• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.165-170
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• 2018

The Galactic Center is one of the most dense stellar environments in the Galaxy and is considered to be a plausible place to harbor many neutron stars. In this brief review, we summarize observational efforts in search of neutron stars within a few degrees about the Galactic Center. Up to 10% of Galactic neutron stars may reside in this central region and it is possible that more than a thousand neutron stars are located within only ~ 2500 (${\leq}1pc$) about the Galactic Center. Based on observations, we discuss prospects of detecting neutron stars in the Galactic Center via gravitational waves as well as electromagnetic waves.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.573-576
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• 2015

Recent discovery of $2M_{\odot}$ neutron stars in white dwarf-neutron star binaries, PSR J1614-2230 and PSR J0348+0432, has given strong constraints on the maximum mass of neutron stars. On the other hand, all well-measured neutron star masses in double neutron star binaries are still less than $1.5M_{\odot}$. These observations suggest that the neutron star masses in binaries may depend on the evolution process of neutron star binaries. In addition, recent works on LMXB (low-mass X-ray binaries) provides us the possibility of estimating the masses and radii of accreting neutron stars in LMXBs. In this talk, we discuss the implications of recent neutron star observations to the neutron star equation of states and the related astrophysical problems. For the evolution of neutron star binaries, we also discuss the possibilities of super-Eddington accretion onto the primary neutron stars.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.64.1-64.1
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• 2021

Accretion flows around black holes and neutron stars emit high energy radiation with varying spectral and timing properties. Observed timing variations, both short and long-term, point to the existence of a mechanism, dictated by the flow dynamics, and not by the stellar surface or magnetic fields, that is common in both. Spectral energy distributions of multiple sources indicate that the Comptonization process, the dominant mechanism for changing states in X-ray, takes place inside the flow that has similar physical properties in both the objects. In a series of observational and numerical studies, we enquire about the following: 1. Is there a steady state configuration for accreting matter around black holes that can explain spectral and timing properties? 2. Could a similar formalism explain spectral and timing properties of accretion around neutron stars? 3. Could there be a generalized flow configuration for accreting matter around such compact objects? Furthermore, we show that a unified spectral model can be constructed based on the generalized flow configuration, common to black holes and neutron stars.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.47-64
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• 1992

Cores of globular clusters are an ideal place for close encounters between stars. The outcome of tidal capture can be stellar mergers, close binaries between normal stars (W UMa type), cataclysmic variables composed of white dwarf and normal star pairs, or low-mass X-ray binaries consisting of a neutron star and a normal star pairs. Stellar mergers can be the origin of blue stragglers in dense globular clusters although they are hard to observe. Low mass X-ray binaries would eventually become binary pulsars with short pulse periods after the neutron stars accrete sufficient amount of matter from the companion. However, large number of recently discovered, isolated millisecond pulsars (as opposed to binary pulsars) in globular clusters may imply that they do not have to gain angular speeds during the X-ray binary phase. We propose that these isolated millisecond pulsars may have formed through the disruptive encounters, which lead to the formation of accretion disk without Roche lobe filling companion, between a neutron star and a main-sequence star. Based on recently developed multicomponent models for the dynamical evolution of globular clusters, we compute the expected numbers of various systems formed by tidal capture as a function of time.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.55.2-55.2
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• 2018

Neutron stars (NS) are rapidly spinning compact objects. Their rotation energy is released by particles, electromagnetic waves, and even gravitational waves. The source of the energy is of course the rotation, so by studying the rotational properties of neutron stars, we can gain some insights into matter under extreme conditions. In particular, it is known that the braking index n is sensitive to the moment of inertia and/or NS winds. The neutron star PSR B0540-69 exhibits interesting timing behavior; previous measurements of the braking index for this pulsar may suggest a change in time. In order to see if the change is real, We investigate the timing properties of B0540-69 using recent ~1000-days Swift satellite data.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.27.4-28
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• 2021

Since the first direct detection of the gravitational waves in 2015, more than 50 events coming from the merging of compact binaries composed of black holes and neutron stars have been observed. The simultaneous detection of gravitational waves and electromagnetics waves from the merging of neutron stars opened up multi-messenger astronomy. The forthcoming observations with better sensitivity by the network of ground based detectors will enrich the gravitational wave source populations and provide valuable information regarding stellar evolution, dynamics of dense stellar systems, and star formation history across the cosmic time. The precision of the Hubble constant from the distance measurement of gravitational sources will improve with more binary neutron star events are observed together with the aftweglows. I will also briefly cover the expected scientiic outcomes from the future detectors that are sensitive to much lower frequenies than current detectors.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.161-168
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• 2010

Magnetars are neutron stars possessing a magnetic field of about $10^{14}-10^{15}$ G at the surface. Thermodynamic properties of neutron star matter, approximated by pure neutron matter, are considered at finite temperature in strong magnetic fields up to $10^{18}$ G which could be relevant for the inner regions of magnetars. In the model with the Skyrme effective interaction, it is shown that a thermodynamically stable branch of solutions for the spin polarization parameter corresponds to the case when the majority of neutron spins are oriented opposite to the direction of the magnetic field (i.e. negative spin polarization). Moreover, starting from some threshold density, the self-consistent equations have also two other branches of solutions, corresponding to positive spin polarization. The influence of finite temperatures on spin polarization remains moderate in the Skyrme model up to temperatures relevant for protoneutron stars. In particular, the scenario with the metastable state characterized by positive spin polarization, considered at zero temperature in Phys. Rev. C 80, 065801 (2009), is preserved at finite temperatures as well. It is shown that, above certain density, the entropy for various branches of spin polarization in neutron matter with the Skyrme interaction in a strong magnetic field shows the unusual behavior, being larger than that of the nonpolarized state. By providing the corresponding low-temperature analysis, we prove that this unexpected behavior should be related to the dependence of the entropy of a spin polarized state on the effective masses of neutrons with spin up and spin down, and to a certain constraint on them which is violated in the respective density range.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.6
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• pp.12.3-12.3
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• 1981

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.41-57
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• 2023

We measured temporal and emission properties of quiescent magnetars using archival Chandra and XMM-Newton data, produced a list of the properties for 17 magnetars, and revisited previously suggested correlations between the properties. Our studies carried out with a larger sample, better spectral characterizations, and more thorough analyses not only confirmed previously-suggested correlations but also found new ones. The observed correlations differ from those seen in other neutron-star populations but generally accord with magnetar models. Specifically, the trends of the intriguing correlations of blackbody luminosity (L_BB) with the spin-inferred dipole magnetic field strength (B_S) and characteristic age (τ_c) were measured to be L_BB ∝ B^1.5_S and L_BB ∝ τ^-0.6_c, supporting the twisted magnetosphere and magnetothermal evolution models for magnetars. We report the analysis results and discuss our findings in the context of magnetar models.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.53.1-53.1
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• 2007