• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.503-505
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• 2015

The galaxy cluster is an important object for investigating the large scale structure and evolution of galaxies. Recent wide and deep near-IR surveys provide an opportunity to search for galaxy clusters in the high redshift universe. We have identified candidate clusters of 0.8< z <1.2 from the $25deg^2$ SA22 field using an optical-near-IR dataset from merged UKIDSS DXS, IMS and CFHTLS catalogs. Using these candidates, we investigate the star forming activity of member galaxies. Consequently, at z ~1, the star forming activity of cluster galaxies is not distinguishable from those of field galaxies, which is different from members in local clusters. This means the environmental effect becomes more important for $M_{\ast}>10^{10}M_{\odot}$ galaxies at z <1.

• 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.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.101-105
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• 2010

Taking the great advantage of Subaru's wide field coverage both in the optical and in the near infrared, we have been providing panoramic views of distant clusters and their surrounding environments over the wide redshift range of 0:4 < z < 3. From our unique data sets, a consistent picture has been emerging that the star forming activity is once enhanced and then truncated in galaxy groups in the outskirts of clusters during the course of cluster assembly at z < 1. Such activity is shifted into cluster cores as we go further back in time to z ~ 1.5. At z = 2 - 2.5, we begin to enter the epoch when massive galaxies are actually forming in the cluster core. And by z ~ 3, we eventually go beyond the major epoch of massive galaxy formation. It is likely that the environmental dependence of star forming activity is at least partly due to the external environmental effects such as galaxy-galaxy interaction in medium density regions at z < 1, while the intrinsic effect of galaxy formation bias overtakes the external effect at higher redshifts, resulting in a large star formation activity in the cluster center.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.261-263
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• 2015

The metallicity distribution of globular clusters (GCs) provides a crucial clue for the star formation history of their host galaxy. With the assumption that GCs are generally old, GC colors have been used as a proxy for GC metallicities. Bimodal color distributions of GCs observed in most large galaxies have, for decades, been interpreted as bimodal metallicity distributions, indicating the presence of two populations within a galaxy. However, the conventional view has been challenged by a new theory that non-linear GC color-metallicity relations can cause a bimodal color distribution even from a single-peaked metallicity distribution. Using photometric and spectroscopic data of NGC 5128 GCs in combination with stellar population simulation models, we examine the effect of non-linearity in GC color-metallicity relations on transformation of the color distributions into the metallicity distributions. Although in some colors offsets are present between observations and models for the color-metallicity relations, their overall shape agrees well for various colors. After the offsets are corrected, the observed spectroscopic metallicity distribution is well reproduced via modeled color-metallicity relations from various color distributions having different morphologies. We discuss the implications of our results.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.489-490
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• 2015

We present population synthesis models for the calcium II triplet (CaT), currently the most popular metallicity indicator, based on high-resolution empirical spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Our new CaT models, based on empirical SEDs, show a linear correlation below [Fe/H] ~ -0.5, but the linear relation breaks down in the metal-rich regime by converging to the same equivalent width. This relation shows good agreement with the observed CaT of globular clusters (GCs) in NGC 1407 and the Milky Way. However, a model based on theoretical SEDs does not show this feature of the CaT and fails to reproduce observed GCs in the metal-rich regime. This linear relation may cause inaccurate metallicity determination for metal-rich stellar populations. We have also confirmed that the effect of horizontal-branch stars on the CaT is almost negligible in models based on both empirical and theoretical SEDs. Our new empirical model may explain the difference between the color distributions and CaT distributions of GCs in various early-type galaxies. Based on our model, we claim that the CaT is not a good metallicity indicator for simple stellar populations in the metal-rich regime.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.135-139
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• 2010

We present the result of our investigation on the impact of the low Solar abundance of Asplund and collaborators (2004) on the derived ages for the oldest star clusters based on isochrone fittings. We have constructed new stellar models and corresponding isochrones using this new solar mixture with a proper Solar calibration. We have found that the use of the Asplund et al. (2004) metallicity causes the typical ages for old globular clusters in the Milky Way to be increased roughly by 10%. Although this may appear small, it has a significant impact on the interpretation for the formation epoch of Milky Way globular clusters. The Asplund et al. (2004) abundance may not necessarily threaten the current concordance cosmology but would suggest that Milky Way globular clusters formed before the reionization epoch and before the main galaxy body starts to build up. This is in contrast to the current understanding on the galaxy formation.