• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.159-161
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• 2014

The jet production efficiency of radio galaxies can be quantified by comparison of their kinetic jet powers $P_{jet}$ and Bondi accretion powers $P_B$. These two parameters are known to be related linearly, with the jet power resulting from the Bondi power by multiplication with an efficiency factor of order 1%. Using a recently published (Nemmen & Tchekhovskoy 2014) high-quality sample of 27 radio galaxies, I construct a $P_B$ - $P_{jet}$ diagram that includes information on optical AGN types as far as available. This diagram indicates that the jet production efficiency is a function of AGN type: Seyfert 2 galaxies seem to be systematically (with a false alarm probability of $4.3{\times}10^{-4}$) less efficient, by about one order of magnitude, in powering jets than Seyfert 1 galaxies, LINERs, or the remaining radio galaxies. This suggests an evolutionary sequence from Sy 2s to Sy 1s and LINERs, controlled by an interplay of jets on the one hand and dust and gas in galactic nuclei on the other hand. When taking this effect into account, the $P_B$ - $P_{jet}$ relation is probably much tighter intrinsically than currently assumed.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.213-222
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• 2003

We review recent observational results on early type galaxies obtained with high spatial resolution Chandra data. With its unprecedented high spatial resolution, Chandra reveals many intriguing features in early type galaxies which were not identified with the previous X-ray missions. In particular, various fine structures of the hot ISM in early type galaxies are detected, for example, X-ray cavities which are spatially coincident with radio jets/lobes, indicating the interaction between the hot ISM and radio jets. Also point sources (mostly LMXBs) are individually resolved down to Lx = a few x $10^{37}\;erg\;sec^{-1}$ and it is for the first time possible to unequivocally investigate their properties and the X-ray luminosity function. After correcting for incompleteness, the XLF of LMXBs is well reproduced by a single power law with a slope of -1.0 - -1.5, which is in contrast to the previous report on the existence of the XLF break at Lx, Eddington = 2 x $10^{38}\;erg\;sec^{-1}$ (i.e., Eddington luminosity of a neutron star binary). Carefully considering both detected and undetected, hidden populations of point sources we further discuss the XLF of LMXBs and the metal abundance of the hot ISM and their impact on the properties of early type galaxies.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.177-187
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• 2003

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are distant, powerful sources of radiation over the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma-rays. There is much evidence that they are driven by gravitational accretion of stars, dust, and gas, onto central massive black holes (MBHs) imprisoning anywhere from $\~$1 to $\~$10,000 million solar masses; such objects may naturally form in the centers of galaxies during their normal dynamical evolution. A small fraction of AGNs, of the radio-loud type (RLAGNs), are somehow able to generate powerful synchrotron-emitting structures (cores, jets, lobes) with sizes ranging from pc to Mpc. A brief summary of AGN observations and theories is given, with an emphasis on RLAGNs. Preliminary results from the imaging of 10000 extragalactic radio sources observed in the MITVLA snapshot survey, and from a new analytic theory of the time-variable power output from Kerr black hole magnetospheres, are presented. To better understand the complex physical processes within the central engines of AGNs, it is important to confront the observations with theories, from the viewpoint of analyzing the time-variable behaviours of AGNs - which have been recorded over both 'short' human ($10^0-10^9\;s$) and 'long' cosmic ($10^{13} - 10^{17}\;s$) timescales. Some key ingredients of a basic mathematical formalism are outlined, which may help in building detailed Monte-Carlo models of evolving AGN populations; such numerical calculations should be potentially important tools for useful interpretation of the large amounts of statistical data now publicly available for both AGNs and RLAGNs.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.303-309
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• 2014

We present results of our investigation of the radio intrinsic brightness temperatures of compact radio jets. The intrinsic brightness temperatures of about 100 compact radio jets at 2, 5, 8, 15, and 86 GHz are estimated based on large VLBI surveys conducted in 2001-2003 (or in 1996 for the 5 GHz sample). The multi-frequency intrinsic brightness temperatures of the sample of jets are determined by a statistical method relating the observed brightness temperatures with the maximal apparent jet speeds, assuming one representative intrinsic brightness temperature for a sample of jets at each observing frequency. By investigating the observed brightness temperatures at 15 GHz in multiple epochs, we find that the determination of the intrinsic brightness temperature for our sample is affected by the flux density variability of individual jets at time scales of a few years. This implies that it is important to use contemporaneous VLBI observations for the multi-frequency analysis of intrinsic brightness temperatures. Since our analysis is based on the VLBI observations conducted in 2001-2003, the results are not strongly affected by the flux density variability. We find that the intrinsic brightness temperature $T_0$ increases as $T_0{\propto}{\nu}^{\xi}_{obs}$ with ${\xi}=0.7$ below a critical frequency ${\nu}_c{\approx}9GHz$ where the energy loss begins to dominate the emission. Above ${\nu}_c$, $T_0$ decreases with ${\xi}=-1.2$, supporting the decelerating jet model or particle cascade model. We also find that the peak value of $T_0{\approx}3.4{\times}10^{10}$ K is close to the equipartition temperature, implying that the VLBI cores observable at 2-86 GHz may be representing jet regions where the magnetic field energy dominates the total energy in jets.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.453-455
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• 2015

In this paper we introduce the Plasma Physics of Active Galactic Nuclei project, which is an ongoing experiment with Korean VLBI Network (KVN) and KVN and VERA Array (KaVA) to study multi-frequency polarimetric properties on parsec scales of active galaxies. The goal of the project is to improve our understanding of fundamental jet physics, especially evolution of the relativistic outflow coupled with the large-scale magnetic field. We selected six radio-loud AGN as our targets. So far we (i) detected resolved emissions regions at 86 and 129 GHz on VLBI scales, (ii) constructed 2D spectral index maps of the outflows, and (iii) found polarizations at 22 and 43 GHz for a few targets. Here we present spectral index distributions of 3C 120 between 22 and 43 GHz and a linear polarization map of BL Lac at 43 GHz obtained with KVN.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.517-525
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• 2004

We present an update on our proposal that during the 'quasar era' (1.5 $\le$ z $\le$ 3), powerful radio galaxies could have played a major role in the enhanced global star-formation, and in the widespread magnetization and metal pollution of the universe. A key ingredient of this proposal is our estimate that the true cosmological evolution of the radio galaxy population is likely to be even steeper than what has been inferred from flux-limited samples of radio sources with redshift data, when an allowance is made for the inverse Compton losses on the cosmic microwave background which were much greater at higher redshifts. We thus estimate that a large fraction of the clumps of proto-galactic material within the cosmic web of filaments was probably impacted by the expanding lobes of radio galaxies during the quasar era. Some recently published observational evidence and simulations which provide support for this picture are pointed out. We also show that the inverse Compton x-ray emission from the population of radio galaxies during the quasar era, which we inferred to be largely missing from the derived radio luminosity function, is still only a small fraction of the observed soft x-ray background (XRB) and hence the limit imposed on this scenario by the XRB is not violated.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.299-311
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• 2015

We report first results from KVN and VERA Array (KaVA) VLBI observations obtained in the frame of our Plasma-physics of Active Galactic Nuclei (PAGaN) project. We observed eight selected AGN at 22 and 43 GHz in single polarization (LCP) between March 2014 and April 2015. Each source was observed for 6 to 8 hours per observing run to maximize the uv coverage. We obtained a total of 15 deep high-resolution images permitting the identification of individual circular Gaussian jet components and three spectral index maps of BL Lac, 3C 111 and 3C 345 from simultaneous dual-frequency observations. The spectral index maps show trends in agreement with general expectations – flat core and steep jets – while the actual value of the spectral index for jets shows indications for a dependence on AGN type. We analyzed the kinematics of jet components of BL Lac and 3C 111, detecting superluminal proper motions with maximum apparent speeds of about 5c. This constrains the lower limits of the intrinsic component velocities to ~ 0.98c and the upper limits of the angle between jet and line of sight to ~20°. In agreement with global jet expansion, jet components show systematically larger diameters d at larger core distances r, following the global relation d ≈ 0.2r, albeit within substantial scatter.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.499-502
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• 2015

Starburst galaxies have strong star formation activity and generate large scale outflows which eject a huge amount of gas mass. This process affects galaxy activity, and therefore, the detailed study of nearby starburst galaxies could provide valuable information for the study of distant ones. So far there have been only a few studies of galactic-scale molecular outflows due to the sensitivity limitation of telescopes. Our study provides two nearby examples, NGC 2146 and NGC 3628. We used Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA) CO(1-0) data, Chandra soft X-ray data, and NMA 3 mm data to study the kinematics of molecular outflows, their interaction with ionized outflows, and the star forming activity in the starburst region. We found that the gas ejected through molecular outflows is much more significant than that used to form stars.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.605-609
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• 2004

We present a set of high-resolution 3D MHD simulations exploring the evolution of light, supersonic jets in cluster environments. We model sets of high- and low-Mach jets entering both uniform surroundings and King-type atmospheres and propagating distances more than 100 times the initial jet radius. Through complimentary analyses of synthetic observations and energy flow, we explore the detailed interactions between these jets and their environments. We find that jet cocoon morphology is strongly influenced by the structure of the ambient medium. Jets moving into uniform atmospheres have more pronounced backflow than their non-uniform counterparts, and this difference is clearly reflected by morphological differences in the synthetic observations. Additionally, synthetic observations illustrate differences in the appearances of terminal hotspots and the x-ray and radio correlations between the high- and low-Mach runs. Exploration of energy flow in these systems illustrates the general conversion of kinetic to thermal and magnetic energy in all of our simulations. Specifically, we examine conversion of energy type and the spatial transport of energy to the ambient medium. Determination of the evolution of the energy distribution in these objects will enhance our understanding of the role of AGN feedback in cluster environments.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.36.3-36.3
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• 2021

We study ultra-relativistic jets on several tens kpc scales through three-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations using a new RHD code based on the weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme. Utilizing the high-resolution and high-accuracy capabilities of the new code, we especially explore the structures and energetics of nonlinear flows, such as shocks, turbulence, velocity shear in different parts of jets. We find that the mildly relativistic shocks which form in the jet backflow are most effective for the shock dissipation of the jet energy, while the turbulent dissipation is largest either in the backflow or in the shocked ICM, depending on the jet parameter. The velocity shear is strongest across the jet flow to the cocoon boundary. Our results should have important implications for the studies of high-energy cosmic-ray production in radio galaxies.