• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.32.2-32.2
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• 2013

We examine large-scale environmental effects on the formation and the mass growth of dark matter halos. To facilitate this, we constructed dark matter halo merger trees from a cosmological N-body simulation, which enabled us to trace the merger information and the assembly history of individual halos. In fact, since the massive halos are more likely to be distributed in denser regions than in less dense regions (Mo & White, 1996), the large-scale environment dependence of the properties of halos can be partly originated from the halo mass effect. In order to avoid such contamination, caused by the mass dependence of halo properties, we carefully measured the local overdensity as the indicator of large-scale environment, which was calculated to be as independent of halo mass as possible. Small halos (${\sim}10^{11-12}M_{\odot}$), which usually host isolated single galaxies, show a notable difference on the formation time of galaxies depending on their large-scale environments, which reconfirms halo assembly bias (Gao & White, 2007). Furthermore, we investigate how this environmental effect on small halos is correlated with the mass assembly history of galaxies by using our semi-analytic model. We found that assembly bias in small halos does not have significant effects on the formation time or on the star formation history of galaxies residing in those halos except for the individual stellar mass of galaxies at z = 0. On average, isolated galaxies in high-density regions tend to be slightly more massive than those in low-density regions. Although the observational data from the current galaxy surveys is not yet sufficient for testing this prediction, future galaxy surveys will be able to explore these small galaxies more thoroughly.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.37.2-37.2
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• 2013

Recently it turns out that simple-looking elliptical galaxies and lenticular galaxies are more complex and intriguing than expected. One of the most surprising and intriguing findings in extragalactic studies during the last two decades is a discovery that color distribution of the globular clusters in these galaxies is bimodal, suggesting that there are two subpopulations: blue and red globular clusters. We present a determination of the two-dimensional shape parameters of the blue and red globular cluster systems (GCSs) in a large number of bright elliptical galaxies and lenticular galaxies. The position angles of both and red GCSs show a correlation with those of the stellar light distribution, showing that the major axes of the GCSs are well aligned with those of their host galaxies. However, the shapes of the red GCSs show a tight correlation with the stellar light distribution as with the rotation property of their host galaxies, while the shapes of the blue GCSs do much less. These provide clear geometric evidence that the origins of the blue and red globular clusters are distinct and that these galaxies may have dual halos: a blue (metal-poor) halo and a red (metal-rich) halo. These two halos show significant differences in metallicity, structure, and kinematics, indicating that they are formed in two distinguishable ways. The red halos might have formed via dissipational processes with rotation, while the blue halos are through accretion.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.69.1-69.1
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• 2016

We investigate the pair fractions of dark matter halos and galaxies in cosmological simulations. The cosmological simulations are performed by a tree-particle-mesh code GOTPM (Grid-of-Oct-Tree-Particle-Mesh) and the dark matter halos are identified by a halo finding algorithm PSB (Physically Self-Bound). The 'galaxy' pair fractions are obtained from galaxy catalogues of L-Galaxies semi-analytical galaxy formation runs in the Millennium database. We present and compare the pair fractions of the dark matter halos and galaxies as functions of redshifts, halo masses and ambient environments.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.331-333
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• 2015

Gravitational interactions - mergers and fly-by encounters - between galaxies play a key role as the drivers of their evolution. Here we perform a cosmological N-body simulation using the tree-particle-mesh code GOTPM, and attempt to separate out the effects of mergers and fly-bys between dark matter halos. Once close pair halos are identified by the halo finding algorithm PSB, they are classified into mergers ($E_{12}$ < 0) and fly-by encounters ($E_{12}$ > 0) based on the total energy ($E_{12}$) between two halos. The fly-by and merger fractions as functions of redshift, halo masses, and ambient environments are calculated and the result shows the following.(1) Among Milky-way sized halos ($0.33-2.0{\times}10^{12}h^{-1}M{\odot}$), $5.37{\pm}0.03%$ have experienced major fly-bys and $7.98{\pm}0.04%$ have undergone major mergers since z ~ 1; (2) Among dwarf halos ($0.1-0.33{\times}10^{12}h^{-1}M{\odot}$), $6.42{\pm}0.02%$ went through major fly-bys and $9.51{\pm}0.03%$ experienced major mergers since z ~ 1; (3) Milky-way sized halos in the cluster environment experienced fly-bys (mergers) 4-11(1.5-1.7) times more frequently than those in the field since z ~ 1; and (4) Approaching z = 0, the fly-by fraction decreases sharply with the merger fraction remaining constant, implying that the empirical pair/merger fractions (that decrease from z ~ 1) are in fact driven by the fly-bys, not by the mergers themselves.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2013

We investigate the dependence of the extended X-ray emission from the halos of optically luminous early-type galaxies on the small-scale (the nearest neighbor distance) and large-scale (the average density inside the 20 nearest galaxies) environments. We cross-match the 3rd Data Release of the Second XMMNewton Serendipitous Source Catalog (2XMMi-DR3) to a volume-limited sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 with $M_r$ < -19.5 and 0.020 < z < 0.085, and find 20 early-type galaxies that have extended X-ray detections. The X-ray luminosity of the galaxies is found to have a tighter correlation with the optical and near infrared luminosities when the galaxy is situated in the low large-scale density region than in the high large-scale density region. Furthermore, the X-ray to optical (r-band) luminosity ratio, $L_X/L_r$, shows a clear correlation with the distance to the nearest neighbor and with large-scale density environment only where the galaxies in pair interact hydrodynamically with seperations of $r_p$ < $r_{vir}$. These findings indicate that the galaxies in the high local density region have other mechanisms that are responsible for their halo X-ray luminosities than the current presence of a close encounter, or alternatively, in the high local density region the cooling time of the heated gas halo is longer than the typical time between the subsequent encounters.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.46.1-46.1
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• 2017

Late-type galaxies falling into a cluster would evolve being influenced by the interactions with both the cluster and the nearby cluster member galaxies. Most numerical studies, however, tend to focus on the effects of the former with little work done on those of the later. We thus perform numerical study on the evolution of a late-type galaxy falling radially toward the cluster center interacting with neighbouring early-type galaxies, using N-body, hydrodynamical simulations. Based on the information about the typical galaxy encounters obtained by using the galaxy catalog of Coma cluster, we run the simulations for the cases where a Milky Way Galaxy-like late-type galaxy, flying either edge-on or face-on, experiences six consecutive collisions with twice more massive early-type galaxies having hot gas in their halos. Our simulations show that the evolution of the late-type galaxy can be significantly affected by the high-speed multiple collisions with the early-type galaxies, such as on the cold gas content and the star formation activity, particularly through the hydrodynamic interactions between the cold disk and the hot gas halos. By comparing our simulation results with those of others, we claim that the role of the galaxy-galaxy interactions on the evolution of late-type galaxies in clusters could be comparable with that of the galaxy-cluster interactions, depending on the dynamical history.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.32.1-32.1
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• 2015

The gradual infall of small dark matter halos onto larger ones has become a relatively straightforward aspect of the standard hierarchical formation paradigm. What happens to the baryons they contain, however, is less well understood. Of special relevance are the processes that regulate and ultimately suppress star formation in galaxies in the early universe. The z=1.5-2.5 epoch is then particularly interesting as a transition period when global star-formation in the universe starts peaking but also where the first ostensibly collapsed and virialized galaxy clusters appear, along with segregated galaxy populations. From a theoretical point of view, the mode of gas accretion in massive halos is also expected to change around this time, switching from a cold to a hot phase and affecting the build-up and evolution of the galaxies they host. A lot of effort has thus been devoted to the search for high-redshift structures, in particular galaxy clusters, through a variety of methods. However, as the limited area for which deep datasets are available remains relatively limited, only few massive z>1.5 structures have been found so far. Here I will instead discuss the regulation of star-formation in lower-mass, X-ray detected halos at z~2 and its implication for galaxy quenching at high redshift. As these smaller, group-size halos are vastly more abundant and structurally simpler than massive clusters, they allow for true statistical studies and offer a novel way to probe environmental effects in this transitional epoch.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.72.3-73
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• 2017

The spatial distribution of sub-halos in a large host halo is usually described as isotropic in the ${\Lambda}CDM$ cosmology. Recent observations, however, show that satellite galaxies around massive galaxies are often located within a preferred plane. In order to understand the origin of such planar alignment, we investigate the spatial distribution of sub-halos around their hosts by using the hydrodynamic cosmological simulation, Illustris. In particular, we analyze the systems resembling the Milky Way (MW) and its satellites, i.e. consisting of MW-sized central galaxy and its at least 11 satellites. The result shows that ~10 % of MW-like systems have the anisotropic satellite galaxy distribution at z = 0. The satellites that are accreted more recently tend to form a flattened structure more frequently, indicating a link of satellite distribution to the surrounding environment. We discuss the physical origin of the anisotropic satellite distribution from the viewpoint of the ${\Lambda}CDM$ paradigm.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.47.1-47.1
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• 2015

The formation mechanism of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of galaxies remains an open fundamental question. Black holes (BHs) are believed to grow by accretion of gas or by merging with other BHs. Motivated by the observation of luminous quasar around redshift z ~ 7 with SMBH mass up to 109 solar mass, we follow the growth of the early assembly of SMBHs that trace the hierarchical evolution of dark matter halos derived from large cosmological simulations. The initial masses of BH seeds in the first halos were set up according to the BH mass - halo mass relation. We assume that mergers of host galaxies cause loss of angular momentum of gas and trigger episodes of gas accretion onto BHs for available durations and at the end of each episode of accretion, BHs merge immediately. We trace the evolution of BH masses for various scenarios for central gas properties in halos. We estimate the BH to halo mass ratio and BH mass function at each redshift.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.73-88
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• 2018

We present a sample of 54 disk galaxies which have well developed extraplanar structures. We selected them using visual inspections from the color images of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Since the sizes of the extraplanar structures are comparable to the disks, they are considered as prominent stellar halos rather than large bulges. A single $S{\acute{e}}rsic$ profile fitted to the surface brightness along the minor-axis of the disk shows a luminosity excess in the central regions for the majority of sample galaxies. This central excess is considered to be caused by the central bulge component. The mean $S{\acute{e}}rsic$ index of the single component model is $1.1{\pm}0.9$. A double $S{\acute{e}}rsic$ profile model that employs n = 1 for the inner region, and varying n for the outer region, provides a better fit than the single $S{\acute{e}}rsic$ profile model. For a small fraction of galaxies, a $S{\acute{e}}rsic$ profile fitted with n = 4 for the inner region gives similar results. There is a weak tendency of increasing n with increasing luminosity and central velocity dispersion, but there is no dependence on the local background density.