• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.59-61
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• 2017

The AKARI 9 and 18 µm diffuse maps reveal the all-sky distribution of the interstellar medium with relatively high spatial resolution of ~6". The zodiacal light is a dominant foreground component in the mid-infrared. Thus, removal of the zodiacal light is a critical issue to study low surface brightness Galactic diffuse emission. We carried out modeling of the zodiacal light based on the Kelsall model which is constructed from the COBE data. In the previous study, only a time-varying component of the zodiacal light brightness was used for determination of the model parameters. However, there remains a residual component of the zodiacal light around the ecliptic plane even after removal with the model. Therefore, instead of using a time-varying component, we use the absolute brightness of the zodiacal light and we find that the new model can better remove the residual component. As a result, the best-fit model parameters are changed from those in the previous study. We discuss the properties of the zodiacal light based on our new result.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.141-145
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• 2017

We study $CO_2/H_2O$ ice abundance ratios in nearby galaxies using AKARI near-infrared slit spectroscopy. Past studies of the ices intensively examined $CO_2/H_2O$ ratios mainly in our Galaxy, and found that there were considerable variations in the $CO_2/H_2O$ ratios from object to object. The cause of the variations is, however, still under debate. As a result of the analysis of our sample that includes 1031 regions in 158 galaxies, the $CO_2/H_2O$ ratios are in a range of 0.05-0.30. In the dataset, we find that the $CO_2/H_2O$ ratios positively correlate with the $Br{\alpha}/PAH$ $3.3{\mu}m$ ratios which reflect the massive star formation activity. Furthermore, we find that the $CO_2/H_2O$ ratios positively correlate with the specific star formation rates of the galaxies where the ices are detected, that reflect the evolutionary stage of a galaxy. These results suggest that the $CO_2/H_2O$ ratios are enhanced in active star-forming regions and young galaxies.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.239-244
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• 2017

How does the presence of an AGN influence the total SFR estimates of galaxies and change their distribution with respect to the Galaxy Main Sequence? To contribute to solving this question, we study a sample of 1133 sources detected in the North Ecliptic Pole field (NEP) by AKARI and Herschel. We create a multi-wavelength dataset for these galaxies and we fit their multi-wavelength Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) using the whole spectral regime (from 0.1 to $500{\mu}m$). We perform the fit using three procedures: LePhare and two optimised codes for identifying AGN tracers from the SED analysis. In this work we present an overview of the comparison between the estimates of the Infrared bolometric luminosities (between 8 and $1000{\mu}m$) and the AGN fractions obtained exploiting these different procedures. In particular, by estimating the AGN contribution in four different wavelength ranges ($5-40{\mu}m$, $10-20{\mu}m$, $20-40{\mu}m$ and $8-1000{\mu}m$) we show how the presence of an AGN affects the PAH emission by suppressing the ratio $\frac{L_{8{\mu}m}}{L_{4.5{\mu}m}}$ as a function of the considered wavelength range.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.189-191
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• 2017

We performed systematic observations of the H $\small{I}$ $Br{\alpha}$ line ($4.05{\mu}m$) in 51 nearby (z<0.3) ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), using AKARI near-infrared spectroscopy. The $Br{\alpha}$ line is predicted to be the brightest among the H ${\small{I}}$ recombination lines in ULIRGs with visual extinction higher than 15 mag. We detected the $Br{\alpha}$ line in 33 ULIRGs. In these galaxies, the relative contribution of starburst to the total infrared luminosity ($L_{IR}$) is estimated on the basis of the ratio of the $Br{\alpha}$ line luminosity ($L_{Br{\alpha}}$) to $L_{IR}$. The mean $L_{Br{\alpha}}/L_{IR}$ ratio in LINERs or Seyferts is significantly lower (~50%) than that in H $\small{II}$ galaxies. This result indicates that active galactic nuclei contribute significantly (~50%) to $L_{IR}$ in LINERs, as well as Seyferts. We also estimate the absolute contribution of starburst to $L_{IR}$ using the ratio of star formation rates (SFRs) derived from $L_{Br{\alpha}}$ ($SFR_{Br{\alpha}}$) and those needed to explain $L_{IR}$ ($SFR_{IR}$). The mean $SFR_{Br{\alpha}}/SFR_{IR}$ ratio is only 0.33 even in H $\small{II}$ galaxies, where starburst is supposed to dominate the luminosity. We attribute this apparently low $SFR_{Br{\alpha}}/SFR_{IR}$ ratio to the absorption of ionizing photons by dust within H $\small{II}$ regions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.66.3-67
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• 2021

Low-mass stars form by the gravitational collapse of dense molecular cores. Observations and theories of low-mass protostars both suggest that accretion bursts happen in timescales of ~100 years with high accretion rates, so called episodic accretion. One mechanism that triggers accretion bursts is infalling fragments from the outer disk. Such fragmentation happens when the disk is massive enough, preferentially activated during the embedded phase of star formation (Class 0 and I). Most observations and models focus on the gas structure of the protostars undergoing episodic accretion. However, the dust and ice composition are poorly understood, but crucial to the chemical evolution through thermal and energetic processing via accretion burst. During the burst phase, the surrounding material is heated up, and the chemical compositions of gas and ice in the disk and envelope are altered by sublimation of icy molecules from grain surfaces. Such alterations leave imprints in the ice composition even when the temperature returns to the pre-burst level. Thus, chemical compositions of gas and ice retain the history of past bursts. Infrared spectral observations of the Spitzer and AKARI revealed a signature caused by substantial heating, toward many embedded protostars at the quiescent phase. We present the AKARI IRC 2.5-5.0 ㎛ spectra for embedded protostars to trace down the characteristics of accretion burst across the evolutionary stages. The ice compositions obtained from the absorption features therein are used as a clock to measure the timescale after the burst event, comparing the analyses of the gas component that traced the burst frequency using the different refreeze-out timescales. We discuss ice abundances, whose chemical change has been carved in the icy mantle, during the different timescales after the burst ends.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제40권1호
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• pp.75.3-75.3
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• 2015

Large area infrared surveys are often accompanied with follow-up optical spectroscopic surveys that has a significant legacy value even for other areas of research. Using these spectral database, we have performed a search for MgII absorption lines in the optical spectrum of background quasar. Over the ~4deg2 of AKARI North Ecliptic Pole survey field and Spitzer First Look Survey field, 18 and 16 MgII absorber systems are identified respectively. The redshift range for the background quasars was 1.0<$z_{qso}$<3.4, while the redshift range for the absorber was 0.6<$z_{abs}$<1.6. Galaxies responsible for MgII absorptions are identified in the deep optical images (CFHT r-band), yet the identification still remains ambiguous for 60% of the systems due to the limited image depth and the source crowdedness. The impact parameter ranges 20-60kpc, and the rest-frame equivalent width of MgII absorption ranges $0.7-4{\AA}$. The most critical part in the identification of MgII absorber galaxies is the existence of deep optical images in addition to the high S/N quasar spectrum with R>3000.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.293-294
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• 2012

We established a separation scheme to distinguish galaxies from stars with the aid of AKARI/FIS color-color (CC) diagrams. In all the combinations of CC diagrams we can distinguish two separate clouds. It was shown that in all cases one of them contains more than 95% of galaxies and the other one, in most cases, consists in more than 80% of stars (Pollo et al., 2010). Currently we are looking into more detailed classifications. We are especially interested in separating different morphological types of galaxies, mainly within spiral galaxies. Moreover, we study the properties of infrared galaxies.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.147-148
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• 2012

We present a photometric catalog of infrared (IR) sources based on the North Ecliptic Pole Wide field (NEP-Wide) survey of AKARI, which covered a 5.4 $deg^2$ circular area centered on NEP. The catalog contains about 115,000 sources detected at the 9 IRC filter bands, comprehensively covering a wavelength range from 2 to $24{\mu}m$. This is a band-merged catalog including all of the photometry results from the supplementary optical data as well as the IRC bands. To validate a source at a given IRC band, we searched for counterparts in the other bands. The band-merging was done based on this cross-matching of the sources among the filter bands. The NIR sources without any counterpart in any other bands are finally excluded to avoid false objects.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.345-346
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• 2012

Starting from an infrared selected GALEX-SDSS-2MASS-AKARI sample of local star forming galaxies, we built mock samples from redshift 0 to 2.5 to investigate star formation rate (SFR) calibrations using WISE luminosities. We find W3 and W4 band fluxes can indicate SFRs with small scatters when the rest-frame wavelengths are longer than ${\sim}6{\mu}m$. When the wavelength becomes shorter, the observed luminosities are more tightly connected to the emission of old stellar populations than dust, therefore lose the reliability to trace the SFR. The current SFR calibrations are consistent with previous studies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.58.1-58.1
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• 2008