• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.153-155
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• 2007

We have analyzed H and $K_s$-band images of the Arches cluster obtained using the NIRC2 instrument on Keck with the laser guide star adaptive optics (LGS AO) system. With the help of the LGS AO system, we were able to obtain the deepest ever photometry for this cluster and its neighborhood, and derive the background-subtracted present-day mass function (PDMF) down to $1.3M_{\bigodot}$ for the 5"-9" annulus of the cluster. We find that the previously reported turnover at $6M_{\bigodot}$ is simply due to a local bump in the mass function (MF), and that the MF continues to increase down to our 50 % completeness limit ($1.3M_{\bigodot}$) with a power-law exponent of ${\Gamma}$ = -0.91 for the mass range of 1.3 < M/$M_{\bigodot}$ < 50. Our numerical calculations for the evolution of the Arches cluster show that the ${\Gamma}$ values for our annulus increase by 0.1-0.2 during the lifetime of the cluster, and thus suggest that the Arches cluster initially had ${\Gamma}$ of $-1.0{\sim}-1.1$, which is only slightly shallower than the Salpeter value.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.183-186
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• 2007

The spectroscopic properties of bright extragalactic planetary nebulae are reviewed, considering primarily their chemical abundances and their internal kinematics. Low-resolution spectroscopy is used to investigate how the precursor stars of bright planetary nebulae modify their original composition through nucleosynthesis and dredge up. At present, the evidence indicates that oxygen and neon abundances usually remain unchanged, helium abundances are typically enhanced by less than 50%, while nitrogen enhancements span a very wide range. Interpreting these changes in terms of the masses of their progenitor stars implies that the progenitor stars typically have masses or order $1.5M_{\bigodot}$ or less, though no models satisfactorily explain the nitrogen enrichment. High-resolution spectroscopy is used to study the internal kinematics of bright planetary nebulae in Local Group galaxies. At first sight, the expansion velocities are remarkably uniform, with a typical expansion velocity of 18 km/s and a range of 8-28 km/s, independent of the progenitor stellar population. Upon closer examination, bright planetary nebulae in the bulge of M31 expand slightly faster than their counterparts in M31's disk, a result that may extend generally to the planetary nebulae arising from old and young stellar populations. There are no very strong correlations between expansion velocity and global nebular properties, except that there are no large expansion velocities at the highest $H{\beta}$ luminosities (i.e., the youngest objects never expand rapidly). These results independently suggest that bright planetary nebulae arise from a similar mass range in all galaxies. Nonetheless, there are good reasons to believe that bright planetary nebulae do not arise from identical progenitor stars in all galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.42.1-42.1
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• 2017

We investigate the evolutionary properties of red supergiant stars (RSGs), using stellar evolution model of Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA). In this study, we calculate models with mass range of 9-39M_sun and several different convection parameters (e.g. mixing length, overshooting, and semiconvection) at SMC, LMC, Milky Way, and M31 metallicities. We compare the calculated evolutionary tracks with observed RSGs in SMC, LMC, Milky Way and M31, and discuss appropriate input physical parameters in model calculation. We find that a larger mixing length parameter is necessary for M31 metallicity to fit the positions of RSGs in H-R diagram, compared to lower metallicity environments. Theoretically predicted numbers of yellow supergiant stars (YSGs) are also compared with the observed population. We find that Ledoux models with semiconvection can better explain the number of YSGs. Finally, we investigate the final radius, final star mass, and final hydrogen envelope mass of RSGs and discussed the their properties as type II-P supernova progenitors.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.35.2-35.2
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• 2009

One possible channel for the formation of dwarf galaxies involves birth in the tidal tails of interacting galaxies. We report the detection of a bright UV tidal tail and several young tidal dwarf galaxy candidates in the post-merger galaxy NGC 4922 in the Coma cluster. Based on a two-component population model (combining young and old stellar populations), we find that its light predominantly comes from young stars (a few Myr old). The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) ultraviolet data played a critical role in the parameter (age and mass) estimation. Our stellar mass estimates of the tidal dwarf galaxy candidates are ~10^{6-7} M_sun, typical for dwarf galaxies.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2015

How high-mass stars form is currently unclear. Calculations suggest that the radiation pressure of a forming star can halt spherical infall, preventing further growth when it reaches $10M_{\odot}$. Two major theoretical models on the further growth of stellar mass have been proposed. One model suggests the merging of less massive stellar objects, and the other is through accretion, but with the help of a disk. Inflow motions are key evidence for how forming stars gain further mass to build up massive stars. Recent developments in technology have boosted the search for inflow motion. A number of high-mass collapse candidates were obtained with single dish observations, and mostly showed blue profiles. Infalling signatures seem to be more common in regions which have developed radiation pressure than in younger cores, which is the opposite of the theoretical prediction and is also very different from observations of low mass star formation. Interferometer studies so far confirm this tendency with more obvious blue profiles or inverse P Cygni profiles. Results seem to favor the accretion model. However, the evolution of the infall motion in massive star forming cores needs to be further explored. Direct evidence for monolithic or competitive collapse processes is still lacking. ALMA will enable us to probe more detail of the gravitional processes.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.535-537
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• 2015

Interpreting ultraviolet-to-infrared (UV-to-IR) observations of galaxies in terms of constraints on physical parameters-such as stellar mass ($M_{\ast}$) and star formation rate (SFR)-requires spectral synthesis modelling. We investigate how increasing the level of sophistication of the standard simplifying assumptions of such models can improve estimates of galaxy physical parameters. To achieve this, we compile a sample of 1048 galaxies at redshifts 0.7 < z < 2.8 with accurate photometry at rest-frame UV to near-IR wavelengths from the 3D-HST Survey. We compare the spectral energy distributions of these galaxies with those from different model spectral libraries to derive estimates of the physical parameters. We find that spectral libraries including sophisticated descriptions of galaxy star formation histories (SFHs) and prescriptions for attenuation by dust and nebular emission provide a much better representation of the observations than 'classical' spectral libraries, in which galaxy SFHs are assumed to be exponentially declining functions of time, associated with a simple prescription for dust attenuation free of nebular emission. As a result, for the galaxies in our sample, $M_{\ast}$ derived using classical spectral libraries tends to be systematically overestimated and SFRs systematically underestimated relative to the values derived adopting a more realistic spectral library. We conclude that the sophisticated approach considered here is required to reliably interpret fundamental diagnostics of galaxy evolution.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.69.2-69.2
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• 2012

NGC 6861 is the brightest S0 galaxy in the Telescopium group. It has unusually high central stellar velocity dispersion (~400 km/s) and clear rotation (~250 km/s). Considering the well-known M-sigma relation, this large central dispersion implies that the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) has mass comparable to the most massive black holes in the Universe. However, the mass implied by the bulge luminosity-SMBH mass relation is an order of magnitude lower than that predicted by the M-sigma relation. In order to determine the origin of this inconsistency, we obtain integral field spectroscopy using the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) on the ANU 2.3m telescope. The data are used to map the velocity and velocity dispersion fields which show that our measurements are consistent with those from the other literature. The large field of view the WiFeS observations have allows us to map the kinematics of a much greater portion of NGC 6861 and reveals that the eastern part of the galaxy has higher velocity and dispersion than the rest of halo. We discuss the origin of the unusual fast rotation and the discrepancy of two SMBH mass estimations from three plausible perspectives: 1) the interaction between subgroups of NGC 6861 and its counterpart, NGC 6868; 2) the inhibited growth of the stellar bulge by the AGN activity which leads to an underestimate the SMBH mass when using the bulge luminosity-SMBH mass relation; and 3) gas rich minor mergers that could be crucial for increasing both rotation velocity and velocity dispersion during the evolution of NGC 6861.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2000

We have performed extensive simulations of response of gaseous disk in barred galaxies using SPH method. The gravitational potential is assumed to be generated by disk, bulge, halo, and bar. The mass of gaseous disk in SPH simulation is assumed to be negligible compared to the stellar and dark mass component, and the gravitational potential generated by other components is fixed in time. The self-gravity of the gas is not considered in most simulations, but we have made a small set of simulations including the self-gravity of the gas. Non-circular component of velocity generated by the rotating, non-axisymmetric potential causes many interesting features. In most cases, there is a strong tendency of concentration of gas toward the central parts of the galaxy. The morphology of the gas becomes quite complex, but the general behavior can be understood in terms of simple linear approximations: the locations and number of Lindblad resonances play critical role in determining the general distribution of the gas. We present our results in the form of 'atlas' of artificial galaxies. We also make a brief comment on the observational implications of our calculations. Since the gaseous component show interesting features while the stellar component behaves more smoothly, high resolution mapping using molecular emission line for barred galaxies would be desirable.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.35.3-36
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• 2018

One of the most prevalent knowledge about disk galaxies, which dominate the population of the local Universe, is that they consist of stellar structures with different kinematics, such as thin disk, bulge, and halo. Therefore, investigating when and how these components develop in a galaxy is the key to understanding the evolution of galaxies. Using the NewHorizon simulation, we can resolve the detailed structures of galaxies, in the field environment, from the early Universe where star formation and mergers were most active. We first decompose stellar particles in a galaxy into a disk and a dispersion-dominated, spheroidal, component based on their orbits and then see how these components evolve in terms of mass and structure. At high redshift z~3, galaxies are mostly dispersion-dominated as stars are formed misaligned with the galactic rotational axis. At z=1~2, massive galaxies start to dominantly form disk stars, while less massive galaxies do much later. Furthermore, massive galaxies are forming thinner and larger disks with time, and the preexistent disks are heated or even disrupted to become a part of dispersion-dominated component. Thus, the mass growth of spheroidal components at later epochs is dominated by disrupted stars with disk origins and accreted stars at large radii.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.59.2-59.2
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• 2018

We introduce a new project of constructing a large spectro-photometric samples of metal-poor (i.e. [Fe/H] < -1.0) subdwarfs in the Galactic halo. The sample is collected from a compilation of the stellar objects that are cross-identified both in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and recently published data from GAIA mission. The color range of the selected stars covers 0.0 < (g-r) < 2.0; thus the spectral types of our sample span from early F- through late K-type stars on the metal-poor main sequence (i.e. the local subdwarf sequence). We scrutinized the physical, chemical, and kinematical properties of our samples using their SDSS medium-resolution (R ~ 2000) spectra, combined with accurately measured proper motions from GAIA satellite. Our study will provide useful information on the global trend in the various properties (e.g. abundance pattern as a function of the galactocentric distance; rotational velocity vs [Fe/H] ${\cdots}$ etc) of the metal-poor subdwarf populations in the Galactic halo, which is ultimately important to better understand metal-poor stellar evolutionary models and chemical evolution of the Milky Way halo in the early phase of its formation. Further our comprehensive catalog of the Galactic field halo subdwarfs collected in this study will serve a solid groundwork for future follow-up high resolution spectroscopic observations on many interesting individual targets.