• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.189-212
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• 2003

I review the current status of understanding when, how long, and how giant elliptical galaxies formed, focusing on the globular clusters. Several observational evidences show that massive elliptical galaxies formed at z > 2 (> 10 Gyr ago). Giant elliptical galaxies show mostly a bimodal color distribution of globular clusters, indicating a factor of $\approx$ 20 metallicity difference between the two peaks. The red globular clusters (RGCs) are closely related with the stellar halo in color and spatial distribution, while the blue globular clusters (BGCs) are not. The ratio of the number of the RGCs and that of the BGCs varies depending on galaxies. It is concluded that the BGCs might have formed 12-13 Gyr ago, while the RGCs and giant elliptical galaxies might have formed similarly 10-11 Gyr ago. It remains now to explain the existence of a gap between the RGC formation epoch and the BGC formation epoch, and the rapid metallicity increase during the gap (${\Delta}t{\approx}$ 2 Gyr). If hierarchical merging can form a significant number of giant elliptical galaxies > 10 Gyr ago, several observational constraints from stars and globular clusters in elliptical galaxies can be explained.

• 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.44 no.5
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• pp.161-175
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• 2011

We examine the dependence of the morphology of spiral galaxies on the environment using the KIAS Value Added Galaxy Catalog (VAGC) which is derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. Our goal is to understand whether the local environment or global conditions dominate in determining the morphology of spiral galaxies. For the analysis, we conduct a morphological classification of galaxies in 20 X-ray selected Abell clusters up to z~0.06, using SDSS color images and the X-ray data from the Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) catalog. We analyze the distribution of arm classes along the clustercentric radius as well as that of Hubble types. To segregate the effect of local environment from the global environment, we compare the morphological distribution of galaxies in two X-lay luminosity groups, the low-$L_x$ clusters ($L_x$ < $0.15{\times}10^{44}$erg/s) and high-$L_x$ clusters ($L_x$ > $1.8{\times}10^{44}$erg/s). We find that the morphology-clustercentric relation prevails in the cluster environment although there is a brake near the cluster virial radius. The grand design arms comprise about 40% of the cluster spiral galaxies with a weak morphology-clustercentric radius relation for the arm classes, in the sense that flocculent galaxies tend to increase outward, regardless of the X-ray luminosity. From the cumulative radial distribution of cluster galaxies, we found that the low-$L_x$ clusters are fully virialized while the high-$L_x$ clusters are not.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.46.2-46.2
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• 2014

Galaxy morphology is involved complex effects of both secular and non-secular evolution of galaxies. Although it is a final product of a galaxy evolution, it may give a clue for the process that the galaxy suffer. Galaxy clusters are the sites where the most massive galaxies are found, and the most dramatic merger histories are embedded. Morphology study in nearby universe, e.g. Virgo cluster, is well established, but for clusters at z ~ 0.1 it is only focused on bright galaxies due to observational limits. Our optical deep imaging of 14 Abell clusters at z = 0.014 - 0.16 using IMACS f/2 on a Magellan Badde 6.5-m telescope and MegaCam on a 3.8-m CFHT enable to classify detailed morphology. For the galaxies in our data, we investigated their morphology with several criteria related to secular or merger related evolution. Our research on detailed morphology of thousands of galaxies through deep imaging would give a general census of cluster galaxies and help to estimate the evolution of cluster galaxies.

• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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• v.491 no.3
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• pp.4045-4056
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• 2020

We examine whether galaxy environments directly affect triggering nuclear activity in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) local spiral galaxies using a volume-limited sample with the r-band absolute magnitude M_r < -19.0 and 0.02 <z< 0.055 selected from the SDSS Data Release 7. To avoid incompleteness of the central velocity dispersion σ of the volume-limited sample and to fix the black hole mass affecting AGN activity, we limit the sample to a narrow σ range of 130 km s^-1 <σ< 200 km s^-1. We define a variety of environments as a combination of neighbour interactions and local density on a galaxy. After the central star formation rate (which is closely related to AGN activity level) is additionally restricted, the direct impact of the environment is unveiled. In the outskirts of rich clusters, red spiral galaxies show a significant excess of the AGN fraction despite the lack of central gas. We argue that they have been pre-processed before entering the rich clusters, and due to mergers or strong encounters in the in-fall region, their remaining gases efficiently lose angular momentum. We investigate an environment in which many star-forming galaxies coexist with a few starburst-AGN composite hosts having the highest [O_III] luminosity. We claim that they are a gas-rich merger product in groups or are group galaxies in-falling into clusters, indicating that many AGN signatures may be obscured following the merger events.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.111-121
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• 2002

We have measured the correlation functions of the optically selected clusters of galaxies in the Abell and the APM catalogs, and of the X-ray clusters in the X-ray-Brightest Abell-type Clusters of galaxies (XBACs) catalog and the Brightest Clusters Sample (BCS). The same analysis method and the same method of characterizing the resulting correlation functions are applied to all observational samples. We have found that the amplitude of the correlation function of the APM clusters is much higher than what has been previously claimed, in particular for richer subsamples. The correlation length of the APM clusters with the richness R $\ge$ 70 (as defined by the APM team) is found to be $r_0 = 25.4_{-3.0}^{+3.1}\;h^{-1}$ Mpc. The amplitude of correlation function is about 2.4 times higher than that of Croft et al. (1997). The correlation lengths of the Abell clusters with the richness class RC $\ge$ 0 and 1 are measured to be $r_0 = 17.4_{-1.1}^{+1.2}$ and $21.0_{-2.8}^{+2.8}\;h^{-1}$ Mpc, respectively, which is consistent with our results for the APM sample at the similar level of richness. The richness dependence of cluster correlations is found to be $r_0= 0.40d_c + 3.2$ where $d_c$ is the mean intercluster separation. This is identical in slope with the Bahcall & West (1992)'s estimate, but is inconsistent with the weak dependence of Croft et al. (1997). The X-ray bright Abell clusters in the XBACs catalog and the X-ray selected clusters in the BCS catalog show strong clustering. The correlation length of the XBACs clusters with $L_x {\ge}0.65{\times} 10^{44}\;h^{-2}erg\;s^{-1}$ is $30.3_{-6.5}^{+8.2}\;h^{-1}$ Mpc, and that of the BCS clusters with $L_x {\ge}0.70{\times} 10^{44}\;h^{-2}erg\;s^{-1}$ is $30.2_{-8.9}^{+9.8}\;h^{-1}$ Mpc. The clustering strength of the X-ray clusters is much weaker than what is expected from the optical clusters.

• 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.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.529-530
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• 2015

We investigated the galaxy morphology of 6 Abell clusters at z = 0.0784 - 0.145 based on deep images obtained using MegaCam on the CFHT. For hundreds of galaxies in our data, we classified their morphology based on criteria related to secular or merger related evolution. We found that the morphological mixture of galaxies varies considerably from cluster to cluster. This article contains a general description of our deep imaging campaign and preliminary results for galaxy morphologies in cluster environments.

• 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.