants in the central bulge. The luminosity functions of the disk and the spheroid component stars resemble respectively those of the K luminosity function of disk M giants (Garwood and Jones 1986) and the bolometric luminosity function of M giants in bulge fields (Frogel et al, 1990).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.47.2-47.2
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• 2012

Using deep images taken at Maidanak 1.5m telescope, at McDonald 2.1m telescope and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Dupont 2.5m telescope we investigated the fraction of merging galaxies in hosts of 39 AGN which are brighter than M = -22 mag and nearer than z = 0.3. We found that 16 to 17 of 39 AGN host galaxies show the evidence of mergers like tidal tail, shell via careful visual inspection. We also studied with the merging fraction of a control sample, SDSS Stripe82 early type galaxies of which surface brightness limit and bulge magnitude are similar to that of the AGN sample. We found that merging fraction of the AGN sample is higher than that of early type galaxy samples in the whole range of bulge magnitude. This result implies that AGN activity may be correlated with merging. We also investigated the detailed morphology of merging feature. At least - 1/4 of control samples classified as a tidal and tidal+dust are shell structures. On the other hand only one (5.9%) of AGN sample classified as merger shows shell structures, and almost all merging AGNs show tidal tail features. From point of view that tidal tail may be at the early stage of merging, and shell may be at the late stage of mergers, this result suggests that AGN might be evolved into early-type galaxies after merging.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.34.1-34.1
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• 2010

Studies suggest that activities in luminous AGNs, residing mostly in early-type galaxies, are triggered by merging. However, the observational evidence for the connection between mergers and AGN activity is not clear yet because tracer of the past merging activities such as tidal tail, shell are often too faint. To see if we can reveal the merging features with a small telescope, we observed an AGN, MARK 478, at z=0.077 with long exposure time (7550 seconds) in V filter at Maidanak observatory. Our 2-D fitting analysis shows that the host galaxy of MARK 478 has the bulge to the total luminosity ratio of 0.3. And the residual image, after subtracting point spread function (PSF), bulge and disk components, shows that the host galaxy has an arm-like feature that could be a spiral arm or a feature from minor merging. We also show that the structural parameters obtained from our 2-D fitting match well with those derived from HST image. The promising result suggests that studies of low redshift AGN host galaxies are possible with data from a small telescope. In order to allow a statistical analysis, we hope to expand our sample size in future.