• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.171-183
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• 2018

To celebrate the tenth anniversary since the launch of Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, we take a retrospect to a series of breakthroughs Fermi has contributed to pulsar astronomy in the last decade. Apart from significantly enlarging the population of ${\gamma}$-ray pulsars, observations with the Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi also show the population is not homogeneous. Instead, many classes and sub-classes have been revealed. In this paper, we will review the properties of different types of ${\gamma}$-ray pulsars, including radio-quiet ${\gamma}$-ray pulsars, millisecond pulsars, ${\gamma}$-ray binaries. Also, we will discuss the prospects of pulsar astronomy in the high energy regime.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2019

We report on the timing properties of the 'Crab twin' pulsar PSR B0540-69 measured with X-ray data taken with the Swift telescope over a period of 1100 days. The braking index of the pulsar was estimated to be $n=0.03{\pm}0.013$ in a previous study performed in 2015 with 500-day Swift data. This small value of n is unusual for pulsars, and a comparison with an old estimate of $n{\approx}2.1$ for the same target determined ~10 years earlier suggests a dramatic change in the braking index. To confirm the small value and therefore the large change of n, we used 1100-day Swift observations including the data used in the earlier determination of n = 0.03. In this study we find that the braking index of PSR B0540-69 is $n=0.163{\pm}0.001$, somewhat larger than 0.03. Since the measured value of n is still much smaller than 2.1, we can confirm the dramatic change in the braking index for this pulsar.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.577-581
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• 2015

The main goals of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project are to 1) detect ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves, 2) improve the solar system planetary ephemeris and 3) provide a long-term, stable time standard. In this paper, we highlight the main results from the project so far and discuss our expectations for the future.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 1996

We have examined consequences of strong tidal encounters between a neutron star and a normal star using SPH as a possible formation mechanism of isolated recycled pulsars in globular clusters. We have made a number of SPH simulations for close encounters between a main-sequence star of mass ranging from 0.2 to 0.7 $M_\bigodot$ represented by an n=3/2 poly trope and a neutron star represented by a point mass. The outcomes of the first encounters are found to be dependent only on the dimensionless parameter $\eta'{\equiv}(m/(m+ M))^{1/2}(\gamma_{min}/R_{MS})^{3/2}(m/M)^{{1/6)}$, where m and M are the mass of the main-sequence star and the neutron star, respectively, $\gamma_{min}$ the minimum separation between two stars, and $R_{MS}$ the size of the main-sequence star. The material from the (at least partially) disrupted star forms a disk around the neutron star. If all material in the disk is to be acctreted onto the neutron star's surface, the mass of the disk is enough to spin up the neutron star to spin period of 1 ms.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2021

We report X-ray timing and spectral properties of the pulsar PSR J0205+6449 measured using NuSTAR and Chandra observatories. We measure the pulsar's rotation frequency ν = 15.20102357(9) s-1 and its derivative $\dot{\nu}=-4.5(1){\times}10^{-11}\;s^{-2}$ during the observation period, and model the 2-30 keV on-pulse spectrum of the pulsar with a power law having a photon index Γpsr = 1.07 ± 0.16 and a 2-30 keV flux F2-30 keV = 7.3±0.6 × 10-13 erg cm-2 s-1. The Chandra 0.5-10 keV data are analyzed for an investigation of the pulsar's thermal emission properties. We use thermal and non-thermal emission models to fit the Chandra spectra and infer the surface temperature T∞ and luminosity Lth of the neutron star to be T∞ = 0.5 - 0.8 MK and Lth = 1 - 5 × 1032 erg s-1. This agrees with previous results which indicated that PSR J0205+6449 has a low surface temperature and luminosity for its age of 800-5600 yrs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.77.1-77.1
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• 2014

Gravitational waves predicted by the general relativity almost 100 years ago have been implicated indirectly only by astrophysical observations such as the orbital evolution of binary pulsars. The advanced detectors of gravitational waves will become operational in a few years and they are expected to make direct detection of gravitational wave signal coming from merging of binaries composed of neutron stars or stellar mass black holes from external galaxies. Korean Gravitational Wave Group (KGWG) is contributing to the possible detection through the data analysis of LIGO and Virgo. We summarize the perspectives of the gravitational wave research and the impacts of the detection in the near future in astronomy and astrophysics.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.15-39
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• 2014

Polarization is a basic property of light and is fundamentally linked to the internal geometry of a source of radiation. Polarimetry complements photometric, spectroscopic, and imaging analyses of sources of radiation and has made possible multiple astrophysical discoveries. In this article I review (i) the physical basics of polarization: electromagnetic waves, photons, and parameterizations; (ii) astrophysical sources of polarization: scattering, synchrotron radiation, active media, and the Zeeman, Goldreich-Kylafis, and Hanle effects, as well as interactions between polarization and matter (like birefringence, Faraday rotation, or the Chandrasekhar-Fermi effect); (iii) observational methodology: on-sky geometry, influence of atmosphere and instrumental polarization, polarization statistics, and observational techniques for radio, optical, and $X/{\gamma}$ wavelengths; and (iv) science cases for astronomical polarimetry: solar and stellar physics, planetary system bodies, interstellar matter, astrobiology, astronomical masers, pulsars, galactic magnetic fields, gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, and cosmic microwave background radiation.

• 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.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.173-180
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• 2019

We present IR flux density measurements, models of the broadband SED, and results of SED modeling for the Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN) 3C 58. We find that the Herschel flux density seems to be slightly lower than suggested by interpolation of previous measurements in nearby wavebands, implying that there may be multiple electron populations in 3C 58. We model the SED using a simple stationary one-zone and a more realistic time-evolving multi-zone scenario. The latter includes variations of flow properties in the PWN (injected energy, magnetic field, and bulk speed), radiative energy losses, adiabatic expansion, and diffusion, similar to previous PWN models. From the modeling, we find that a PWN age of 2900-5400 yrs is preferred and that there may be excess emission at ${\sim}10^{11}Hz$. The latter may imply multiple populations of electrons in the PWN.

• 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.