• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.65-69
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• 2012

Physical cosmology tries to understand the Universe at large with its origin and evolution. Observational and experimental situations in cosmology do not allow us to proceed purely based on the empirical means. We examine in which sense our cosmological assumptions in fact have shaped our current cosmological worldview with consequent inevitable limits. Cosmology, as other branches of science and knowledge, is a construct of human imagination reflecting the popular belief system of the era. The question at issue deserves further philosophic discussions. In Whitehead's words, "philosophy, in one of its functions, is the critic of cosmologies". (Whitehead 1925).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.57.5-58
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• 2015

We describe relations between modern cosmology and general relativity in the historical context. We reveal some ironies imbedded in Einstein's final correction of his gravitational field equation in the context of cosmology in 1917 which has apparently opened a new era of modern physical cosmology. The ugly (according to Einstein) correction term was introduced only to build a static cosmology which turns out to be in flat contradiction with observation. Somehow, however, it is the correction term which has saved the modern cosmology from the genuine creativity of nature continuously revealed by astronomical observations. Whether the present precision cosmology is also a correct one is often ignored by the practitioners but still a pressing open question left for future theoretical and observational pursuits.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.1-5
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• 1996

Recent discussions of observational constraints on the standard hot big bang model are reviewed and it is argued that now there is room for considering alternative cosmologies. The quasi-steady state cosmology is briefly described. This model seems to explain most of the observed features of the universe, including the m-z relation, radio source count, the light nuclear abundances and the microwave background.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.53-58
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• 2010

The origin of the galaxies represents an important focus of current cosmological research, both observational and theoretical. Its resolution involves a comprehensive understanding of star formation and evolution, galaxy dynamics, supermassive black holes, and the cosmology of the very early universe. In this paper, I will review our current understanding of galaxy formation and review some of the challenges that lie ahead. Specific issues that I address include the galaxy luminosity function, feedback by supernovae and by AGN, and downsizing. I argue that current evidence favours two distinct modes of star formation in the early universe, in order to account for the origin of disk and massive spheroidal galaxies. However perhaps the most urgent need is for a robust theory of star formation.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.315-319
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• 2015

We consider a late decaying dark matter model in which cold dark matter begins to decay into relativistic particles at a recent epoch ($z{\leqslant}1$). A complete set of Boltzmann equations for dark matter and other relevant particles particles is derived, which is necessary to calculate the evolution of the energy density and density perturbations. We show that the large entropy production and associated bulk viscosity from such decays leads to a recently accelerating cosmology consistent with observations. We determine the constraints on the decaying dark matter model with bulk viscosity by using a MCMC method combined with observational data of the CMB and type Ia supernovae.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.371-374
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• 2004

We review the observational evidence for the existence of a warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). We expect that the morphology of this material is similar to that of cosmic rays and magnetic fields in large-scale structure, i.e., filaments connecting clusters of galaxies. Direct evidence for the WHIM, either in emission or absorption, is weak.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.21-55
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• 2015

If the Universe is dominated by cold dark matter and dark energy as in the currently popular ${\Lambda}CDM$ cosmology, it is expected that large scale structures form gradually, with galaxy clusters of mass $M{\geq}10^{14}M_{\odot}$ appearing at around 6 Gyrs after the Big Bang (z ~ 1). Here, we report the discovery of 59 massive structures of galaxies with masses greater than a few times $10^{13}M_{\odot}$ at redshifts between z = 0.6 and 4.5 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey fields. The massive structures are identified by running top-hat filters on the two dimensional spatial distribution of magnitude-limited samples of galaxies using a combination of spectroscopic and photometric redshifts. We analyze the Millennium simulation data in a similar way to the analysis of the observational data in order to test the ${\Lambda}CDM$ cosmology. We find that there are too many massive structures (M > $7{\times}10^{13}M_{\odot}$) observed at z > 2 in comparison with the simulation predictions by a factor of a few, giving a probability of < 1/2500 of the observed data being consistent with the simulation. Our result suggests that massive structures have emerged early, but the reason for the discrepancy with the simulation is unclear. It could be due to the limitation of the simulation such as the lack of key, unrecognized ingredients (strong non-Gaussianity or other baryonic physics), or simply a difficulty in the halo mass estimation from observation, or a fundamental problem of the ${\Lambda}CDM$ cosmology. On the other hand, the over-abundance of massive structures at high redshifts does not favor heavy neutrino mass of ~ 0.3 eV or larger, as heavy neutrinos make the discrepancy between the observation and the simulation more pronounced by a factor of 3 or more.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.57.4-57.4
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• 2015

Light bending by gravity was the key prediction of general relativity. Solar eclipse expedition of 1919 provided the observational support for the theory of general relativity. Diverse gravitational lensing, i.e., light bending, phenomena have been speculated and predicted by general relativity and ultimately discovered many years later. Gravitationally lensed quasars, luminous arcs, weak lensing, and microlensing have provided invaluable information about the distribution of matter, especially of dark matter, and the cosmology. Gravitational lensing is one of the most spectacular manifestation of general relativity and will remain as an extremely useful astrophysical tools in the future.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.41-42
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• 1996

A possible cosmic X-ray background(XRB) radiation related to original antimatter is considered. If the universe is made of separating domains of antimatter and matter, the photons produced by the annihilation of electron-positron and proton-antiproton on the last scattering surface would reach us in the energy $\~$0.45 keV and $\~$60 keV respectively because of the redshift. The spectrums of X-ray radiation from annihilation are deduced and a possible observational figure is described also.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.27.3-27.3
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• 2017

One of the major discoveries in extragalactic astrophysics made over the past few years is the detection of ultra-diffuse galaxies, a new type of galaxies which appear to be far more numerous than normal galaxies, and which are giants in terms of size, yet dwarfs in terms of luminosity. These galaxies point to the huge discovery potential of the last niche that remains to be explored in observational parameter space: the sky at extremelylow surface brightness. Implications for objects in the Solar System, stellar physics, the interstellar medium, galaxies and cosmology will be addressed, along with the major challenges for pushing the frontiers in ground- and space-based observations.