• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.65.2-65.2
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• 2016

We present a new database of our two-dimensional bulge-disk decompositions for 14,482 galaxies drawn from SDSS DR12 in order to examine the properties of bulges residing in the local universe (0.005 < z < 0.05). We performed decompositions in g and r bands by utilizing the GALFIT software. The bulge colors and bulge-to-total ratios are found to be sensitive to the details in the decomposition technique. The g-r colors of bulges derived are almost constantly red regardless of bulge size except for the bulges in the low bulge-to-total ratio galaxies (approximately $B/T_r{\leq}0.3$). Bulges exhibit similar scaling relations to those followed by elliptical galaxies, but the bulges in galaxies with lower bulge-to-total ratios clearly show a gradually larger departure in slope from the elliptical galaxy sequence. The scatters around the scaling relations are also larger for the bulges in galaxies with lower bulge-to-total ratios. Both the departure in slopes and larger scatters are likely originated from the presence of young stars. While bulges seem largely similar in optical properties to elliptical galaxies, they do show clear and systematic departures as a function of bulge-to-total ratio. The stellar properties and perhaps associated formation processes of bulges seem much more diverse than those of elliptical galaxies.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.261-270
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• 2003

We have conducted a V-band CCD surface photometry of 68 disk galaxies to analyze the bulge morphology of nearby spirals. We classify bulges into four types according to their ellipticities and the misalignments between the major axis of the bulge and those of the disk and the bar: spherical, oblate, pseudo triaxial, and triaxial. We found that one third of the bulges are triaxial and they are preponderant in barred galaxies. The presence of the triaxial bulges in a significant fraction of unbarred galaxies as well as in barred galaxies might support the secular evolution hypothesis which postulates that the bar driven mass inflow leads to the formation of triaxial bulges and the destruction of bars when sufficient mass is accumulated in the central regions.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.209-221
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• 1995

We have examined bulge morphology of 104 bright barred galaxies, using V-band surface photometry based on the Kiso Schmidt plates. By measuring the bulge ellipticity and bulge-disk misalignment, we have classified bulges into four morphological types: sphere, oblate spheroid, triaxial ellipsoid, and pseudo triaxial ellipsoid. About half of the observed galaxies are found to have triaxial bulges with mean ellipticity of 0.24. They are distributed uniformly along the Hubble sequence.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1999

We have conducted near-infrared (J- and H-band) surface photometry for two early type barred galaxies, NGC 3412 and NGC 3941. The bulges of NGC 3412 and NGC 3941 show isophotal twists which indicate that they are triaxial. NGC 3412 has a very short bar and its bulge is more centrally concentrated than that of NGC 3941. The unusually short bar and the centrally concentrated triaxial bulge of NGC 3412 might be the result of bar dissolution. The colors of the nuclear region of NGC 3941 resemble those of the blue nuclei, implying the presence of young stellar populations.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2001

In this paper, we investigate the correlation between the radial ultraviolet color distribution and the shapes of the ultraviolet isophote for elliptical galaxies (M32, NGC 1399) and spiral bulges (of M31, M81) by using their archival UIT images. For M31, M81, and NGC 1399, the radial ultraviolet color distributions show a two-component trend; as the distance from the galactic center increase the color becomes redder in the inner region while it becomes bluer in the outer region. On the other hand, the color of M32 continues to become bluer with the increasing galactocentric distance. We also find, unlike the optical/IR images, significant variations of the position angle and the ellipticity in the ultraviolet isophotes of M31, M81, and NGC 1399 through the inner regions. For M32, the variation is significant in the outer region. Since these variation implies the triaxiality of their intrinsic shapes, we suggest that the early-type galaxies and spiral bulges with a radial color gradient in ultraviolet tend to have a triaxiality. On the other hand, the shape parameter characterized by the fourth order cosine Fourier coefficient of the isophote, a(4)/a, indicates that the systematic deviations of the ultraviolet isophotes of the four galaxies are smaller than $\~0.2\%$ in units of the semi-major axis. The latter result implies that the ultraviolet isophotes of the galaxies have a pure elliptical shape rather than the boxy or disky shapes. Therefore, there is no clear evidence of correlation between the radial ultra-violet color gradient and the boxy/disky shapes of isophotes.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.61.2-61.2
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• 2014

A non-axisymmetric mass distribution of galactic structures including bulge (or bar) causes gas inflow from the disk to the nuclear region, including intense star formation within few hundred parsecs of galactic central. In order to investigate the relation between the ellipticity of the bulge and the presence of a nuclear starburst, we use a volume-limited sample of galaxies with Mr < -19.5 mag at 0.02 < z < 0.05 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. Total sample is 3252 spiral galaxies, which include nuclear starburst galaxies. We find that the occurrence of nuclear starbursts has a moderate correlation with bulge ellipticity of intermediate-type spiral galaxies (morphology classes Sab-Sb) in low galaxy number density environments and isolated regions where the distance between the target galaxies and the closest galaxies is relatively far. In high galaxy number density environments and interacting regions, close encounters and mergers between galaxies can cause gas inflow to the nuclear region even without the presence of non-axisymmetric bulges.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.47.2-47.2
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• 2014

Bulges of galaxies are thought to have formed and grown at least in part through galaxy mergers, and thus an accurate derivation of their properties can be an effective course to test/confirm our understanding on their formation and evolution in the standard hierarchical merger paradigm. We have generated a sample of galaxy bulges (n = 15,423) in the nearby (0.005 < z < 0.05) universe from the SDSS DR7 and GALEX GR6plus7 databases and derived their structural and photometric properties by means of SExtractor and GALFIT application. Most notable properties include bulge-to-total luminosity ratio, effective radius, disk scale length, ellipticity, and position angle. The UV properties of the bulges have also been analyzed to infer their recent star formation history. A spectroscopic analysis has been performed using their absorption and emission line strengths measured and released by the OSSY team. We present our preliminary results from our investigation mainly focused on stellar population properties and discuss their implications on the formation of bulges.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.69-89
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• 1986

The global morphology and geometric parameters of 39 barred galaxies are investigated, by using isophote map and isodensity tracings obtained from detailed surface photometry with the Kiso V-band plates. The observed results are as follows: i) There is no strong indication that the ratio of bar length to disk size is correlated with Hubble type, except that the largest bars appear in the SBb galaxies. ii) The mean value of axial ratios of bars is $2.0{\pm}0.4$ and there is a trend that early type galaxies have smaller axial ratios than late type galaxies. iii) About 15% of early type barred galaxies(Sb0-SBb) have triaxial bulges.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.37.2-37.2
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• 2019

To study the effects of central mass concentration on the formation and evolution of galactic bars, we run fully self-consistent simulations of Milky Way-sized, isolated galaxies with initial classical bulges. We let the mass of a classical bulge mass less than 20% of the total disk mass, and vary the central concentration of a dark matter halo. We find that both classical bulge and halo concentration delay the bar formation and weaken the bar strength. The presence of a bulge increases the initial rotational velocity near the center and hence the bar pattern speed. Bars in galaxies with a more concentrated halo slowdown relatively rapidly as they lose their angular momentum through interaction with the halo. In some of our models, bars do not experience slowdown at the expense of the decrease in their moment of inertia as the bar evolves, with the resulting pattern speed similar to that of the bar in the Milky Way.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.38.1-38.1
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• 2014

A non-axisymmetric mass distribution in the galactic bulge (or bar) causes gas flow from the disk to the nuclear region, inducing intense star formation in the nucleus. We investigate the relation between the ellipticity of the bulge and the presence of a nuclear starburst by using a volume-limited sample of galaxies. We use 1,680 spiral galaxies with Mr < -19.5 at 0.02 <= z < 0.05 in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. We find that the occurrence of nuclear starburst has a moderate correlation with bulge ellipticity in intermediate-type spiral galaxies (morphology classes Sab~Sb) in low galaxy number density environments. In high galaxy number density environments, close encounters and mergers between galaxies can cause gas inflow to the nuclear region even without the presence of non-axisymmetric bulges.