• 천문학논총
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.655-657
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• 2015

The Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) consists of the Parkes and Mopra radio telescopes, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array, with the first elements of the wide-field Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), currently being commissioned. The capabilities of these facilities are described.

• ETRI Journal
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.615-620
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• 2006

In this paper, we discuss the quantification of Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) thermal stabilization which is needed in optical phase shaped binary transmission (PSBT) links. Considering the thermo-optic and thermal expansion effects, we revisit the analytical expression for the thermal drift (GHz/$^{\circ}C$) of the MZI center frequency (denoted here by the 'MZI spectral drift'). An MZI is then used in an experimental transmission system using the optical PSBT format. We study the effect of spectral MZI drift by using a thermally stabilized interferometer and applying a frequency shift to the optical carrier. By using the thermal drift coefficient of the MZI, we find that to ensure low bit error rate fluctuations due to the MZI drift, the thermal stabilization of the device must have an accuracy of $0.5^{\circ}C$.

• 천문학회지
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• 제47권6호
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• pp.235-253
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• 2014

Intensity interferometry, based on the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect, is a simple and inexpensive method for optical interferometry at microarcsecond angular resolutions; its use in astronomy was abandoned in the 1970s because of low sensitivity. Motivated by recent technical developments, we argue that the sensitivity of large modern intensity interferometers can be improved by factors up to approximately 25 000, corresponding to 11 photometric magnitudes, compared to the pioneering Narrabri Stellar Interferometer. This is made possible by (i) using avalanche photodiodes (APD) as light detectors, (ii) distributing the light received from the source over multiple independent spectral channels, and (iii) use of arrays composed of multiple large light collectors. Our approach permits the construction of large (with baselines ranging from few kilometers to intercontinental distances) optical interferometers at the cost of (very) long-baseline radio interferometers. Realistic intensity interferometer designs are able to achieve limiting R-band magnitudes as good as $m_R{\approx}14$, sufficient for spatially resolved observations of main-sequence O-type stars in the Magellanic Clouds. Multi-channel intensity interferometers can address a wide variety of science cases: (i) linear radii, effective temperatures, and luminosities of stars, via direct measurements of stellar angular sizes; (ii) mass-radius relationships of compact stellar remnants, via direct measurements of the angular sizes of white dwarfs; (iii) stellar rotation, via observations of rotation flattening and surface gravity darkening; (iv) stellar convection and the interaction of stellar photospheres and magnetic fields, via observations of dark and bright starspots; (v) the structure and evolution of multiple stars, via mapping of the companion stars and of accretion flows in interacting binaries; (vi) direct measurements of interstellar distances, derived from angular diameters of stars or via the interferometric Baade-Wesselink method; (vii) the physics of gas accretion onto supermassive black holes, via resolved observations of the central engines of luminous active galactic nuclei; and (viii) calibration of amplitude interferometers by providing a sample of calibrator stars.

• 천문학회지
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.103-106
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• 2005

The Submillimeter Array (SMA), a collaborative project of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics (ASIAA), has begun operation on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A total of eight 6-m radio telescopes comprise the array with currently working receiver bands at 230, 345, and 690 GHz. The array will have 8 receiver bands covering the frequency range of 180-900 GHz. The backend is flexible analog-digital correlator with a full bandwidth of 2GHz, which is very powerful to cover several line emissions simultaneously. The current status and future plans of the SMA are described with emphasis on Taiwanese efforts.

• 천문학논총
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• 제33권2호
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• pp.21-30
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• 2018

Formation processes of high-mass stars have been long-standing issues in astronomy and astrophysics. This is mainly because of major difficulties in observational studies such as a smaller number of high-mass young stellar objects (YSOs), larger distances, and more complex structures in young high-mass clusters compared with nearby low-mass isolated star-forming regions (SFRs), and extremely large opacity of interstellar dust except for centimeter to submillimeter wavelengths. High resolution and high sensitivity observations with Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) at millimeter/submillimeter wavelengths will overcome these observational difficulties even for statistical studies with increasing number of high-mass YSO samples. This review will summarize recent progresses in high-mass star-formation studies with ALMA such as clumps and filaments in giant molecular cloud complexes and infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), protostellar disks and outflows in dense cores, chemistry, masers, and accretion bursts in high-mass SFRs.

• 천문학논총
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.477-479
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• 2015

By probing nuclear regions and the overall properties of AGN hosts as a function of their environments, we aim to observationally examine how AGN activities are related to their surroundings. We have selected a representative sample of AGN hosts in the Virgo cluster. The selected galaxies are located in a range of density regions showing various morphologies in 1.4 GHz continuum emission. High-resolution observations with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) allow us to access the inner region of the AGN without suffering from dust extinction and synchrotron self-absorption. Since a number of our targets are too weak to be detected at K-band (22 GHz) within their coherence time, we applied phase referencing to calibrate fast atmospheric phase fluctuations.

• 한국광학회지
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• 제34권3호
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• pp.117-123
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• 2023

반사경의 광학면이 넓어질수록 높은 공간 주파수 형상이 광학계의 성능에 큰 영향을 주므로, 대형 반사경 성능 평가에서 이를 측정할 수 있어야 한다. 따라서 높은 주파수의 형상을 샘플링할 수 있는 고해상도 형상 측정 시스템이 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 반사경의 고해상도 형상 측정을 위한 회전 프리즘 정합 간섭계(rotational prism stitching interferometer, RPSI)라는 새로운 방법을 제안한다. RPSI는 기존에 사용되고 있는 상용 간섭계에 빔 확장 렌즈, 이송 거울, 회전 프리즘 등을 추가하여 구성되었으며, 간섭계를 움직이지 않고 원통 좌표계를 기준으로 전체 구경을 아우르는 부분 구경 형상들을 측정한다. 측정된 부분 구경들은 최소자승법을 이용한 부분 구경 정합법을 이용하여 정합되며, 빔확장 렌즈 배율의 제곱만큼 높은 샘플링 밀도로 전체 구경 형상 정보를 복원 가능하다. 3배율을 가지는 RPSI를 이용하여 직경 40 mm의 구면 반사경 형상을 측정하였고, 간섭계 단독으로 측정한 전체 구경 형상과 비교 검증하였다. 약 1 nm RMS의 근소한 차이로 유사한 형상을 잘 복원할 수 있었으며, 간섭계 단독으로 사용한 형상 측정 결과보다 렌즈의 배율의 제곱배만큼 향상된 샘플링 밀도로 형상 측정이 가능함을 확인하였다.

• 천문학회지
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• 제55권6호
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• pp.207-213
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• 2022

The Seoul Radio Astronomy Observatory (SRAO) operates a 6.1-meter radio telescope on the Gwanak campus of Seoul National University. We present the efforts to reform SRAO to a Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) station, motivated by recent achievements by millimeter interferometer networks such as Event Horizon Telescope, East Asia VLBI Network, and Korean VLBI Network (KVN). For this goal, we installed a receiver that had been used in the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy and a digital backend, including an H-maser clock. The existing hardware and software were also revised, which had been dedicated only to single-dish operations. After several years of preparations and test observations in 1 and 3-millimeter bands, a fringe was successfully detected toward 3C 84 in 86 GHz in June 2022 for a baseline between SRAO and KVN Ulsan station separated by 300 km. Thanks to the dual frequency operation of the receiver, the VLBI observations will soon be extended to the 1 mm band and verify the frequency phase referencing technique between 1 and 3-millimeter bands.

• 천문학회지
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.229-236
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• 2015

We report results of investigation of amplitude calibration for very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with Korean VLBI Network (KVN). Amplitude correction factors are estimated based on comparison of KVN observations at 22 GHz correlated by Daejeon hardware correlator and DiFX software correlator in Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) with Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations at 22 GHz by DiFX software correlator in National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). We used the observations for compact radio sources, 3C 454.3, NRAO 512, OJ 287, BL Lac, 3C 279, 1633+382, and 1510–089, which are almost unresolved for baselines in a range of 350-477 km. Visibility data of the sources obtained with similar baselines at KVN and VLBA are selected, fringe-fitted, calibrated, and compared for their amplitudes. We find that visibility amplitudes of KVN observations should be corrected by factors of 1.10 and 1.35 when correlated by DiFX and Daejeon correlators, respectively. These correction factors are attributed to the combination of two steps of 2-bit quantization in KVN observing systems and characteristics of Daejeon correlator.

• 천문학논총
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.71-87
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• 2011

Gravitational waves are predicted by the Einstein's theory of General Relativity. The direct detection of gravitational waves is one of the most challenging tasks in modern science and engineering due to the 'weak' nature of gravity. Recent development of the laser interferometer technology, however, makes it possible to build a detector on Earth that is sensitive up to 100-1000 Mpc for strong sources. It implies an expected detection rate of neutron star mergers, which are one of the most important targets for ground-based detectors, ranges between a few to a few hundred per year. Therefore, we expect that the gravitational-wave observation will be routine within several years. Strongest gravitational-wave sources include tight binaries composed of compact objects, supernova explosions, gamma-ray bursts, mergers of supermassive black holes, etc. Together with the electromagnetic waves, the gravitational wave observation will allow us to explore the most exotic nature of astrophysical objects as well as the very early evolution of the universe. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the theory of gravitational waves, principles of detections, gravitational-wave detectors, astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, and future prospects.