• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.489-490
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• 2015

We present population synthesis models for the calcium II triplet (CaT), currently the most popular metallicity indicator, based on high-resolution empirical spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Our new CaT models, based on empirical SEDs, show a linear correlation below [Fe/H] ~ -0.5, but the linear relation breaks down in the metal-rich regime by converging to the same equivalent width. This relation shows good agreement with the observed CaT of globular clusters (GCs) in NGC 1407 and the Milky Way. However, a model based on theoretical SEDs does not show this feature of the CaT and fails to reproduce observed GCs in the metal-rich regime. This linear relation may cause inaccurate metallicity determination for metal-rich stellar populations. We have also confirmed that the effect of horizontal-branch stars on the CaT is almost negligible in models based on both empirical and theoretical SEDs. Our new empirical model may explain the difference between the color distributions and CaT distributions of GCs in various early-type galaxies. Based on our model, we claim that the CaT is not a good metallicity indicator for simple stellar populations in the metal-rich regime.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.84.2-84.2
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• 2012

We present wide-field multiband photometry of globular cluster (GC) systems toward the central region of the Fornax cluster of galaxies, including NGC 1399, NGC 1404, and NGC 1387. Observation was carried out through four optical passbands (U, B, V, and I) with the Mosaic II CCD imager mounted on the 4-m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). This marks one of the widest U-band photometric studies on GC systems. GC candidates are selected among point sources based on their two color diagrams together with a magnitude cut. We investigate the radial variation of color distributions for the GC systems, focusing on the fundamental parameters that characterize bimodal distributions; the number ratio between blue and red GCs, the mean colors of the groups, and their color dispersions. We discuss the implication of our result regarding the origin of GC color bimodality.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.39.1-39.1
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• 2019

Not all stars in the Universe are gravitationally bounded to galaxies. Since first discovered in 1951, observations have revealed that a significant fraction of stars fills the space between galaxies in local (low-redshift) galaxy clusters, observed as diffuse intracluster light (ICL). Theoretical models provide mechanisms for the production of intracluster stars as tidally stripped material or debris generated through numerous galaxy interactions during the hierarchical growth of the galaxy cluster. These mechanisms predict that most intracluster stars in local galaxy clusters are long-accumulated material since z~1. However, there is no observational evidence to verify this prediction. Here we report observations of abundant ICL for a massive (above $10^{14}$ solar masses) galaxy cluster at a redshift of z=1.24, when the Universe was 5 billion years old. We found that more than 10 per cent of the total light of the cluster is contributed by the diffuse ICL out to 110 kpc from the center of the cluster, comparable to 5-20 per cent in local, massive galaxy cluster. Furthermore, we found that the colour of the brightest cluster galaxy located in the core of the cluster is consistent with that of the ICL out to 200 kpc. Our results demonstrate that the majority of the intracluster stars present in the local Universe, contrary to most previous theoretical and observational studies, were built up during a short period and early (z>1) in the history of the Virgo-like massive galaxy cluster formation, and might be concurrent with the formation of the brightest cluster galaxy.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.72.3-73
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• 2017

The spatial distribution of sub-halos in a large host halo is usually described as isotropic in the ${\Lambda}CDM$ cosmology. Recent observations, however, show that satellite galaxies around massive galaxies are often located within a preferred plane. In order to understand the origin of such planar alignment, we investigate the spatial distribution of sub-halos around their hosts by using the hydrodynamic cosmological simulation, Illustris. In particular, we analyze the systems resembling the Milky Way (MW) and its satellites, i.e. consisting of MW-sized central galaxy and its at least 11 satellites. The result shows that ~10 % of MW-like systems have the anisotropic satellite galaxy distribution at z = 0. The satellites that are accreted more recently tend to form a flattened structure more frequently, indicating a link of satellite distribution to the surrounding environment. We discuss the physical origin of the anisotropic satellite distribution from the viewpoint of the ${\Lambda}CDM$ paradigm.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.76.2-76.2
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• 2017

We present Subaru Near-Infrared (NIR) photometry for globular clusters (GCs) in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4649 (M60) belonging to the Virgo cluster. NIR data are obtained in Ks-band with the Subaru/MOIRCS, and matching HST/ACS optical data available in literature are used to explore the origin of GC color bimodality. A clear bimodal color distribution is observed in the optical color (g-z), in which the ratio between blue and red GCs is 4:6. By contrast, the more metallicity-sensitive optical-NIR colors (g-Ks, z-Ks) show a considerably weakened bimodality in their distributions. The color-color relation of the optical and NIR colors for the GC system shows a nonlinear feature, supporting that the optical color bimodality observed in NGC 4649 GC system is caused by nonlinear color-metallicity relations (CMRs).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.77.2-77.2
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• 2017

We investigate star formation activities of ~400 barred and unbarred faced-on late-type galaxies from the SDSS-IV MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO) IFU survey. We find the star formation activities in gas-poor, barred galaxies are considerably suppressed than gas-rich, barred galaxies, while there is no difference among unbarred galaxies regardless of their HI gas content. The gas-poor and barred galaxies show the steeper difference of gradient in metallicity and age with respect to the stellar mass than gas-rich or unbarred galaxies, in that their centre is more metal-rich and younger. The results suggest that, combined with the gas contents available, the bar structure plays a significant role in quenching star formation in a galaxy by transporting/mixing gas via gas inflow.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.71.2-71.2
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• 2016

Merging galaxy clusters, such as PLCKG287.0+32.9, provide a window into the formation process of the large scale structure of the universe. PLCKG287.0+32.9 is an enormous merging galaxy cluster with mass estimated to be ~10^15 Msun. It hosts a pair of mega-parsec sized radio relics with projected offsets from the X-ray center of approximately 350kpc and 2.7Mpc, suggesting a NW-SE merging scenario with relics originating from two separate passes (Bonafede et al. 2014). A detected radio halo coincides with the center of x-ray emission. We present the motivation for our weak lensing study of the merging galaxy cluster PLCKG287.0+32.9 using recent Subaru optical imaging. We discuss the basics of weak-lensing and the criteria for source selection. In addition, we describe our method of PSF modeling and mass reconstruction.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.117-123
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• 2020

We investigate the plausibility of mass return, from stellar mass loss processes within the central ~100 pc region of the Milky Way (the inner nuclear bulge), as a mass supply mechanism for the Circumnuclear Disk (CND). Gas in the Galactic disk migrates inward to the Galactic centre due to the asymmetric potential caused by the Galactic bar. The inward migration of gas stops and accumulates to form the central molecular zone (CMZ), at 100-200 pc from the Galactic center. It is commonly assumed that stars have formed in the CMZ throughout the lifetime of the Galaxy and have diffused inward to form a 'r-2 stellar cusp' within the inner nuclear bulge. We propose that the stars migrating inward from the CMZ supply gas to the inner nuclear bulge via stellar mass loss, resulting in the formation of a gas disk along the Galactic plane and subsequent inward migration down to the central 10 pc region (CND). We simulate the evolution of a gas distribution that initially follows the stellar distribution of the aforementioned stellar cusp, and illustrate the potential gas supply toward the CND.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.38.2-38.2
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• 2019

In the history of universe, galaxies are consistently affected by surrounding medium and neighbor galaxies. These effects control galaxy evolution, making properties of galaxies diverse and dependent on environments. We investigate environments of various types of galaxies and how they affect galaxy properties, such as bar structures and galaxy sizes, etc. First, we present the observational evidence that bars can form from a cluster-cluster interaction. The evidence indicates that bars can form due to a large-scale violent phenomenon, and cluster-cluster interaction should be considered as an important channel for bar formation. Second, we discover for the first time that local early-type galaxies heavier than 1011.2 Msol show a clear environmental dependence in mass-size relation, in such a way that galaxies are as much as 20 - 40% larger in densest environments than in underdense environments. This result suggests that mergers played a significant role in the growth of massive galaxies in dense environments as expected in theory. Lastly, we investigate environments of the most massive galaxies and extremely massive quasars. By doing so, we find that massive galaxies are a much better signpost for galaxy clusters than massive quasars.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.73.4-73.4
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• 2019

Most of the galaxy mass is known to be occupied by dark matter. However, it is difficult to directly measure the mass and distribution of dark matter in a galaxy. Recently, the velocity dispersion of the stellar population in a galaxy's center has been suggested as a possible probe of the mass of the dark matter halo. In this study, we test and verify this hypothesis using the kinematics of the satellite galaxies of isolated galaxies. We use the Friends-of-Friends (FoF)algorithm to build a catalog of primary galaxies and their satellite galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR 12. We calculate the dynamical mass of the primary galaxies from the velocity dispersion of their satellite galaxies. We then investigate the correlation between the dynamical mass and the central velocity dispersion of the primary galaxies. The stellar velocity dispersion of the central host galaxies has a strong linear correlation with the velocity dispersion of their satellite galaxies. Also, the stellar velocity dispersion of the central galaxy is strongly correlated with the dynamical mass of the galaxy, which can be described as a power law. The results of this study show that the central velocity dispersion of the primary galaxies is a good proxy for tracing the mass of dark matter halo.