• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.327-329
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• 2017

We report a spatial fluctuation analysis of the sky brightness in the near-infrared from observations towards the north ecliptic pole (NEP) by AKARI at 2.4 and $3.2{\mu}m$. As a follow up study of our previous work on the Monitor field of AKARI, we used NEP deep survey data, which covered a circular area of about 0.4 square degrees, in order to extend fluctuation analysis at angular scales up to 1000". After pre-processing, additional correction procedures were done to correct time varying components and instrumental effects such as MUXbleed. To remove resolved objects, we applied $2{\sigma}$ clipping and point spread function (PSF) subtraction. We finally obtained mosaicked images which can be used for the study of various diffuse emissions in the near-infrared sky and found that there are spatial structures in the mosaicked images using a power spectrum analysis.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.193-197
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• 2004

Anomalies in the far-infrared [C II] 158 ${\mu}m$ line emission observed in the central one-kiloparsec regions of spiral galaxies are reviewed. Low far-infrared intensity ratios of the [C II] line to the continuum were observed in the center of the Milky Way, because the heating ratio of the gas to the dust is reduced by the soft interstellar radiation field due to late-type stars in the Galactic bulge. In contrast, such low line-to-continuum ratios were not obtained in the center of the nearby spiral M31, in spite of its bright bulge. A comparison with numerical simulations showed that a typical column density of the neutral interstellar medium between illuminating sources at $hv {\~} 1 eV $ is $N_H {\le}10^{21}\;cm^{-2}$ in the region; the medium is translucent for photons sufficiently energetic to heat the grains but not sufficiently energetic to heat the gas. This interpretation is consistent with the combination of the extremely high [C Il]/CO J = 1-0 line intensity ratios and the low recent star-forming activity in the region; the neutral interstellar medium is not sufficiently opaque to protect the species even against the moderately intense incident UV radiation. The above results were unexpected from classical views of the [C II] emission, which was generally considered to trace intense interstellar UV radiation enhanced by active star formation.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.391-397
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• 2012

The SPICA (SPace Infrared Telescope for Cosmology & Astrophysics) project is a next-generation infrared space telescope optimized for mid- and far-infrared observation with a cryogenically cooled 3m-class telescope. It will achieve the high resolution as well as the unprecedented sensitivity from mid to far-infrared range. The FPC (Focal Plane Camera) proposed by KASI as an international collaboration is a near-infrared instrument. The FPC-S and FPC-G are responsible for the scientific observation in the near-infrared and the fine guiding, respectively. The FPC-G will significantly reduce pointing error down to below 0.075 arcsec through the observation of guiding stars in the focal plane. We analyzed the pointing requirement from the focal plane instruments as well as the error factors affecting the pointing stability. We also obtained the expected performance in operation modes. We concluded that the FPC-G can achieve the pointing stability below 0.075 arcsec which is the requirement from the focal plane instruments.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2003

There is accumulating evidence for a strong link between nuclear starbursts and AGN. Molecular gas in the central regions of galaxies plays a critical role in fueling nuclear starburst activity and feeding central AGN. The dense molecular ISM is accreted to the nuclear regions by stellar bars and galactic interactions. Here we describe recent observational results for the OB star forming regions in M51 and the nuclear star burst in Arp 220 - both of which have approximately the same rate of star formation per unit mass of ISM. We suggest that the maximum efficiency for forming young stars is an Eddington-like limit imposed by the radiation pressure of newly formed stars acting on the interstellar dust. This limit corresponds to approximately 500 $L_{\bigodot} / M_{\bigodot}$ for optically thick regions in which the radiation has been degraded to the NIR. Interestingly, we note that some of the same considerations can be important in AGN where the source of fuel is provided by stellar evolution mass-loss or ISM accretion. Most of the stellar mass-loss occurs from evolving red giant stars and whether their mass-loss can be accreted to a central AGN or not depends on the radiative opacity of the mass-loss material. The latter depends on whether the dust survives or is sublimated (due to radiative heating). This, in turn, is determined by the AGN luminosity and the distance of the mass-loss stars from the AGN. Several AGN phenomena such as the broad emission and absorption lines may arise in this stellar mass-loss material. The same radiation pressure limit to the accretion may arise if the AGN fuel is from the ISM since the ISM dust-to-gas ratio is the same as that of stellar mass-loss.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.68.2-68.2
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• 2013

The Giant Magellan Telescope Integral-Field Spectrograph (GMTIFS) is a near-infrared imager and integral-field spectrograph, which will be the workhorse adaptive-optics (AO) instrument on the GMT when AO operations begin. We will describe the current design and proposed capabilities of the GMTIFS. We will also present a brief overview of GMTIFS science cases that include first-light objects, galaxy feedback and assembly, the nature of compact massive objects as well as the formation and evolution of stars and planets.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.68.3-68.3
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• 2019

We present the preliminary results on the formation of star clusters by cloud-cloud collision. For this purpose, we perform sub-parsec scale, radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of giant molecular clouds using a sink particle algorithm. The simulations include photo-ionization, direct radiation pressure, and non-thermal radiation pressure from infrared and Lyman alpha photons. We confirm that radiation feedback from massive stars suppresses accretion onto sink particles. We examine the collision-induced star formation and discuss the possibility on the formation of a globular cluster.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.223-224
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• 2012

Understanding the birth and evolution of galaxies, and the history of star formation in them, is one of the most important problems in astronomy. Using the data from the AKARI IRC survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud at 3.2, 7, 11, 15, and $24{\mu}m$, we have constructed a multi-wavelength catalog containing data from the cross-correlation with a number of other databases at different wavelengths. We present the first approach with a Support Vector Machine (SVM)-based method to separate different classes of stars in LMC in the color-color and color-magnitude diagrams.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.381-382
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• 2012

InfraRed Survey Facility (IRSF) is our facility for near-infrared (NIR) observation located at South African Astronomical Observatory. The NIR camera SIRIUS on the 1.4m telescope provides three $7.7^{\prime}{\times}7.7^{\prime}$ images in the J ($1.25{\mu}m$), H ($1.63{\mu}m$), and $K_S$ ($2.14{\mu}m$) bands simultaneously with a pixel scale of 0.45". IRSF has three unique capabilities, which are suitable for follow-up observations of AKARI-selected objects. Several synergistic studies with AKARI are in progress from stars to galaxies. We introduce advantages of the above unique capabilities of IRSF for further synergistic studies between AKARI and IRSF.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.73.1-73.1
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• 2013

It is believed that the current census of star clusters in the Milky Way is far from being complete, because of high extinction. Taking advantage of recent wide-field infrared surveys (the WISE as well as 2MASS, UKIDSS GPS, and VVV), we search for new star clusters in the central region of the Milky Way (720 $deg^2$-wide area at |1| < $30^{\circ}$ and |b| < $6^{\circ}$). We find 1840 candidates by visual inspection of the WISE images. The spatial distribution of these candidates show a strong concentration along the Milky Way, showing that most of them belong to the Milky Way. Among them, 26 are probably star clusters, considering their morphology, color-magnitude diagrams, and the degree of central concentration of stars. Eighteen of them appear to be very young in the embedded phase, and six of them are considered to be relatively old, showing a developed red giant branch. Implications of the primary results will be discussed.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.49-53
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• 2017

The point sources in the Bright Source Catalogue of the AKARI Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) were classified based on their FIR and mid-IR fluxes and colours into young stellar object (YSO) and extragalactic source types using a Quadratic Discriminant Analysis method (QDA) and Support Vector Machines (SVM). The reliability of the selection of YSO candidates is high, and the number of known YSO candidates were increased significantly, that we demonstrate in the case of the nearby open cluster IC348. Our results show that we can separate galactic and extragalactic AKARI point sources in the multidimensioal space of FIR fluxes and colours with high reliability, however, differentiating among the extragalactic sub-types needs further information.