• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.52-52
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• 2014

It is widely accepted that the evolution of galaxies is accelerated in dense environments. According to recent studies, however, the evolution by direct interactions between galaxies is known to be most active in a galaxy group rather than in a galaxy cluster. In particular, the central galaxy in a group is closely related to its satellites in the properties such as morphology, color and star formation rate, because those galaxies evolve together in a small-scale environment. Currently, however, it is not yet studied well whether such conformity between bright galaxies and their faint companions remains after a galaxy group falls into a galaxy cluster. Recently, Lee et al. (2014) have found that the colors of bright galaxies show a measurable correlation with the mean colors of faint companions around them in WHL J085910.0+294957, a galaxy cluster at z = 0.3, which may be the vestige of infallen groups in the cluster. As a follow-up study, we study Abell 2744, an ongoing cluster-cluster merger at z = 0.308, using the HST Frontier Fields Survey data. The cluster members are selected based on the distributions of color, size and concentration along magnitude. The correlation in color between bright galaxies and their companions is not found in the full area of Abell 2744. However, when the area is limited to the southeastern part of the Abell 2744 image, the mean color of faint companions shows marginal dependence (> $2{\sigma}$ to Bootstrap uncertainties) on the color of their adjacent bright galaxy. We discuss the implication of these results, focusing on their dependence on local environments.

• 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 earth science society
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.427-436
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• 2015

We classified Abell clusters using the magnitude differences between two or three bright member galaxies and investigated how such classification was correlated with the properties of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). S-type BCGs being clearly brighter than the rest of the member galaxies were likely to be red, luminous, and evolved as early type galaxies. On the other hand, T-type BCGs being not dominant at all were less luminous than early type galaxies. A small fraction of BCGs was currently forming stars, and all of the star-forming BCGs were T-type BCGs. Active galactic nuclei were most frequent for S-type BCGs. Through these quantitative analyses of the BCG properties, we discussed the possible scenario of BCG formation and the differences between S-type and T-type of BCGs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.55.2-55.2
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• 2014

Role of environments is one of today's most widely discussed and debated topic in the field of extra-galactic astronomy. Extreme morphology-density relations found in low-mass galaxies are considered to be the result of an effective role played by environment in the evolution of these galaxies. I will present the results from our dedicated study of early-type dwarf galaxies (dEs) in different environments using imaging and spectroscopic data. We find that Virgo cluster dEs have a variety of structural and kinematic properties. A significant fraction of dEs possesses disk features, such as spiral arm and bar, while a central nucleus seems to be universal in these low mass galaxies. We also find that a majority of dEs are fast rotator and their rotation curves are much steeper than that of spiral galaxies of similar mass. Finally I will discuss how the different environmental mechanisms, i.e., gas-stripping or tidal interaction, can contribute to form heterogeneous dEs in Virgo cluster.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.88.1-88.1
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• 2012

We utilize Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 spectroscopic data of ~340 star forming galaxies in the Virgo cluster to investigate their chemical properties depending on the environments. The chemical evolution of galaxies is linked to their star formation histories (SFHs), as well as to the gas interchange in different environments. In this sense, galaxy metallicity could be an observable parameter providing information on the impact of the environment on the galaxy SFH and/or the galaxy gas content. Thus, we derived gaseous metallicity (e.g., oxygen abundance) of star forming galaxies located in different regions of the Virgo cluster using well-known empirical calibrations. We also estimated their star formation rate (SFR) using H alpha luminosity. Inorder to investigate the chemical properties of these galaxies, we examined relations between various parameters: metallicity vs. luminosity, SFR vs. luminosity, and metallicity vs. cluster-centric radius. From our results, we discuss environmental effects of cluster to the chemical properties of star forming galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.75.2-75.2
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• 2019

This poster introduces the ongoing "Narrow-band Ca Photometry for Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies" project and presents the latest results. The project aims to explain the formation and evolution of dwarf spheroidal galaxies by examining the structural properties of stellar populations as a function of metallicity. To overcome the lack of stars with known spectroscopic metallicities for dwarf spheroidal galaxies, we apply the hk index as a photometric metallicity indicator to three galaxies-Draco, Sextans, and Canes Venatici I. For all three galaxies, we found that metal-poor and metal-rich groups of red-giant-branch stars have distinct spatial distributions, in which metal-rich stars are centrally concentrated while metal-poor stars are relatively dispersed. In Sextans, we found an off-centered peak of metal-poor stars which is presumed to be a disrupting star cluster in this galaxy. We will discuss the implications of our results for the dwarf galaxy formation and possible directions on future work of this project.

• 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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.38.2-38.2
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• 2014

Radial light profiles of bars are known to be related to the morphology of their host galaxies in a way that bars in early type disk galaxies show flat radial light profile, while bars in late type disk galaxies show exponential profile. To quantify how flat or steep bar profiles are, we have performed detailed two-dimensional decompositions on 3.6 micron images for 144 barred galaxies from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G), and then modeled bar profiles with Sersic functions. We find that bars in classical bulge, higher bulge-to-total (B/T) galaxies are flatter than bars in bulgeless, lower B/T galaxies. In particular, we find that the presence of a bulge almost always guarantees that the bar is flat. Conversely, bulgeless galaxies, mostly have bars with steep profiles. This implies that the light profile of bars may be a dynamical age indicator of bars. We also find that the shape of bars are boxy and do not change with B/T. This indicates that as galaxies evolve, bars change their light profile while keeping their outermost shape boxy.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.38.2-38.2
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• 2019

In the history of universe, galaxies are consistently affected by surrounding medium and neighbor galaxies. These effects control galaxy evolution, making properties of galaxies diverse and dependent on environments. We investigate environments of various types of galaxies and how they affect galaxy properties, such as bar structures and galaxy sizes, etc. First, we present the observational evidence that bars can form from a cluster-cluster interaction. The evidence indicates that bars can form due to a large-scale violent phenomenon, and cluster-cluster interaction should be considered as an important channel for bar formation. Second, we discover for the first time that local early-type galaxies heavier than 1011.2 Msol show a clear environmental dependence in mass-size relation, in such a way that galaxies are as much as 20 - 40% larger in densest environments than in underdense environments. This result suggests that mergers played a significant role in the growth of massive galaxies in dense environments as expected in theory. Lastly, we investigate environments of the most massive galaxies and extremely massive quasars. By doing so, we find that massive galaxies are a much better signpost for galaxy clusters than massive quasars.