• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.71-84
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• 2012

We present a photometric study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the Virgo giant elliptical galaxy M86 based on Washington $CT_1$ images. The colors of the GCs in M86 show a bimodal distribution with a blue peak at ($C-T_1$) = 1.30 and a red peak at ($C-T_1$) = 1.72. The spatial distribution of the red GCs is elongated similar to that of the stellar halo, while that of the blue GCs is roughly circular. The radial number density profile of the blue GCs is more extended than that of the red GCs. The radial number density profile of the red GCs is consistent with the surface brightness profile of the M86 stellar halo. The GC system has a negative radial color gradient, which is mainly due to the number ratio of the blue GCs to the red GCs increasing as galactocentric radius increases. The bright blue GCs in the outer region of M86 show a blue tilt: the brighter they are, the redder their mean colors get. These results are discussed in comparison with other Virgo giant elliptical galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.64.1-64.1
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• 2014

We study the dust and star-formation characteristics of a nearby dwarf elliptical galaxy, NGC 855. With various archival data from ultraviolet to far-infrared, we build up the spectral energy distribution (SED) that can give us constraints on stellar populations, dust characteristics, star-formation history, etc. From GALEX and SDSS data, slightly de-centered bluer central core is confirmed, where star formation might take place. This regions is coincident with seemingly dis-integrated cores detected by Spitzer IRAC data and with bright Ha feature observed at ground-based telescope. The PACS and SPIRE data by Herschel Space Observatory show the dominant dust features at the center. Lastly, we propose necessary follow-up observations with ground-based telescopes to investigate spectral properties of NGC 855.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.31.1-31.1
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• 2010

We present a spectroscopic study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the giant elliptical galaxy (gE) NGC 4636 in the Virgo cluster. Line indices of GCs in NGC 4636 are measured from the integrated spectra obtained with Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) on the Subaru Telescope. We derive the [Fe/H] of the GCs in NGC 4636 using Brodie & Huchra (1990) method. The [Z/H], age, and alpha-element of the GCs are obtained from the comparison of the Lick line indices with the SSP model grid. We investigate the distribution and radial variation of the metallicity, age, and alpha-element of NGC 4636 GCs. The metallicity distribution of NGC 4636 GCs shows a bimodality. The chemical properties of these GCs show little radial variation. These results will be discussed with regard to the formation and evolution of NGC 4636.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.34.3-34.3
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• 2009

We have investigated the recent star formation history of the nearby galaxies using the SDSS optical and Galex UV data. To everyone's surprise, we found that roughly 30 percent of elliptical galaxies had a residual star formation in the last billion years, suggesting that residual star formation has been common even in ellipticals. Galaxy evolution models based on semi-analytic prescriptions including AGN feedback reasonably reproduce the star formation properties of elliptical galaxies. However, we found that the current galaxy models miserably fail to reproduce the star formation properties of satellite disc galaxies in cluster environments. Satellite disc galaxies in models are overly star-formation quenched in comparison to observation. Detailed investigations led us to conclude that this is due to the use of inaccurate prescriptions for the gas content evolution in the model. I present a solution to the problem by adopting more realistic physical prescriptions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.57.1-57.1
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• 2012

We present a spectroscopic study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the giant elliptical galaxy (gE) M86 in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Using the spectra obtained from the Multi-Object Spectroscopy (MOS) mode of Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) on the Subaru Telescope, we measured the radial velocities of 25 GCs, the metallicities of 16 GCs, and the ages of 8 GCs in M86. The mean velocity and the vocity dispersion of the GCs are < ${\upsilon}_p$ > = -354 ${\pm}$ 80 km/s and ${\sigma}_p$ = 292 ${\pm}$ 32km/s, respectively. The M86 GC system shows some rotation with a large uncertainty and the velocity dispersion of the blue GC system is 60 km/s larger than that of the red GC system. The mean metallicity and age of M86 GCs are <[Fe/H]> = -1.13 ${\pm}$ 0.47 and = 9.7 ${\pm}$ 4.0 Gyr, respectively. We found one GC younger than 5 Gyr. We discuss the spectroscopic results of the M86 GC system in comparison with the GC systems in other gEs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.61.1-61.1
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• 2012

We examine both optical and optical/near-infrared (NIR) color distributions of the globular cluster (GC) system in the core of the Coma cluster of galaxies (Abell 1656), centered on the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4874, to study how non-linearities in the color-metallicity relations of GC systems in large elliptical galaxies are linked to bimodal optical color distributions. Since optical-NIR color distributions of extragalactic GC systems reflect the underlying features of the metallicity distributions, we also present the color-color relation for this GC system. In order to do this, we combine F160W ($H_{160}$) NIR imaging data acquired with the Wide Field Camera 3 IR Channel (WFC3/IR), newly installed on Hubble Space Telescope (HST), with F475W ($g_{475}$) and FF814W ($I_{814}$) optical imaging data from the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). To quantitatively explain the feature of color distributions, we use the Gaussian Mixture Modeling (GMM) code. Finally, we show the radial distribution of the GCs in the field of NGC 4874.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.175-190
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• 2001

We investigated population of the elliptical galaxy NGC 4649 using the spectral synthesis technique based on the linear program in the spectral regions between $3160\AA$to $10800\AA$. We used the spectral data of stars obtained by Gunn & Striker (1983), and the integrated spectrum of NGC 4649 observed by Bertola et al. (1982). Among four models with different main sequence turn-off points, G8-K0V main sequence turn-off model is best fitted to the integrated spectrum of NGC 4649. We also found that super metal rich K giants are needed to describe the absorption lines in the long wavelength regions of integrated spectrum of NGC 4649. The mass to absolute light ratio obtained from the spectral synthesis is ~ 20 similar to those calculated dynamically.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.64.3-64.3
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• 2016

Gravitational lensed quasar systems are usually modelled by a source quasar lensed by an isothermal sphere galaxy. But most galaxies are elliptical and have a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at its center. We study lensing by an ellipsoid with a central SMBH to investigate the additional lensing effects of a SMBH on the number, position, and magnification of lensed images. We apply the analysis to the observed lens system Q0957+561, and explore the possibility of testing the existence of SMBH at the center of the lensing galaxy.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.149-151
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• 2005

We have studied the environmental effect on optical-NIR color gradients of 273 nearby elliptical galaxies. Color gradient is a good tool to study the evolutionary history of elliptical galaxies, since the steepness of the color gradient reflects merging history of early types. When an elliptical galaxy goes through many merging events, the color gradient can be get less steep or reversed due to mixing of stars. One simple way to measure color gradient is to compare half-light radii in different bands. We have compared the optical and near infrared half-light radii of 273 early-type galaxies from Pahre (1999). Not surprisingly, we find that $r_e(V)s$ (half-light radii measured in V-band) are in general larger than $r_e(K)s$ (half-light radii measured in K-band). However, when divided into different environments, we find that elliptical galaxies in the denser environment have gentler color gradients than those in the less dense environment. Our finding suggests that elliptical galaxies in the dense environment have undergone many merging events and the mixing of stars through the merging have created the gentle color gradients.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.33.2-33.2
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• 2018

Fossil galaxy cluster has a dominant central elliptical galaxy (${\Delta}M12$ >2 in 0.5Rvir) embedded in highly relaxed X-ray halo, which indicates dynamically stable and passively evolved system. These features are expected as a final stage of the cluster evolution in the hierarchical structure formation paradigm. It is known that Abell 2261(A2261 hereafter) is classified as a fossil cluster, but has unusual features such as a high central X-ray entropy (i.e., non-cool core system), which is not expected in normal fossil clusters. We perform a kinematic study with a spectroscopic data of 589 galaxies in the A2261 field. We define cluster member galaxies using the caustic method and discover a new second bright galaxy at ~1.5 Rvir (nearly the splash-back region). It implies the current fossil state of the cluster can break in the near future. In addition, with three independent substructure finding methods, we find that A2261 has many substructures within 3 Mpc from the center of the cluster. These findings support that A2261 is not in a dynamically stable state. We argue that A2261 is in a transitional phase of dynamical evolution of the galaxy cluster and maybe previously defined fossil cluster does not mean the final stage of the evolution of galaxy clusters.