• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.307-313
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• 2004

Clusters of galaxies are believed to constitute a population of astrophysical objects potentially able to emit electromagnetic radiation up to gamma-ray energies. Evidence of the existence of non-thermal radiation processes in galaxy clusters is indicated from observations of diffuse radio halos, hard X-ray and EUV excess emission. The presence of cosmic ray acceleration processes and its confinement on cosmological timescales nearly inevitably yields in predicting energetic gamma-ray emission, either directly deduceably from a cluster's multifreqency emission characteristics or indirectly during large-scale cosmological structure formation processes. This theoretical reasoning suggests several scenarios to actually detect galaxy clusters at gamma-ray wavelengths: Either resolved as individual sources of point-like or extended gamma-ray emission, by investigating spatial-statistical correlations with unidentified gamma-ray sources or, if unresolved, through their contribution to the extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray background. In the following I review the situation concerning the proposed relation between galaxy clusters and high-energy gamma-ray observations from an observational point-of-view.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.52.3-53
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• 2021

It is yet to be understood what controls the star formation activity in high-redshift galaxy clusters. One recently proposed mechanism is that the star formation activity in galaxy clusters are fed by gas and galaxies in large-scale structures surrounding them, which we call as "web feeding model". Using galaxies in the COSMOS2015 catalog, with mass completeness at log(M/M_⦿)≥9.54 and reliable photometric redshift data (σ_Δz/(1+z) ≲ 0.01), we study the star formation activities of galaxy clusters and their surrounding environment to test the web feeding model. We first identify the overdense regions with number density exceeding the 4σ-level from photometric redshift data as galaxy clusters, and we find that they are well matched with clusters identified in the X-ray extended source catalog. Furthermore, we identify galaxy large scale structures, and will present the correlation or anti-correlation between quiescent galaxy fraction, an indicator of star-forming activity, and the prevalence of galaxy large scale structures.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.33.3-34
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• 2018

Galaxy clusters contain a diffuse component of stars outside galaxies, that is observed as intracluster light (ICL). Since the ICL abundance increases during various dynamical exchanges of galaxies, the amount of ICL can act as a measurement tool for the dynamical stage of galaxy clusters. There are two prominent ICL formation scenarios; one is related to the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) major mergers, and the other to the tidal stripping of galaxies. However, it is still under debate as to which is the main ICL formation mechanism. In this study we improve on earlier observational constraints of the ICL origin, by investigating it in a massive fossil cluster at z~0.47. Fossil clusters are believed to be dynamically matured galaxy clusters which have dominant BCGs. Recent simulation studies imply that, BCGs have assembled 85~90% of their mass by z~0.4 (e.g., Contini et al. 2014). Thus our target is an optimal test bed to examine the BCG-related scenario. Our deep images and Multi-Object Spectroscopic observations of the target fossil cluster (Gemini North 2018A) allow us to extract the ICL distribution, ICL color map and ICL fraction to cluster light. We will present a possible constraint of the ICL origin and discuss its connection to the BCG and the host galaxy cluster.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.271-272
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• 1996

Assuming that particles can be accelerated to high energies via diffusive shock acceleration process at the accretion shocks formed by the infalling flow toward the clusters of galaxies, we have calculated the expected spectrum of high-energy protons from the cosmological ensemble of the cluster accretion shocks. The model with Jokipii diffusion limit could explain the observed cosmic ray spectrum near $10^{19}eV$ with reasonable parameters and models if about $10^{-4}$ of the infalling kinetic energy can be injected into the intergalactic space as the high energy particles.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.40.2-40.2
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• 2012

Early-type dwarf galaxies are the most numerous galaxies in dense environments, making them ideal probes of the mechanisms that govern galaxy formation and evolution. Despite the common picture of an early-type dwarf galaxy as a quiescent one with no star formation and little gas, recent systematic investigations of early-type dwarf galaxies in the cluster revealed an unexpected variety among these apparently simple objects. In this talk, I review intriguing complexity of early-type dwarf galaxies in the cluster. I will also briefly introduce a new catalog of galaxies in the Virgo cluster using SDSS data, extended Virgo Cluster Catalog (EVCC).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.34.1-34.1
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• 2016

Galaxy clusters are the sites where the most massive galaxies are found, and so the most dramatic merger histories are embedded. Our deep (mu ~ 28 mag/arcsec^2) images of Abell 119 at z = 0.044 using the Blanco 4-m telescope at CTIO revealed post-merger signatures in ~35% of galaxies brighter than Mr < -19.5, suggesting that so many galaxies even in clusters have gone through galaxy mergers at recent epoch. We went further to understand the impact of mergers in cluster galaxies using stellar kinematics from the SAMI Integral Field Unit on the galaxies of Abell 119 in three aspects of kinematics : orientations, levels of rotation, and kinematic shapes. We found that 30% of the merger-featured galaxies show misalignment in the angle between the photometric major and the rotation axes, and most of them show complex kinematics. For comparison, only 5% of non-merger-featured galaxies show the misalignment. Moreover, our analysis using the Tully-Fisher relation shows that galaxy interactions can both enhance or reduce galaxy spin depending on the merger geometry. We present our preliminary result and discussion on the role of galaxy mergers in cluster environment from the perspective of kinematics.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.35.2-35.2
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• 2014

Today, it is widely accepted that dense environments tend to accelerate galaxy evolution. However, according to recent studies, the environments where galaxies evolve most considerably are galaxy groups rather than galaxy clusters. In an isolated group, the central host galaxy and its satellites co-evolve and interact with each other; as a result, they tend to have similar properties. Such conformity between host and satellite galaxies are relatively well known in galaxy groups, but it is hardly studied what happens after such galaxy groups merge into a galaxy cluster. Recently, J. H. Lee et al. (2014) have found that the colors of bright galaxies in WHL J085910.0+294957, a galaxy cluster at z = 0.3, show a measurable correlation with the mean colors of faint companions around them, which may be the vestige of infallen groups in the cluster. As a follow-up study, we explore more galaxy clusters, Abell 3659 and Abell 1146 at z ~ 0.1, using deep images obtained from the Magellan (Baade) 6.5-m telescope. Cluster members are selected based on the distributions of color, size and concentration along magnitude and spatial distribution. We investigate the dependence of the mean colors of faint companion galaxies on local environments and the properties of adjacent bright galaxies. After comparing the results with those in J. H. Lee et al. (2014), we discuss the origin of the relationships between bright galaxies and their faint companions based on their dependence on cluster properties.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.337-342
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• 2004

The presence of magnetic fields in the intracluster medium in clusters of galaxies has been revealed through several different observational techniques. These fields may be dynamically important in clusters as they will provide additional pressure support to the intracluster medium as well as inhibit transport mechanisms such as thermal conduction. Here, we review the current observational state of Faraday rotation measure studies of the cluster fields. The fields are generally found to be a few to 10 $\mu$G in non-cooling core clusters and ordered on scales of 10 - 20 kpc. Studies of sources at large impact parameters show that the magnetic fields extend from cluster cores to radii of at least 500 kpc. In central regions of cooling core systems the field strengths are often somewhat higher (10 - 40 $\mu$G) and appear to be ordered on smaller scales of a few to 10 kpc. We also review some of the recent work on interpreting Faraday rotation measure observations through theory and numerical simulations. These techniques allow us to build up a much more detailed view of the strength and topology of the fields.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.375-379
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• 2004

In this paper I give an overview of the detection of emission from the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) in the outer parts of clusters of galaxies. The evidence for the presence of soft excess X-ray emission in 7 out of 21 clusters is summarized, and it is demonstrated that several of these clusters show the signatures of thermal emission in the outer parts. A strong signature is the presence of redshifted O VII emission at 0.57 keV. In the central parts, several clusters show also a soft excess, but m this case the observations cannot well discriminate between a thermal or non-thermal origin of the soft X-ray excess.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.59.2-59.2
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• 2018

Recent studies of galaxy clusters have shown that the galaxy clusters in dense environment tend to have lower star formation rate in local universe with z < 1. However, this correlation is not significant in galaxy clusters with z > 1. The study of galaxy clusters around z=1 can yield insight into cosmological galaxy evolution. Nevertheless, the identification of galaxy clusters beyond the scope of immediate local universe requires wide field data in optical and near-infrared bands. By incorporating data from Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey(CFHTLS) and Infrared Medium-Deep Survey(IMS), the photometric redshifts of galaxies in CFHTLS W2 field were calculated. Using spatial distribution and photometric redshifts, the galaxies in the field were divided into redshift bins. The image of each redshift bin was analyzed by measuring the number density within proper distance of 1Mpc. By comparing high density regions in consecutive redshift bins, we identified the cluster candidates and mapped the large-scale structure within the CFHTLS W2 field.