• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.59.2-59.2
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• 2020

Disks around protostars are the birthplace of planets. The first step toward planet formation is grain growth from ㎛-sized grains to mm/cm-sized grains in a disk, particularly in dense regions. In order to study whether grains grow and segregate at the protostellar stage, we investigate the ALMA Band 3 (3.1 mm) and 7 (0.87 mm) dust continuum observations of the protostellar disk WL 17 in ρ Ophiuchus L1688 cloud. As reported in a previous study, the Band 3 image shows substructures: a narrow ring and a large central hole. On the other hand, the Band 7 image shows different substructures: a non-axisymmetric ring and an off-center hole. The two-band observations provide a mean spectral index of 2.3, which suggests the presence of mm/cm-sized large grains. Its non-axisymmetric distribution may imply dust segregation between small and large grains. We perform radiative transfer modeling to examine the size and spatial distributions of dust grains in the WL 17 disk. The best-fit model suggests that large grains (>1 cm) exist in the disk, settling down toward the midplane, whereas small grains (~10 ㎛) well mixed with gas are distributed off-center and non-axisymmetrically in a thick layer. The low spectral index and the modeling results suggest that grains rapidly grow at the protostellar stage and that grains differently distribute depending on sizes, resulting in substructures varying with observed wavelengths. To understand the differential grain distributions and substructures, we discuss the effects of the protoplanet(s) expected inside the large hole and the possibility of gravitational instability.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.9-23
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• 2010

In this paper we examined the association of Infrared Dark Cloud (IRDC) cores with YSOs and the geometric properties of the IRDC cores. For this study a total of 13,650 IRDC cores were collected mainly from the catalogs of the IRDC cores published from other studies and partially from our catalog of IRDC cores containing new 789 IRDC core candidates. The YSO candidates were searched for using the GLIMPSE, MSX, and IRAS point sources by the shape of their SED or using activity of water or methanol maser. The association of the IRDC cores with these YSOs was checked by their line-of-sight coincidence within the dimension of the IRDC core. This work found that a total of 4,110 IRDC cores have YSO candidates while 9,540 IRDC cores have no indication of the existence of YSOs. Considering the 12,200 IRDC cores within the GLIMPSE survey region for which the YSO candidates were determined with better sensitivity, we found that 4,098 IRDC cores (34%) have at least one YSO candidate and 1,072 cores among them seem to have embedded YSOs, while the rest 8,102 (66%) have no YSO candidate. Therefore, the ratio of [N(IRDC core with protostars)]/[N(IRDC core without YSO)] for 12,200 IRDC cores is about 0.13. Taking into account this ratio and typical lifetime of high-mass embedded YSOs, we suggest that the IRDC cores would spend about $10^4\sim10^5$ years to form high-mass stars. However, we should note that the GLIMPSE point sources have a minimum detectable luminosity of about $1.2 L_{\odot}$ at a typical IRDC core's distance of ~4 kpc. Therefore, the ratio given here should be a 100ver limit and the estimated lifetime of starless IRDC cores can be an upper limit. The physical parameters of the IRDC cores somewhat vary depending on how many YSO candidates the IRDC cores contain. The IRDC cores with more YSOs tend to be larger, more elongated, and have better darkness contrast than the IRDC cores with fewer or no YSOs.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.111-116
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• 2012

Far-infrared observations provide crucial data for the investigation and characterisation of the properties of dusty material in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), since most of its energy is emitted between ~ 100 and $200{\mu}m$. We present the first all-sky image from a sensitive all-sky survey using the Japanese AKARI satellite, in the wavelength range $50-180{\mu}m$. Covering > 99% of the sky in four photometric bands with four filters centred at $65{\mu}m$, $90{\mu}m$, $140{\mu}m$, and $160{\mu}m$ wavelengths, this achieved spatial resolutions from 1 to 2 arcmin and a detection limit of < 10 MJy $sr^{-1}$, with absolute and relative photometric accuracies of < 20%. All-sky images of the Galactic dust continuum emission enable astronomers to map the large-scale distribution of the diffuse ISM cirrus, to study its thermal dust temperature, emissivity and column density, and to measure the interaction of the Galactic radiation field and embedded objects with the surrounding ISM. In addition to the point source population of stars, protostars, star-forming regions, and galaxies, the high Galactic latitude sky is shown to be covered with a diffuse filamentary-web of dusty emission that traces the potential sites of high latitude star formation. We show that the temperature of dust particles in thermal equilibrium with the ambient interstellar radiation field can be estimated by using $90{\mu}m$, $140{\mu}m$, and $160{\mu}m$ data. The FIR AKARI full-sky maps provide a rich new data set within which astronomers can investigate the distribution of interstellar matter throughout our Galaxy, and beyond.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 2015

The physical and chemical properties of prestellar cores, especially massive ones, are still far from being well understood due to the lack of a large sample. The low dust temperature (< 14 K) of Planck cold clumps makes them promising candidates for prestellar objects or for sources at the very initial stages of protostellar collapse. We have been conducting a series of observations toward Planck cold clumps (PCCs) with ground-based radio telescopes. In general, when compared with other star forming samples (e.g. infrared dark clouds), PCCs are more quiescent, suggesting that most of them may be in the earliest phase of star formation. However, some PCCs are associated with protostars and molecular outflows, indicating that not all PCCs are in a prestellar phase. We have identified hundreds of starless dense clumps from a mapping survey with the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) 13.7-m telescope. Follow-up observations suggest that these dense clumps are ideal targets to search for prestellar objects.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.645-647
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• 2015

We have initiated a Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) monitoring project of 36 methanol maser sources at 6.7 GHz using the Japanese VLBI Network (JVN) and East-Asian VLBI Network (EAVN), starting in August 2010. The purpose of this project is to systematically reveal 3-dimensional (3-D) kine-matics of rotating disks around forming high-mass protostars. As an initial result, we present proper mo- tion detections for two methanol maser sources showing an elliptical spatial morphology, G 002.53+00.19 and G 006.79-00.25, which could be the best candidates associated with the disk. The detected proper motions indicate a simple rotation in G 002.53+00.19 and rotation with expansion in G 006.79-00.25, respectively, on the basis of disk model fits with rotating and expanding components. The expanding motions might be caused by the magnetic-centrifugal wind on the disk.