• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.101-106
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• 2013

The length of solar cycle 23 has been prolonged up to about 13 years. Many studies have speculated that the solar cycle 23/24 minimum will indicate the onset of a grand minimum of solar activity, such as the Maunder Minimum. We check the trends of solar (sunspot number, solar magnetic fields, total solar irradiance, solar radio flux, and frequency of solar X-ray flare), interplanetary (interplanetary magnetic field, solar wind and galactic cosmic ray intensity), and geomagnetic (Ap index) parameters (SIG parameters) during solar cycles 21-24. Most SIG parameters during the period of the solar cycle 23/24 minimum have remarkably low values. Since the 1970s, the space environment has been monitored by ground observatories and satellites. Such prevalently low values of SIG parameters have never been seen. We suggest that these unprecedented conditions of SIG parameters originate from the weakened solar magnetic fields. Meanwhile, the deep 23/24 solar cycle minimum might be the portent of a grand minimum in which the global mean temperature of the lower atmosphere is as low as in the period of Dalton or Maunder minimum.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.145-155
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• 2016

The Sausage radio relic is the arc-like radio structure in the cluster CIZA J2242.8+5301, whose observed properties can be best understood by synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons accelerated at a merger-driven shock. However, there remain a few puzzles that cannot be explained by the shock acceleration model with only in-situ injection. In particular, the Mach number inferred from the observed radio spectral index, M_radio ≈ 4.6, while the Mach number estimated from X-ray observations, M_X−ray ≈ 2.7. In an attempt to resolve such a discrepancy, here we consider the re-acceleration model in which a shock of M_s ≈ 3 sweeps through the intracluster gas with a pre-existing population of relativistic electrons. We find that observed brightness profiles at multi frequencies provide strong constraints on the spectral shape of pre-existing electrons. The models with a power-law momentum spectrum with the slope, s ≈ 4.1, and the cutoff Lorentz factor, γ_e,c ≈ 3−5×10⁴, can reproduce reasonably well the observed spatial profiles of radio fluxes and integrated radio spectrum of the Sausage relic. The possible origins of such relativistic electrons in the intracluster medium remain to be investigated further.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.101.2-101.2
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• 2011

We have developed solar and space weather monitoring system for space weather users since 2007 as a project named 'Construction of Korea Space Weather Prediction Center'. In this presentation we will introduce space weather monitoring system for Geostationary Satellites and Polar Routes. These were developed for satisfying demands of space weather user groups. 'Space Weather Monitoring System for Geostationary Satellites' displays integrated space weather information on geostationary orbit such as magnetopause location, nowcast and forecast of space weather, cosmic ray count rate, number of meteors and x-ray solar flux. This system is developed for space weather customers who are managing satellite systems or using satellite information. In addition, this system provides space weather warning by SMS in which short message is delivered to users' cell phones when space weather parameters reach a critical value. 'Space Weather Monitoring System for Polar Routes' was developed for the commercial airline companies operating polar routes. This provides D-region and polar cap absorption map, aurora and radiation particle distribution, nowcast and forecast of space weather, proton flux, Kp index and so on.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.42.1-42.1
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• 2018

Collisionless shocks with low sonic Mach numbers, M<4, are expected to accelerate cosmic ray (CR) protons via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) in the intracluster medium (ICM). However, observational evidence for CR protons in the ICM has yet to be established. Performing particle-in-cell simulations, we study the injection of protons into DSA and the early development of a nonthermal particle population in weak shocks in high ${\beta}$ plasmas. Reflection of incident protons, self-excitation of plasma waves via CR-driven instabilities, and multiple cycles of shock drift acceleration are essential to the early acceleration of CR protons in supercritical quasi-parallel shocks. We find that only in ICM shocks with $M{\geq}2.3$, a sufficient fraction of incoming protons are reflected by the overshoot in the shock electric potential and magnetic mirror at locally perpendicular magnetic fields, leading to efficient excitation of magnetic waves via CR streaming instabilities and the injection into the DSA process. Since a significant fraction of ICM shocks have M < 2.3 CR proton acceleration in the ICM might be less efficient than previously expected. This may explain why the diffuse gamma-ray emission from galaxy clusters due to proton-proton collisions has not been detected so far.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.181-189
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• 2012

To broaden the understanding of classical Cepheid structure, evolution and atmospheres, we have extended our continuing secret lives of Cepheids program by obtaining XMM/Chandra X-ray observations, and Hubble space telescope (HST) / cosmic origins spectrograph (COS) FUV-UV spectra of the bright, nearby Cepheids Polaris, ${\delta}$ Cep and ${\beta}$ Dor. Previous studies made with the international ultraviolet explorer (IUE) showed a limited number of UV emission lines in Cepheids. The well-known problem presented by scattered light contamination in IUE spectra for bright stars, along with the excellent sensitivity & resolution combination offered by HST/COS, motivated this study, and the spectra obtained were much more rich and complex than we had ever anticipated. Numerous emission lines, indicating $10^4$ K up to ${\sim}3{\times}10^5$ K plasmas, have been observed, showing Cepheids to have complex, dynamic outer atmospheres that also vary with the photospheric pulsation period. The FUV line emissions peak in the phase range ${\varphi}{\approx}0.8-1.0$ and vary by factors as large as $10{\times}$. A more complete picture of Cepheid outer atmospheres is accomplished when the HST/COS results are combined with X-ray observations that we have obtained of the same stars with XMM-Newton & Chandra. The Cepheids detected to date have X-ray luminosities of log $L_X{\approx}28.5-29.1$ ergs/sec, and plasma temperatures in the $2-8{\times}106$ K range. Given the phase-timing of the enhanced emissions, the most plausible explanation is the formation of a pulsation-induced shocks that excite (and heat) the atmospheric plasmas surrounding the photosphere. A pulsation-driven ${\alpha}^2$ equivalent dynamo mechanism is also a viable and interesting alternative. However, the tight phase-space of enhanced emission (peaking near 0.8-1.0 ${\varphi}$) favor the shock heating mechanism hypothesis.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.155-164
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• 2015

In Kang (2015) we calculated the acceleration of cosmic-ray electrons at weak spherical shocks that are expected to form in the cluster outskirts, and estimated the diffuse synchrotron radiation emitted by those electrons. There we demonstrated that, at decelerating spherical shocks, the volume integrated spectra of both electrons and radiation deviate significantly from the test-particle power-laws predicted for constant planar shocks, because the shock compression ratio and the flux of inject electrons decrease in time. In this study, we consider spherical blast waves propagating through a constant density core surrounded by an isothermal halo with ρ ∝ r⁻ⁿ in order to explore how the deceleration of the shock affects the radio emission from accelerated electrons. The surface brightness profile and the volumeintegrated radio spectrum of the model shocks are calculated by assuming a ribbon-like shock surface on a spherical shell and the associated downstream region of relativistic electrons. If the postshock magnetic field strength is about 0.7 or 7 µG, at the shock age of ∼ 50 Myr, the volume-integrated radio spectrum steepens gradually with the spectral index from α_inj to α_inj + 0.5 over 0.1–10 GHz, where α_inj is the injection index at the shock position expected from the diffusive shock acceleration theory. Such gradual steepening could explain the curved radio spectrum of the radio relic in cluster A2266, which was interpreted as a broken power-law by Trasatti et al. (2015), if the relic shock is young enough so that the break frequency is around 1 GHz.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.83-92
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• 2016

The Toothbrush radio relic associated with the merging cluster 1RXS J060303.3 is presumed to be produced by relativistic electrons accelerated at merger-driven shocks. Since the shock Mach number inferred from the observed radio spectral index, M_radio ≈ 2.8, is larger than that estimated from X-ray observations, M_X ≲ 1.5, we consider the re-acceleration model in which a weak shock of M_s ≈ 1.2 - 1.5 sweeps through the intracluster plasma with a preshock population of relativistic electrons. We find the models with a power-law momentum spectrum with the slope, s ≈ 4.6, and the cutoff Lorentz factor, γ_e,c ≈ 7-8×10⁴ can reproduce reasonably well the observed profiles of radio uxes and integrated radio spectrum of the head portion of the Toothbrush relic. This study confirms the strong connection between the ubiquitous presence of fossil relativistic plasma originated from AGNs and the shock-acceleration model of radio relics in the intracluster medium.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.509-515
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• 2004

We present results from an extensive synthetic observation analysis of numerically-simulated radio galaxy (RG) jets. This analysis is based on the first three-dimensional simulations to treat cosmic ray acceleration and transport self-consistently within a magnetohydrodynamical calculation. We use standard observational techniques to calculate both minimum-energy and inverse-Compton field values for our simulated objects. The latter technique provides meaningful information about the field. Minimum-energy calculations retrieve reasonable field estimates in regions physically close to the minimum-energy partitioning, though the technique is highly susceptible to deviations from the underlying assumptions. We also study the reliability of published rotation measure analysis techniques. We find that gradient alignment statistics accurately reflect the physical situation, and can uncover otherwise hidden information about the source. Furthermore, correlations between rotation measure (RM) and position angle (PA) can be significant even when the RM is completely dominated by an external cluster medium.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.1
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• pp.312-315
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• 2006

Radio occultation technique has been used in planetary science to obtain reliable and accurate temperature profiles of the other planets' atmosphere for decades. It relies on the fact that radio waves are bent and delayed due to the gradient of atmospheric refractivity along-ray-path. With the advent of Global Positioning System (GPS), it becomes possible to retrieve the refractivity and temperature profiles of the Earth's atmosphere from the occultation data. We have developed a retrieval algorithm and compared the results of our algorithm with the data of CHAMP to verify the accuracy of our algorithm is good enough. In our algorithm, there are some smoothing steps when retrieving. We analysis the data of FORMOSAT-3 and compare the results with and without smoothing and the results of TACC to see is there any phenomenon deleted after smoothing.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.37-37
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• 2014

Magnetic fields appear to be ubiquitous in astrophysical environments. The existence of magnetic fields in the large-scale structure of the universe has been established through observations of Faraday rotation and synchrotron emission, as well as through recent gamma-ray observations. Yet, the nature and origin of the magnetic fields remains controversial and largely unknown. In this talk, I briefly summarize recent developments in our understanding of the nature and origin of magnetic fields. I also describe a plausible scenario for the origin of the magnetic fields; seed fields were created in the early universe and subsequently amplified during the formation of the large-scale structure of the universe. I then discuss the prospect of observation of magnetic fields in the large-scale structure of the universe.