• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.41.1-41.1
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• 2012

Interactions between the galactic interstellar medium (ISM) and the intra cluster medium (ICM) are believed to be one of the main processes affecting galaxy evolution in cluster environments. The aim of our research is to study the molecular gas properties of a galaxy under the ICM pressure in the cluster environment. It has been well known that cluster galaxies are deficient in atomic hydrogen gas (HI gas) compared to their field counterparts and now there is much evidence that low density ISM is being removed by ram pressure due to ICM wind. Meanwhile, no significant molecular gas deficiency of the cluster galaxy population has been found yet they show overall lower star formation rate than galaxies in the field, and it is still puzzling how the star formation could decrease without stripping of dense molecular gas. To address this issue, we probe the detailed molecular gas properties of NGC 4402, located near the cluster center, as part of a study of four spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. NGC 4402 is well known undergoing ram pressure stripping with a truncated HI disk($D_{HI}/D_{opt}$ - 0.75 and only 36% of HI gas compare to field galaxies of a similar size) and a disturbed gas morphology. Comparing the high resolution 12CO and 13CO data of NGC 4402 from the Sub Millimeter Array (SMA) with existing other wavelength data, we probe the spatial distribution and a physical condition of molecular gas under strong ICM pressure. We discuss the star formation activity might have been altered and hence how the global color of NGC4402 would change in the future.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.84.1-84.1
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• 2010

Globular clusters (GCs) are known to be one of the oldest objects in the Milky Way. Therefore the dynamical informations of GCs are very important to understand the formation and evolution of our Galaxy. Motion of GCs in the halo of Galaxy can be traced by radial velocities of individual stars and proper motions of GCs. Measuring the radial velocities of stars in GCs has been challenging for decades because the brightness of stars (even for the brightest stars) in GCs are too faint (V>14) to measure the radial velocities. The available large telescopes (D>4m) enable us to observe the spectra of stars in the red giant branch of GCs, and it is now more plausible to measure the radial velocities of stars in GCs. On the contrary it is still very difficult to measure the sky-projected two-dimensional motion of GCs in Galaxy even with the large telescopes because the distance to GCs is quite large (~10kpc) compared to the spatial resolution of present-day large ground-based telescopes. Instruments on-board Hubble Space Telescope are ideal to study the proper motion of GCs thanks to their extremely high spatial resolution (~0.05arcsec). We report a study of proper motion of NGC 104, one of the most metal-rich Milky Way GCs, based-on archival images of NGC 104 observed using HST/ACS. Using the stars in Small Magellanic Cloud as reference coordinate, we are able to measure the proper motions of individual stars in NGC 104 with a high precision. We discuss the internal dynamics of stars in NGC 104 by comparing proper motion results based-on shorter (<1yr) and longer (~7yrs) time durations.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.39-39
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• 2013

We present a study of correlations between the elemental abundances and galaxy morphologies of 91 blue compact galaxies (BCGs) at z=0.20-0.35 with Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7 data. We classify the morphologies of the galaxies as either 'disturbed' or 'undisturbed', by visual inspection of the SDSS images, and using the Gini coefficient and M20. We derive oxygen and nitrogen abundances using the Te method. We find that a substantial fraction of BCGs with disturbed morphologies, indicative of merger remnants, show relatively high N/O and low O/H abundance ratios. The majority of the disturbed BCGs exhibit higher N/O values at a given O/H value compared to the morphologically undisturbed galaxies, implying more efficient nitrogen enrichment in disturbed BCGs. We detect Wolf-Rayet (WR) features in only a handful of the disturbed BCGs, which appears to contradict the idea that WR stars are responsible for high nitrogen abundance. Combining these results with Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) GR6 ultraviolet (UV) data, we find that the majority of the disturbed BCGs show systematically lower values of the $H{\alpha}$ to near-UV star formation rate ratio. The equivalent width of the $H{\beta}$ emission line is also systematically lower in the disturbed BCGs. Based on these results, we infer that disturbed BCGs have undergone star formation over relatively longer time scales, resulting in a more continuous enrichment of nitrogen. We suggest that this correlation between morphology and chemical abundances in BCGs is due to a difference in their recent star formation histories.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.35.3-36
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• 2016

We explore the role of bars in AGN-galaxy co-evolution using a volume-limited face-on late-type galaxy sample with $M_r$ < -19.5 and 0.02 < z < 0.055 selected from SDSS DR7. In this study, we investigate how $SFR_{fib}$ as a proxy of gas contents at galactic center (over 1~1.5 kpc bulge scale) and central stellar velocity dispersion, ${\sigma}$, of host galaxies are connected to the bar presence and AGN activity. We find that galaxies are distributed in three distinct regions over the $SFR_{fib}-{\sigma}$ space and the behaviors of their bar fraction ($f_{Bar}$) are clearly different for each region. Galaxies at the AGN dominant region tend to be gas-deficient as $f_{Bar}$ increases and bars are more frequently found in fully-quenched late-type galaxies at the quiescent region, suggesting that bars speed up of the consumption of gas by SF and lead a sudden decline in the central gas. Overall, the bar effects on the AGN activity are positive over the same space except for quiescent galaxies with ${\sigma}$ > $170km\;s^{-1}$. Most significant bar effect on the AGN activity occurs in the less massive galaxies having sufficient gas, whereas the effect on galaxies at the AGN dominant region with higher the AGN fraction is relatively small. We suggest that the bar affect both central SF and AGN activities, but differently for central gas amount and BH (or bulge) mass of galaxies. We also investigate the AGN-bar connection with only pure AGNs and then confirm that they give marginally the same results.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.201-203
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• 2017

There exists strong evidence supporting the co-evolution of central supermassive black holes and their host galaxies; however it is still under debate how such a relation comes about and whether it is relevant for all or only a subset of galaxies. An important mechanism connecting AGN to their host galaxies is AGN feedback, potentially heating up or even expelling gas from galaxies. AGN feedback may hence be responsible for the eventual quenching of star formation and halting of galaxy growth. A rich multi-wavelength dataset ranging from the X-ray regime (Chandra), to far-IR (Herschel), and radio (WSRT) is available for the North Ecliptic Pole field, most notably surveyed by the AKARI infrared space telescope, covering a total area on the sky of 5.4 sq. degrees. We investigate the star formation properties and possible signatures of radio feedback mechanisms in the host galaxies of 237 radio sources below redshift z = 2 and at a radio 1.4 GHz flux density limit of 0.1 mJy. Using broadband SED modelling, the nuclear and host galaxy components of these sources are studied simultaneously as a function of their radio luminosity. Here we present results concerning the AGN content of the radio sources in this field, while also offering evidence showcasing a link between AGN activity and host galaxy star formation. In particular, we show results supporting a maintenance type of feedback from powerful radio-jets.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.79.2-79.2
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• 2015

The $M_{BH}-{\sigma}$ relation for galaxies is a stand-out illustration of the co-evolution of galaxies and their central supermassive black holes (SMBHs); however, how this co-evolution occurs and whether this relation holds for SMBHs of the early universe is still a matter of debate. In order to study this at higher redshifts, quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) are the best targets, due to their large sample size and effective $M_{BH}$ estimation. Nevertheless, it is difficult to examine properties of their host galaxies, simply due to the sheer brightness of the QSO itself. Here, we discuss a distinctive method in studying these QSO host galaxies, via gravitational lensing (GL). GL offers a unique approach in determining the mass of the lens object, in this case the host galaxy. QSOs from the SDSS quasar catalog were searched in the Hubble Space Telescope archives, and GL features around them were visually inspected. One such candidate is SDSS J1114-00; to increase its robustness as a GL system candidate, it was observed with the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera & Spectrograph (IMACS) on the Magellan Baade Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, to check whether the GL features have identical colors, meaning they are likely to originate from the same source. After confirmation of such GL systems, a sufficiently large sample will enable us to examine the $M_{BH}-{\sigma}$ relation at various redshifts, and in turn, investigate the co-evolution of SMBHs and their host galaxies.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.213-228
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• 2015

The Horizon Run 4 is a cosmological N-body simulation designed for the study of coupled evolution between galaxies and large-scale structures of the Universe, and for the test of galaxy formation models. Using 6300³ gravitating particles in a cubic box of L_box = 3150 h⁻¹Mpc, we build a dense forest of halo merger trees to trace the halo merger history with a halo mass resolution scale down to M_s = 2.7 × 10¹¹h⁻¹M_⊙. We build a set of particle and halo data, which can serve as testbeds for comparison of cosmological models and gravitational theories with observations. We find that the FoF halo mass function shows a substantial deviation from the universal form with tangible redshift evolution of amplitude and shape. At higher redshifts, the amplitude of the mass function is lower, and the functional form is shifted toward larger values of ln(1/σ). We also find that the baryonic acoustic oscillation feature in the two-point correlation function of mock galaxies becomes broader with a peak position moving to smaller scales and the peak amplitude decreasing for increasing directional cosine μ compared to the linear predictions. From the halo merger trees built from halo data at 75 redshifts, we measure the half-mass epoch of halos and find that less massive halos tend to reach half of their current mass at higher redshifts. Simulation outputs including snapshot data, past lightcone space data, and halo merger data are available at http://sdss.kias.re.kr/astro/Horizon-Run4.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.49.2-49.2
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• 2015

IntraCluster Medium (ICM) located at the galaxy cluster is in the state of very hot, tenuous, magnetized, and highly ionized X-ray emitting plasmas. High temperature and low density make ICM very viscous and conductive. In addition to the high conductivity, fluctuating random plasma motions in ICM, occurring at all evolution stages, generate and amplify the magnetic fields in such viscous ionized gas. The amplified magnetic fields in reverse drive and constrain the plasma motions beyond the viscous scale through the magnetic tension. Moreover, without the influence of resistivity viscous damping effect gets balanced only with the magnetic tension in the extended viscous scale leading to peculiar ICM energy spectra. This overall collisionless magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in ICM was simulated using a hyper diffusivity method. The results show the plasma motions and frozen magnetic fields have power law of $E_V^k{\sim}k^{-3}$, $E_M^k{\sim}k^{-1}$. To explain these abnormal power spectra we set up two simultaneous differential equations for the kinetic and magnetic energy using an Eddy Damped Quasi Normal Markovianized (EDQNM) approximation. The solutions and dimensions of leading terms in the coupled equations derive the power spectra and tell us how the spectra are formed. We also derived the same results with a more intuitive balance relation and stationary energy transport rate.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.195-200
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• 2011

We have revisited the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey (ACSVCS), a Hubble Space Telescope program to obtain ACS/WFC g and z bands imaging for a sample of 100 early-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. In this study, we examine 51 nucleated early-type galaxies in the ACSVCS in order to look into the relationship between the photometric and structural properties of stellar nuclei and their host galaxies. We morphologically dissect galaxies into five classes. We note that (1) the stellar nuclei of dwarf early-type galaxies (dS0, dE, and dE,N) are generally fainter and bluer with g > 18.95 and (g-z) < 1.40 compared to some brighter and redder counterparts of the ellipticals (E) and lenticular galaxies (S0), (2) the g-band half-light radii of stellar nuclei of all dwarf early-type galaxies (dS0, dE, and dE,N) are smaller than 20 pc and their average is about 4 pc, and (3) the colors of red stellar nuclei with (g - z) > 1.40 in bright ellipticals and lenticular galaxies are bluer than their host galaxies colors. We also show that most of the unusually "red" stellar nuclei with (g-z) > 1.54 in the ACSVCS are the central parts of bright ellipticals and lenticular galaxies. Furthermore, we present multi photometric band color - color plots that can be used to break the age-metallicity degeneracy particularly by inclusion of the thermally pulsing-asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) phases of stellar evolution in the stellar population models.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.58.2-58.2
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• 2014

We present the results of the KVN observations of central galaxies in cool-core and non cool-core clusters. The goal is to study how cooling environments affect the AGN activities in the core where their host galaxies are embedded. From the HIghest FLUx Galaxy Cluster Sample (HIFLUGCS), we have selected 19 radio bright AGNs located in the center of clusters with various cooling timescale. In our pilot study, we have obtained 22 and 43 GHz fluxes and morphologies of the sample using the Korean VLBI network. We find that 22/43 GHz fluxes do not strongly depend on the presence of a cool gas flow. However, an intriguing fact is that most AGNs in the cool-core clusters show the hint of a pc-scale jet component while the ones in the non cool-core clusters do not. Based on these results, we discuss the role of cooling flows in the central cluster AGNs and their co-evolution.