• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.37.3-38
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• 2016

Recent studies suggest that faint active galactic nuclei may be responsible for the reionization of the universe. Confirmation of this scenario requires spectroscopic identification of faint quasars ($M_{1450}$ > -24 mag) at z > 6, but only a very small number of such quasars have been spectroscopically identified so far. Here, we report the discovery of a faint quasar IMS J220417.92+011144.8 at z ~ 6 in a $12.5deg^2$ region of the SA22 field of the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS). The spectrum of the quasar shows a sharp break at ${\sim}8443{\AA}$, with emission lines redshifted to $z=5.944{\pm}0.002$ and rest-frame ultraviolet continuum magnitude $M_{1450}=-23.59{\pm}0.10$ AB mag. The discovery of IMS J220417.92+011144.8 is consistent with the expected number of quasars at z ~6 estimated from quasar luminosity functions based on previous observations of spectroscopically identified low-luminosity quasars. This suggest that the number of $M_{1450}$ ~ -23 mag quasars at z ~ 6 may not be high enough to fully account for the reionization of the universe. In addition, our study demonstrates that faint quasars in the early universe can be identified effectively with a moderately wide and deep near-infrared survey such as the IMS.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.36.1-36.1
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• 2016

The physical scenario describing the origin of quasar winds remains largely unsettled due to our failure to account for X-ray weak BAL quasars. We approach this problem by studying the relation between the inner part of the outflow which is likely to be shielding the X-ray emission and thereby helping to drive the UV winds characterised by broad absorption lines (BALs). In particular, we aim to probe the wind-shield connection in the highly X-ray variable BAL quasar PG 2112+059, which has exhibited periods of X-ray weakness and X-ray normality in the past. A set of two 20 ks Chandra observations and two contemporaneous HST observations, separated by at least eight months, combined with a nearly simultaneous archival Chandra-HST observation from 2002, afford us a unique opportunity to study the connection between the shield (which is thought to be responsible for the X-ray absorption) and the ionisation state of the wind (observed as UV BAL features; e.g., C IV and O VI lines) over various timescales.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.357-360
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• 2012

This paper presents $H{\alpha}$ emission line detections for four galaxies at z > 3.5 made with AKARI as part of the FUHYU mission program. These are the highest-redshift $H{\alpha}$ detections to date in star-forming galaxies. AKARI's unique near-infrared spectroscopic capability has made these detections possible. For two of these galaxies, this represents the first evidence of their redshifts and confirms their physical association with a companion radio galaxy. The star formation rates (SFRs) estimated from the $H{\alpha}$ lines under-predict the SFRs estimated from their far-infrared luminosities by a factor of ~ 2 - 3. We have also detected broad $H{\alpha}$ components in the two radio galaxies which indicate the presence of quasars.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.40.2-40.2
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• 2014

The connection between the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star formation activity is one of the most important issues in understanding the coevolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and galaxies. In our recent study, by using SDSS quasar spectra we found that the emission-line flux rations involving a nitrogen line, i.e., $NV{\lambda}1240$, correlate with the Eddington ratio. This correlation suggests that the mass accretion into SMBH is associated with a post-starburst phase, when AGB stars enrich the interstellar medium with the nitrogen. Moreover, we focused on nitrogen-loud quasars, which have prominent emission lines of the nitrogen, to investigate whether this argument is correct or not. We will present our recent results described above and discuss the relation between the star formation and feeding to SMBHs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.74.2-74.2
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• 2012

Metallicity is an important tracer of star formation in galaxy evolution. Based on the flux ratios of broad emission lines, AGN metallicity has shown a correlation with AGN luminosity. However, it is not clear what physical parameter drives the observed correlation. Using a sample 69 Palomar-Green QSOs at low-z (z<0.5), we determine BLR gas metallicity from emission line flux ratios, i.e., N V1240/C IV1549, (Si IV1398+O IV1402)/C IV1549 and N V1240/He II1640 based on the UV spectra from the HST and IUE archives. We compare BLR gas metallicity with various AGN properties, i.e., black hole mass, AGN luminosity and Eddington ratio, in order to investigate physical connection between metal enrichment and AGN activity. In contrast to high-z QSOs, which show the correlation between metallicity and black hole mass, we find that the metallicity of low-z QSOs correlates with Eddington ratio, but not with black hole mass, suggesting that metallicity enrichment mechanism is different between low-z and high-z.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.335-338
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• 2012

We present the $18{\mu}m$ luminosity function (LF) of galaxies at 0.006 < z < 0.8 (the average redshift is ~ 0.04) using the AKARI mid-infrared All-Sky Survey catalogue. We have selected 243 galaxies at $18{\mu}m$ from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopic region. These galaxies then have been classified into five types; Seyfert 1 galaxies (Sy1, including quasars), Seyfert 2 galaxies (Sy2), low ionization narrow emission line galaxies (LINER), galaxies that are likely to contain both star formation and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) activities (composites), and star forming galaxies (SF) using optical emission lines such as the line width of $H{\alpha}$ or the emission line ratios of [OIII]/$H{\beta}$ and [NII]/$H{\alpha}$. As a result of constructing the LF of Sy1 and Sy2, we found the following results; (i) the number density ratio of Sy2 to Sy1 is $1.64{\pm}0.37$, larger than the results obtained from optical LF and (ii) the fraction of Sy2 in the entire AGN population may decrease with $18{\mu}m$ luminosity. These results suggest that most of the AGNs in the local universe are obscured by dust and the torus structure probably depends on the mid-infrared luminosity.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.54.4-55
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• 2021

The Seoul National University AGN Monitoring Project (SAMP) is a welldesigned long-term AGN reverberation mapping project. SAMP focuses on the luminous AGNs out to z~0.5 with relative long time lags between AGN continuum and broad emission lines and aims to probe the high-end of the AGN broad line region (BLR) size-luminosity (R-L) relation. The pilot observations started in October 2015 for 100 AGNs to confirm the variability and the H and [O III] emission line strengths. Based on the initial variability test, 48 quasars has been continued spectroscopic monitoring since Feb. 2016 with Lick 3m and MDM 2.4m telescopes with a cadence of ~20 days. Supporting photometric monitoring in B and V band was conducted at multiple facilities including the MDM 1.3m, LOAO, and DOAO telescopes with a cadence of ~10 days. By the time of Feb. 2021, we have obtained five years spectroscopic and photometric data. More than 30 AGNs shows significant variability in five-year baseline and 16 of them show well detected lags between B-band and H. Here, we report some examples of SAMP light curves and lag detections using the first five-year data as well as the location of our 16 targets in the AGN BLR R-L relation. These measurements are consistent with the existing R-L relation and located at the high-end. With the coming data, SAMP are hopefully to report more AGNs with well detected lags. Our results demonstrate the general feasibility and potential of long-term reverberation project with medium cadence for luminous AGNs.