• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.46.2-46.2
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• 2012

The black hole mass-stellar velocity dispersion ($M_{BH}-{\sigma}_*$) relation observed in the present-day universe has motivated numerous studies on the black hole-galaxy co-evolution. It is crucial to define the$M_{BH}-{\sigma}_*$ local active galaxies since cosmic evolution of the correlations is calibrated based on the local relation. However, stellar velocity dispersion is difficult to measure in active galaxies due to much higher AGN continuum than stellar pseudo-continuum, resulting in a small sample with reliable velocity dispersion measurements for studying the AGN $M_{BH}-{\sigma}_*$ relation. To increase the sample size and improve the measurements, we obtained high S/N near-IR spectra for 3 local AGNs, i.e., NGC 3227, Akn 120, 3C 390.3, for which reverberation black hole masses are measured, using the TripleSpec at the Palomar 5-m Telescope. By investigating aperture effect and correcting for rotation component, we determine the luminosity-weighted ${\sigma}_*$, based on the spatially resolved kinematics and compare them with optical measurements from literature. Combining our new measurements with literature data, we present an improved $M_{BH}-{\sigma}_*$ relation for the enlarged sample of reverberation-mapped AGNs.

• 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.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.301-303
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• 2012

We present the result of our near infrared J- (${\lambda}=1.25{\mu}m$), H- (${\lambda}=1.63{\mu}m$), and $K_s$-band (${\lambda}=2.14{\mu}m$) imaging of ultraluminous ($L_{IR}$ > $10^{12}L_{\odot}$) and luminous ($L_{IR}=10^{11-12}L_{\odot}$) infrared galaxies (ULIRGs and LIRGs), to investigate their relationship through properties of their host galaxies. We find that (1) for single-nucleus ULIRGs and LIRGs, their spheroidal host galaxies have similar properties, but ULIRGs display a substantially higher level of nuclear activity than LIRGs, suggesting that their infrared luminosity difference comes primarily from the different level of current nuclear activity. We infer that LIRGs and ULIRGs have similar progenitor galaxies, follow similar evolutionary processes, and may evolve into optically-selected QSOs. (2) Largely-separated multiple-nuclei ULIRGs have significantly brighter host galaxies than single-nucleus ULIRGs and LIRGs in $K_s$-band, indicating that multiple-nuclei ULIRGs have a bias towards mergers of intrinsically large progenitor galaxies, in order to produce high infrared luminosity ($L_{IR}$ > $10^{12}L_{\odot}$) even at the early merging stage. (3) We derive dust extinction of host galaxies of ULIRGs and LIRGs to be $A_V$ ~ 14 mag in the optical or equivalently $A_K$ ~ 0.8 mag in the near-infrared $K_s$-band, based on the comparison of host galaxy's luminosities in the J-, H-, and $K_s$-bands.

• 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.

• 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.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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.48.2-48.2
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• 2012

We present preliminary results of a statistical study on the nuclear activity of compact group galaxies. What triggers Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is still a puzzling problem. One of the suggested AGN triggering mechanisms is galaxy-galaxy interaction. Many simulations have shown that gas can be supplied to the center of galaxies during galaxy encounters. In this regard, compact groups of galaxies are an ideal laboratory for studying the connection between galaxy interaction and nuclear activity because of their high densities and low velocity dispersions. We study the environmental dependence of the activity in galactic nuclei using 59 compact groups in the SDSS DR6. Using the emission line data, we classify galaxies in the compact groups. We find that 19% of the compact group galaxies are pure star-forming nuclei, 10% as transition objects, and only 7% of the galaxies in compact groups show the nuclear activity. The AGN fraction of compact group is higher than galaxy clusters, but lower than field environment. Implications of this result will be discussed.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.47.3-48
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• 2015

We present environmental effects on the galaxy evolution in the Virgo cluster focusing on intracluster medium - interstellar medium (ICM-ISM) interactions and gravitational interactions. We identify signatures of these environmental effects for 21 massive late-type galaxies based on the visual inspection of high resolution HI data from VLA Imaging of Virgo spirals in Atomic gas (VIVA) survey comparing with multi-wavelength data. We classify galaxies into three subgroups showing different environmental effects. First and second groups includes galaxies influenced by ongoing/active and past ram pressure stripping effect, respectively. Third group consists of galaxies undergoing gravitational interactions. Additionally, we define neighbor galaxies for each VIVA galaxies utilizing kinematic data from Extended Virgo Cluster Catalog. Assuming that neighbor galaxies share similar levels of environmental effects with host VIVA galaxies, we investigate environmental effects on galaxy properties in different subgroups using SDSS optical and GALEX ultraviolet photometric data. We find that dwarf neighbor galaxies in first and second groups show rapid quenching of their star formation (SF), while massive counterparts are still in SF activity. On the other hand, most third group galaxies show hints of SF activity regardless of their mass. We conclude that SF and evolution of galaxy in the cluster environment is closely linked to ICM-ISM interactions and dwarf galaxies seem to be more sensitive to this effect compared to massive counterparts.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.48.1-48.1
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• 2015

We investigate the role of small-scale and large-scale environments in triggering nuclear activity of the local galaxies using a volume-limited sample with $M_r$ < -19.5 and 0.02 < z < 0.0685 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. To fix the mass of the supermassive black hole in its host galaxy, we limit the central velocity dispersion of the sample galaxies. The active galactic nuclei (AGN) host sample is composed of Type II AGNs identified with flux ratios of narrow emission lines with S/N > 6. In this study, we find that the AGN fraction of late-type host galaxies are commonly larger than of early type galaxies. The AGN fraction of host galaxy with late-type nearest neighbor starts to increase as the host galaxy approaches the virial radius of the nearest neighbor (about a few hundred kpc scale). Our result may support the idea that the hydrodynamic interaction with the nearest neighbor plays an important role in triggering the nuclear activity of galaxy. The early-type galaxies in high density regions show decline of AGN activity compared to ones in lower density regions, whereas the direction of the environmental dependence of AGN activity for late-type galaxies is rather opposite. We also find that the environmental dependence of star formation rate is analogous to one of AGN activity except in the high density region.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.31.1-31.1
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• 2018

While astronomers are working hard to detect the earliest galaxies and to follow their evolution to redshift z~0, they remain baffled by the present-day dichotomy between disky, star forming (aka late-type) galaxies and quiescent, spheroidal (aka early-type) galaxies. The key is to find galaxies in transition from one class to the other, whose spectra indicate intense recent star formation that has now ended. We have identified thousands of such "post-starburst galaxies" and discovered that they are often the products of late-type galaxy-galaxy mergers. Their current kinematics, stellar populations, and morphologies are consistent with late- to early-type galaxy evolution. I will discuss recent work that suggests new connections between this violent history and the central supermassive black hole. In particular, the molecular gas reservoir of a post-starburst galaxy declines rapidly after the starburst ends and in a manner consistent with feedback from an active nucleus. Furthermore, a star is ~300x more likely to be tidally disrupted by the nucleus of a post-starburst galaxy than in other galaxies. Like the well-known black hole-bulge mass correlation, these surprising links between the properties of a galaxy on kpc scales and its supermassive black hole on pc scales require explanation.