• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.54.1-54.1
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• 2017

The UKIRT Wide-field Infrared survey for Fe+(UWIFE) is an unbiased survey of the first Galactic quadrant, with narrow-band filter centered on $1.644{\mu}m$. This survey covers $7^{\circ}$ < l < $62^{\circ}$ and |b| < $1.5^{\circ}$, where active interaction of stars and interstellar medium is expected. With median seeing of 0.8 arcsec, 5 - sigma detection limit of 18.7 mag and surface brightness limit of $8.1{\times}10^{-20}W\;m^{-2}arcsec^{-2}$, this survey gives an opportunity to statistically study Galactic [Fe II] - emitting sources for the first time. In order to identify Ionized Fe Objects (IFOs) in survey area systematically, we conducted visual inspection and automatic detection simultaneously. Total of ~300 extended IFOs are identified, most of them are found out to be part of supernova remnants (SNRs), young stellar objects, HII regions and planetary nebulae. The majority of IFOs are new discoveries which reveal shocked structures in high-extinction region. Spatial distribution of IFOs suggest that they trace Galactic structure. As a part of spectroscopic follow-up, we observed SNR candidate IFO J183740.829-061452.41 with IGRINS (Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrograph, Yuk+2010), mounted on 2.7m Harlan Smith telescope. This unknown arc-like, 6'-long IFO is coincident with inner part of radio continuum loop G25.8+0.2, which has been known as HII region. However, interior of this radio shell is filled with diffuse soft X-ray emission, and possible association of hard X-ray pulsar / pulsar wind nebula makes the nature of the IFO unclear. The H and K-band 2D spectrum shows shock-ionized [Fe II] filaments, which is apart from photoionized HII filaments. In this presentation we present basic statistics of newly identified IFOs, as well as the follow-up study of IFO J183740.829-061452.41.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.133-137
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• 2015

The Galactic center uniquely provides opportunities to resolve how star clusters form in neutral gas overdensities engulfed in a large-scale accretion flow. We have performed sensitive Green Bank 100m Telescope (GBT), Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA), and Submillimeter Array (SMA) mapping observations of molecular gas and thermal dust emission surrounding the Galaxy's supermassive black hole (SMBH) Sgr $A^{\ast}$. We resolved several molecular gas streams orbiting the center on ${\gtrsim}10$ pc scales. Some of these gas streams appear connected to the well-known 2-4 pc scale molecular circumnuclear disk (CND). The CND may be the tidally trapped inner part of the large-scale accretion flow, which incorporates inflow via exterior gas filaments/arms, and ultimately feeds gas toward Sgr $A^{\ast}$. Our high resolution GBT+JVLA $NH_3$ images and SMA+JCMT 0.86 mm dust continuum image consistently reveal abundant dense molecular clumps in this region. These gas clumps are characterized by ${\gtrsim}100$ times higher virial masses than the derived molecular gas masses based on 0.86 mm dust continuum emission. In addition, Class I $CH_3OH$ masers and some $H_2O$ masers are observed to be well associated with the dense clumps. We propose that the resolved gas clumps may be pressurized gas reservoirs for feeding the formation of 1-10 solar-mass stars. These sources may be the most promising candidates for ALMA to probe the process of high-mass star-formation in the Galactic center.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.29.1-29.1
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• 2016

I introduce the field of gravitational microlensing that I have worked on for more than 2 decades. I describe how microlensing can be applied to various fields in astrophysics including dark matter, Galactic structure, binary objects, and extrasolar planets and present my scientific achievements in the individual fields. I start with a description of basic microlensing physics and state how microlensing can be applied to various fields. Finally, I briefly describe ongoing efforts and future projects in microlensing.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.72.1-72.1
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• 2012

Studying the environments in which core-collapse supernovae (SNe) explode and evolve is essential to establish the nature of the mass loss and the explosion of the progenitor star. The spatial structure of the outer shock in young core-collapse SNR provides an excellent opportunity to study the nature of the medium into which the remnant has been expanding. I will review studies of the outer shocks in young Galactic SNRs using Chandra X-ray observations and discuss the nature of the winds and the progenitor stars.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.255-259
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• 2001

PMDSPH is a combined 3D particle-mesh and SPH code aimed to simulate the self-consistent dynamical evolution of spiral galaxies including live stellar and collisionless dark matter components, as well as an isothermal gas component. This paper describes some aspects of this code and shows how its application to the Milky Way helps to recover the gas flow within the Galactic bar region from the observed HI and CO longitude-velocity distributions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.60.1-60.1
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• 2019

In this talk, I will briefly review the discovery and early-time interferometric observations of the Galactic Center radio source and then go through recent major updates including the improvement in the array capabilities, developments of the scattering and intrinsic structure modeling, and high-frequency astrometric observations of this source. Introduction of the 1.3 mm VLBI observations in 2017 and 2018 (e.g. array configuration and signal-to-noise ratios), as well as the related multi-wavelength campaign (including GMVA and EAVN observations), will be also presented.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2001

We observed the thermal transitions of SiO (J=I-0, 2-1) and $^{29}SiO$ (J=l-O) toward the Sgr A molecular clouds. The distribution and the velocity structure of SiO are very similar to previous results for 'quiet' interstellar molecules. We think· that the SiO has been well mixed with other molecules such as $H_2$ which may indicate that the formation of Sgr A molecular clouds was affected by the activities, such as shock waves or energetic photons, from the Galactic center in large scales. The total column density of SiO is about $4.1\times10^{14} cm^{-2}$ and the fractional abundance $SiO/H_2$ appears to be about 10 times larger than those of other clouds in the central region of our galaxy. The derived values are thought to be lower limits since the optical depths of the observed SiO lines are not very thin. The formation of SiO has been known to be critically related to shocks, and our results provide informative data on the environment of our Galactic center.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.73.1-73.1
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• 2017

Reverberation mapping is one of the best way to investigate structure and kinematics of broad-line regions around central supermassive black holes of active galactic nuclei (AGN). It is usually used to estimate masses of supermassive black holes. So far, reverberation mapping studies have achieved good results for dozens of AGN by spectroscopic monitoring. However, spectroscopic monitoring is time consuming and high cost. Here, we present result of photometric reverberation mapping with medium-band observation. We monitored five nearby AGN which are already studied, have short time-lag, and show bright H-alpha emission lines. Observation has been performed for ~3 months with ~3 days cadence using three medium-band filters installed in LSGT (Lee Sang Gak Telescope). We found 0.01-0.06 magnitude variations by differential photometry. Also time-lags between continuum light-curves and H-alpha emission line light-curves are calculated using Javelin software. The result shows that our study and previous studies are consistent within uncertainty range. From verification of availability in this study, photometric reverberation mapping could be used as a powerful tool to measure central supermassive black holes for large samples and high-redshift AGN in the future.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.115-123
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• 2006

We present $JHK_S$ near-infrared CCD photometric study for the Galactic open clusters NGC 1641 and NGC 2394. These clusters have never been studied before, and we provide, for the first time the cluster parameters; reddening, distance, metallicity and age. NGC 1641 is an old open cluster with age $1.6{\pm}0.2$ Gyr, metallicity $[Fe/H]=0.0{\pm}0.2$ dex, distance modulus$(m-M)_0=10.4{\pm}0.3\;mag(d=1.2{\pm}02\;kpc)$, and reddening $E(B-V)=0.10{\pm}0.05$ mag. The parameters for the other old open cluster NGC 2394 are estimated to be $age=1.1{\pm}0.2$ Gyr, $[Fe/H]=0.0{\pm}0.2$ dex, $(m-M)_0=9.1{\pm}0.4\;mag(d=660{\pm}120\;pc)$, and $E(B-V)=0.05{\pm}0.10$ mag. The metallicities and distance values for these two old open clusters are consistent with the relation between the metallicities and the Galactocentric distances of other old open clusters. We find the metallicity gradient of 53 old open clusters including NGC 1641 and NGC 2394 to be ${\Delta}[Fe/H]/{\Delta}R_{gc}=-0.067{\pm}0.009\;dex\;kpc^{-1}$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.33.2-33.2
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• 2009

Diffuse ionized gas (DIG or warm ionized medium, WIM) outside traditional regions is a major component of the interstellar medium (ISM) not only in our Galaxy, but also in other galaxies. It is generally believed that major fraction of the Halpha emission in the DIG is provided by OB stars. In the "standard" photoionization models, the Lyman continuum photons escaping from bright H II regions is the dominant source responsible for ionizing the DIG. Then, a complex density structure must provide the low-density paths that allow the photons to traverse kiloparsec scales and ionize the gas far from the OB stars not only at large heights above the midplane, but also within a galactic plane. Here, I present Monte-Carlo models to examine the propagation of the ionizing radiation leaked out of traditional H II regions into the diffuse ISM applied to two face-on spirals M 51 and NGC 7424. We find that the "standard" scenario requires absorption too unrealistically small to be believed, but the obtained scale-height of the galactic disk is consistent with those of edge-on galaxies. We also report that the probability density functions of the Halpha intensities of the DIG and H II regions in the galaxies are log-normal, indicating the turbulence property of the ISM.