• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.57-69
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• 2019

We present an analysis of the chemical abundances and kinematics of six low-mass dwarf stars, previously claimed to be candidate hypervelocity stars (HVSs). We obtained moderate-resolution (R ~ 6000) spectra of these stars to estimate the abundances of several chemical elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, and Ni), and derived their space velocities and orbital parameters using proper motions from the Gaia Data Release 2. All six stars are shown to be bound to the Milky Way, and in fact are not even considered high-velocity stars with respect to the Galactic rest frame. Nevertheless, we attempt to characterize their parent Galactic stellar components by simultaneously comparing their element abundance patterns and orbital parameters with those expected from various Galactic stellar components. We find that two of our program stars are typical disk stars. For four stars, even though their kinematic probabilistic membership assignment suggests membership in the Galactic disk, based on their distinct orbital properties and chemical characteristics, we cannot rule out exotic origins as follows. Two stars may be runaway stars from the Galactic disk. One star has possibly been accreted from a disrupted dwarf galaxy or dynamically heated from a birthplace in the Galactic bulge. The last object may be either a runaway disk star or has been dynamically heated. Spectroscopic follow-up observations with higher resolution for these curious objects will provide a better understanding of their origin.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.17-35
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• 2021

We study galaxies undergoing ram pressure stripping in the Virgo cluster to examine whether we can identify any discernible trend in their star formation activity. We first use 48 galaxies undergoing different stages of stripping based on H i morphology, H i deficiency, and relative extent to the stellar disk, from the VIVA survey. We then employ a new scheme for galaxy classification which combines H i mass fractions and locations in projected phase space, resulting in a new sample of 365 galaxies. We utilize a variety of star formation tracers, which include g - r, WISE [3.4]-[12] colors, and starburstiness that are defined by stellar mass and star formation rates to compare the star formation activity of galaxies at different stripping stages. We find no clear evidence for enhancement in the integrated star formation activity of galaxies undergoing early to active stripping. We are instead able to capture the overall quenching of star formation activity with increasing degree of ram pressure stripping, in agreement with previous studies. Our results suggest that if there is any ram pressure stripping induced enhancement, it is at best locally modest, and galaxies undergoing enhancement make up a small fraction of the total sample. Our results also indicate that it is possible to trace galaxies at different stages of stripping with the combination of H i gas content and location in projected phase space, which can be extended to other galaxy clusters that lack high-resolution H i imaging.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.77.3-77.3
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• 2019

We present an analysis of the stellar population of compact elliptical galaxies (cEs) in various environments. Following conventional selection criteria of cEs, we created a list of cE candidates in the redshift range of z < 0.05 using SDSS DR12 catalog. We finally selected cEs with low-luminosity (Mg > 18.7 mag), small effective radius (Re < 600 pc), and high velocity dispersion (> 60 kms-1). We divide our cE sample into those inside and outside of the one virial radius of the bright (Mr < -21 mag) nearby host galaxy which is then defined as cEs with (cEw) and without (cEw/o) host galaxy, respectively. We investigated the stellar population properties of cEs based on the Hb, Mgb, Fe 5270, and Fe 5335 line strengths from the OSSY catalog. We found that cEw has a systematically higher metallicity than cEw/o. In the velocity dispersion-Mgb distribution, while cEw/o follows the relation of early-type galaxies, cEw are found to have a systematically higher metallicity than cEw/o at a given velocity dispersion. The different feature in the metallicity between cEw and cEw/o can suggest that two different scenarios can be provided in the formation of cEs. cEw would be the remnant cores of the massive progenitor galaxies that their outer parts have been tidally stripped by massive neighbor galaxies (i.e., nurture origin). On the other hand, cEw/o are likely to be faint-end of early-type galaxies maintaining in-situ evolution (i.e., nurture origin).

• Journal of the Korean Mathematical Society
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.669-689
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• 2011

The notion of quasi-Einstein manifolds arose during the study of exact solutions of the Einstein field equations as well as during considerations of quasi-umbilical hypersurfaces. For instance, the Robertson-Walker spacetimes are quasi-Einstein manifolds. The object of the present paper is to study Lorentzian quasi-Einstein manifolds. Some basic geometric properties of such a manifold are obtained. The applications of Lorentzian quasi-Einstein manifolds to the general relativity and cosmology are investigated. Theories of gravitational collapse and models of Supernova explosions [5] are based on a relativistic fluid model for the star. In the theories of galaxy formation, relativistic fluid models have been used in order to describe the evolution of perturbations of the baryon and radiation components of the cosmic medium [32]. Theories of the structure and stability of neutron stars assume that the medium can be treated as a relativistic perfectly conducting magneto fluid. Theories of relativistic stars (which would be models for supermassive stars) are also based on relativistic fluid models. The problem of accretion onto a neutron star or a black hole is usually set in the framework of relativistic fluid models. Among others it is shown that a quasi-Einstein spacetime represents perfect fluid spacetime model in cosmology and consequently such a spacetime determines the final phase in the evolution of the universe. Finally the existence of such manifolds is ensured by several examples constructed from various well known geometric structures.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.41-69
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• 1985

For the well observed 16 globular clusters with known metal abundance (Z), the helium abundances (Y) and ages are determined by various methods, and the relations between Y, Z and age are examined. The luminosity $L_{RR}$ of RR Lyrae stars is known to be dependent of evolutionary models and pulsation theory in the sense that the pulsation theory and horizontal branch (HB) models yield the anticorrelation between $L_{RR}$ and Z whereas main sequence (MS) and red giant branch (RGB) models yield the direct correlation between them. Similarly the anticorrelation between Y and Z is obtained from the HB models and pulsation theory whereas the direct correlation between them is obtained when the RGB model is applied. The current evolutionary models yield the anticorrelation between Z and age of clusters whenever the direct correlation between Y and Z holds. However when the anticorrelation between Y and Z is applied for age determination, the similar age of clusters is obtained as shown by Sandage (1982b). The ages, which are determined by the fitting of C-M diagrams to isochrones in the ($M_v$, B-V)-plane, suggest the two different chemical enrichment processes, which could be accounted for by the disk-halo model for the chemical evolution of the Galaxy (Lee and Ann 1981). Also it is known that the R-method is very useful for Y-determination and the derived Y's show the increasing rate of $\frac{{\Delta}Y}{{\Delta}Z}{\simeq}0.5$ which is comparable to the observed value of $\frac{{\Delta}Y}{{\Delta}Z}{\simeq}0.3$ from HII regions and planetary nebulae by Peimbert and Torres-Peimbert (1976). In this case, the age-metallicity relation of globular clusters could be explained by the disk-halo model.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.65-65
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• 2011

Early-type galaxies represent the end point of galaxy evolution and, despite pervasive residual star formation, are generally considered "red and dead", that is composed exclusively of old stars with no star formation. Here, their molecular gas content is constrained and discussed in relation to their evolution, supporting the continuing importance of minor mergers and/or cold gas accretion. First, as part of the Atlas3D survey, the first complete, large, volume-limited survey of CO in normal early-type galaxies is presented. At least of 23% of local early-types possess a substantial amount of molecular gas, the necessary ingredient for star formation, independent of mass and environment but dependent on the specific stellar angular momentum. Second, using CO synthesis imaging, the extent of the molecular gas is constrained and a variety of morphologies is revealed. The kinematics of the molecular gas and stars are often misaligned, implying an external gas origin in over a third of all systems, more than half in the field, while external gas accretion must be shot down in clusters. Third, many objects appear to be in the process of forming regular kpc-size decoupled disks, and a star formation sequence can be sketched by piecing together multi-wavelength information on the molecular gas, current star formation, and young stars. Fourth, early-type galaxies do not seem to systematically obey all our usual prejudices regarding star formation (e.g. Schmidt-Kennicutt law, far infrared-radio continuum correlation), suggesting a greater diversity in star formation processes than observed in disk galaxies and the possibility of "morphological quenching". Lastly, a first step toward constraining the physical properties of the molecular gas is taken, by modeling the line ratios of density- and opacity-sensitive molecules in a few objects. Taken together, these observations argue for the continuing importance of (minor) mergers and cold gas accretion in local early-types, and they provide a much greater understanding of the gas cycle in the galaxies harbouring most of the stellar mass. In the future, better dust masses and dust-to-gas mass ratios from Herschel should allow to place entirely independent constraints on the gas supply, while spatially-resolved high-density molecular gas tracers observed with ALMA will probe the interstellar medium and star formation laws locally in a regime entirely different from that normally probed in spiral galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.39.1-39.1
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• 2014

We present the results of our analysis of the RR Lyrae (RRL) variable stars detected in two transition-type dwarf galaxies (dTrans), ESO294-G010 and ESO410-G005 in the Sculptor group, which is known to be one of the closest neighboring galaxy groups to our Local Group. Using deep archival images from the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we have identified a sample of RR Lyrae candidates in both dTrans galaxies [219 RRab (RR0) and 13 RRc (RR1) variables in ESO294-G010; 225 RRab and 44 RRc stars in ESO410-G005]. The metallicities of the individual RRab stars are calculated via the period-amplitude-[Fe/H] relation derived by Alcock et al. This yields mean metallicities of <[Fe/H]>_{ESO294} = -1.77 +/- 0.03 and <[Fe/H]>_{ESO410} = -1.64+/- 0.03. The RRL metallicity distribution functions (MDFs) are investigated further via simple chemical evolution models; these reveal the relics of the early chemical enrichment processes for these two dTrans galaxies. In the case of both galaxies, the shapes of the RRL MDFs are well-described by pre-enrichment models. This suggests two possible channels for the early chemical evolution for these Sculptor group dTrans galaxies: 1) The ancient stellar populations of our target dwarf galaxies might have formed from the star forming gas which was already enriched through "prompt initial enrichment" or an "initial nucleosynthetic spike" from the very first massive stars, or 2) this pre-enrichment state might have been achieved by the end products from more evolved systems of their nearest neighbor, NGC 55.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.23-36
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• 2022

We present a method to determine nitrogen abundance ratios with respect to iron ([N/Fe]) from molecular CN-band features observed in low-resolution (R ~ 2000) stellar spectra obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST). Various tests are carried out to check the systematic and random errors of our technique, and the impact of signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios of stellar spectra on the determined [N/Fe]. We find that the uncertainty of our derived [N/Fe] is less than 0.3 dex for S/N ratios larger than 10 in the ranges T_eff = [4000, 6000] K, log g = [0.0, 3.5], [Fe/H] = [-3.0, 0.0], [C/Fe] = [-1.0, +4.5], and [N/Fe] = [-1.0, +4.5], the parameter space that we are interested in to identify N-enhanced stars in the Galactic halo. A star-by-star comparison with a sample of stars with [N/Fe] estimates available from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) also suggests a similar level of uncertainty in our measured [N/Fe], after removing its systematic error. Based on these results, we conclude that our method is able to reproduce [N/Fe] from low-resolution spectroscopic data, with an uncertainty sufficiently small to discover N-rich stars that presumably originated from disrupted Galactic globular clusters.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.74.2-74.2
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• 2015

Strong outflows from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) may play a crucial role in galaxy evolution. Integral-field spectroscopy (IFS) is the most powerful tool to study the detailed kinematics of AGN outflows. We present the on-going optical 3D spectroscopic survey of ionized gas outflows. Type 2 AGN sample is uniquely selected from SDSS DR7 with a luminosity-limit (i.e., L[O III] > $10^{41.5}erg/s$) as well as strong kinematic signatures of ionized gas outflows ([O III] velocity shift > ~200 km/s or [O III] velocity dispersion (FWHM) > 1000 km/s), defining an extremely rare population (< ~0.5%). Thus, these AGNs with strong outflow signatures are one of the best suites for investigating AGN feedback. The IFS observations cover several kpc scales for the central region of the host galaxies, providing a detailed information of the kinematics and geometry of the gas outflows. In this contribution, we report the current status of the survey and the preliminary results on gas kinematics of 18 AGNs, based on the Magellan/IMACS-IFU and the VLT/VIMOS data.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.357-360
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• 2012

This paper presents $H{\alpha}$ emission line detections for four galaxies at z > 3.5 made with AKARI as part of the FUHYU mission program. These are the highest-redshift $H{\alpha}$ detections to date in star-forming galaxies. AKARI's unique near-infrared spectroscopic capability has made these detections possible. For two of these galaxies, this represents the first evidence of their redshifts and confirms their physical association with a companion radio galaxy. The star formation rates (SFRs) estimated from the $H{\alpha}$ lines under-predict the SFRs estimated from their far-infrared luminosities by a factor of ~ 2 - 3. We have also detected broad $H{\alpha}$ components in the two radio galaxies which indicate the presence of quasars.