• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.45.1-45.1
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• 2015

Galaxy clusters have provided important information to understand the evolution of the universe, since the number density and mass of clusters are tightly related to the cosmological parameters. In addition, galaxy clusters are an excellent laboratory to investigate the galaxy evolution in dense environments. However, finding galaxy clusters at high redshift ($z{\geq}1$) still remains as a main subject in astronomy due to their rareness and difficulty in identifying such objects from optical imaging data alone. Here, we report a spectroscopic follow-up observation of distant galaxy cluster candidates identified by a deep optical-NIR dataset of Infrared Medium-deep Survey. Through the galaxy spectra taken with the IMACS instrument on the Magellan telescope, we confirm at least 3 massive clusters at z~0.92. Interestingly, the maximum spatial separation between these clusters is ~8Mpc, which implies that this system is a new supercluster in the distant universe. We also discuss properties of galaxies in these clusters based on multi-wavelength photometric data.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.46-46
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• 2014

Interactions such as mergers and flybys play a fundamental role in shaping galaxy morphology. We used the Horizon Run 4 cosmological N-body simulations to study the frequency and the type of halo interactions as a function of the environment, the separation p, the mass ratio q, and the target halo mass. We defined targets as haloes more massive than 10^11 Msun/h, and a target is interacting if it is located within the virial radius of a neighbour halo more massive than 0.4 times the target mass. We find that the interaction rate as a function of time has a universal shape for different halo mass and large-scale density, with an increase and saturation. Larger density yield steeper slopes and larger final interaction rates, while larger masses saturate later. Most interactions happen at large-scale density contrast ${\delta}$ about 10^3, regardless of the redshift. We also report the existence of two modes of interactions in the (p,q) plane, reflecting the nature (satellite or main halo) of the target halo. These two trends strongly evolve with redshift, target mass, and large-scale density. Interacting pairs have similar spins parameters and aligned spins, with radial trajectories, and prograde encounters for non-radial trajectories. The satellite trajectories become less and less radial as time proceed. This effect is stronger for higher-mass target, but independent of the large-scale density.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.76.1-76.1
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• 2012

We have employed SNANA supernova analysis package to make YONSEI Supernova Catalogue 1, which contains distance modulus, light-curve shape parameters, and color or extinction values of each supernova. This database is used to study the dependence of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) luminosities on the host-galaxy morphologies. The redshift range of this catalogue is 0.010 < z < 1.555, and we use three light-curve fitters: SALT2, MLCS2k2 (Rv = 3.1), and MLCS2k2 (Rv = 1.7). We find a systematic difference in the Hubble residual (HR) of $0.1{\pm}0.031$ mag between E-S0 and Scd/Sd/Irr host-galaxies, and of $0.16{\pm}0.044$ mag between passive and star-burst host-galaxies. This difference is significant over the $3{\sigma}$ level. Considering the significant difference in the mean age of stellar population between these morphological types, the difference in the HR reported here suggests that the evolution effect of SNe Ia luminosity should be considered in the cosmological application of SNe Ia data.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.74.2-74.2
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• 2019

Mass measurement of high-redshift galaxy clusters with high accuracy is important in constraining cosmological parameters. Extremely massive clusters at high redshift may impose a serious tension with the current ΛCDM paradigm. SPT-CL J2040-4451 at z=1.48 is considered one such case given its redshift and mass estimate inferred from the SZ data. The system has also been confirmed to be indeed massive from a recent weak-lensing (WL) analysis. Comparison of the WL mass with the spectroscopic result may provide invaluable information on the dynamical stage of the system. However, the existing spectroscopic coverage of the cluster is extremely poor; only 6 blue star-forming galaxies have been found within the virial radius, which results in highly inflated and biased velocity dispersion. In this work, we present a spectroscopic analysis of the member candidates using Gemini Multi-Object Spectrographs (GMOS) observation in Gemini South. The observation was designed to find early-type member galaxies within the virial radius and to obtain reliable velocity dispersion. We explain our selection scheme and preliminary results of the spectra. We also compare the dynamical mass estimate inferred from the velocity dispersion with the WL mass.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.41.1-41.1
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• 2018

We constrain cosmological parameters by combining three different power spectra measured from galaxy clustering, galaxy-galaxy lensing, and cosmic shear using the Deep Lens Survey (DLS). Two lens bins (centered at z~0.27 and 0.54) and two source bins (centered at z~0.64, and 1.1) containing more than one million galaxies are selected to measure the power spectra. We re-calibrate the initial photo-z estimation of the lens bins by matching with SHELS and PRIMUS and confirm its fidelity by measuring a cross-correlation between the bins. We also check the reliability of the lensing signals through the null tests, lens-source flipping and cross shear measurement. Residual systematic errors from photometric redshift and shear calibration uncertainties are marginalized over in the nested sampling during our parameter constraint process. For the flat LCDM model, we determine S_8=sigma_8(Omega_m/0.3)^0.5=0.832+-0.028, which is in great agreement with the Planck data. We also verify that the two independent constraints from the cosmic shear and the galaxy clustering+galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements are consistent with each other. To address baryonic feedback effects on small scales, we marginalize over a baryonic feedback parameter, which we are able to constrain with the DLS data alone and more tightly when combined with Planck data. The constrained value hints at the possibility that the AGN feedback in the current OWLS simulations might not be strong enough.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.27.3-27.3
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• 2021

Supernova (SN) cosmology is based on the assumption that the width-luminosity relation (WLR) in the type Ia SN luminosity standardization would not vary with progenitor age. Unlike this expectation, recent age datings of stellar populations in host galaxies have shown significant correlations between progenitor age and Hubble residual (HR). It was not clear, however, how this correlation arises from the SN luminosity standardization process, and how this would impact the cosmological result. Here we show that this correlation originates from a strong progenitor age dependence of the WLR and color-luminosity relation (CLR), in the sense that SNe from younger progenitors are fainter each at given light-curve parameters x1 and c. This is reminiscent of Baade's discovery of two Cepheid period-luminosity relations, and, as such, causes a serious systematic bias with redshift in SN cosmology. We illustrate that the differences between the high-z and low-z SNe in the WLR and CLR, and in HR after the standardization, are fully comparable to those between the correspondingly young and old SNe at intermediate redshift, indicating that the observed dimming of SNe with redshift is most likely an artifact of over-correction in the luminosity standardization. When this systematic bias with redshift is properly taken into account, there is no evidence left for an accelerating universe, and the SN data now support a decelerating cosmic expansion. Since the SN cosmology has long been considered as the most direct evidence for an accelerating universe with dark energy, this finding poses a serious question to one of the cornerstones of the concordance model.

• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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• v.501 no.3
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• pp.3421-3426
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• 2021

We search for possible deviations from the expectations of the concordance ΛCDM model in the expansion history of the Universe by analysing the Pantheon Type Ia Supernovae (SnIa) compilation along with its Monte Carlo simulations using redshift binning. We demonstrate that the redshift binned best-fitting ΛCDM matter density parameter Ω_0m and the best-fitting effective absolute magnitude 𝓜 oscillate about their full data set best-fitting values with considerably large amplitudes. Using the full covariance matrix of the data taking into account systematic and statistical errors, we show that at the redshifts below z ≈ 0.5 such oscillations can only occur in 4 to 5 per cent of the Monte Carlo simulations. While statistical fluctuations can be responsible for this apparent oscillation, we might have observed a hint for some behaviour beyond the expectations of the concordance model or a possible additional systematic in the data. If this apparent oscillation is not due to statistical or systematic effects, it could be due to either the presence of coherent inhomogeneities at low z or due to oscillations of a quintessence scalar field.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.181-205
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• 2019

There is evidence that the luminosities of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) depend on their environments. While the impact of this trend on estimating cosmological parameters is widely acknowledged, the origin of this correlation is still under debate. In order to explore this problem, we first construct the YONSEI (YOnsei Nearby Supernova Evolution Investigation) SN catalog. The catalog consists of 1231 spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia over a wide redshift range (0.01 < z < 1.37) from various SN surveys and includes light-curve fit data from two independent light-curve fitters, SALT2 and MLCS2k2. For a sample of 674 host galaxies, we use the stellar mass and the star formation rate data in Kim et al. (2018). We find that SNe Ia in low-mass and star-forming host galaxies are $0.062{\pm}0.009mag$ and $0.057{\pm}0.010mag$ fainter than those in high-mass and passive hosts, after light-curve corrections with SALT2 and MLCS2k2, respectively. When only local environments of SNe Ia (e.g., locally star-forming and locally passive) are considered, this luminosity difference increases to $0.081{\pm}0.018mag$ for SALT2 and $0.072{\pm}0.018mag$ for MLCS2k2. Considering the significant difference in the mean stellar population age between the two environments, this result suggests that the luminosity evolution of SNe Ia with redshift is most likely the origin of the environmental dependence.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.125-145
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• 2023

This study investigates the integration of astronomy-related topics in the Korean national science curricula spanning from 1945 to 2023. We analyze the placement and extent of astronomy content across different school levels. Astronomy contents in the science curricula have changed in response to social needs (e.g., practical knowledge required for agriculture and fishery) and advancement in astronomical research (e.g., the discovery of exoplanets and the suggestion of new cosmological parameters). Contents addressing the motions of celestial objects and stellar physical properties have remained relatively consistent. In the latest 2022 revised national curriculum, scheduled for implementation in 2024, several elements, such as coordinate systems, have been removed, while the inquiry activities using digital tools are emphasized. The incorporation of the cosmic perspectives in the national curriculum, as well as astronomy education within the context of education for sustainable development, remains limited even in the most recent curriculum. For future life revisions, the active participation of researchers is needed to reflect the latest astronomical research progress and scientific characteristics in the field of astronomy.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.82-82
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• 2010

We measure the topology of the galaxy distribution using the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR7), examining the dependence of galaxy clustering topology on galaxy properties. The observational results are used to test galaxy formation models. A volume-limited sample defined by Mr<-20.19 enables us to measure the genus curve with amplitude of G=378 at 6h-1Mpc smoothing scale, with 4.8% uncertainty including all systematics and cosmic variance. The clustering topology over the smoothing length interval from 6 to 10h-1Mpc reveals a mild scale-dependence for the shift and void abundance (A_V) parameters of the genus curve. We find strong bias in the topology of galaxy clustering with respect to the predicted topology of the matter distribution, which is also scale-dependent. The luminosity dependence of galaxy clustering topology discovered by Park et al. (2005) is confirmed: the distribution of relatively brighter galaxies shows a greater prevalence of isolated clusters and more percolated voids. We find that galaxy clustering topology depends also on morphology and color. Even though early (late)-type galaxies show topology similar to that of red (blue) galaxies, the morphology dependence of topology is not identical to the color dependence. In particular, the void abundance parameter A_V depends on morphology more strongly than on color. We test five galaxy assignment schemes applied to cosmological N-body simulations to generate mock galaxies: the Halo-Galaxy one-to-one Correspondence (HGC) model, the Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) model, and three implementations of Semi-Analytic Models (SAMs). None of the models reproduces all aspects of the observed clustering topology; the deviations vary from one model to another but include statistically significant discrepancies in the abundance of isolated voids or isolated clusters and the amplitude and overall shift of the genus curve. SAM predictions of the topology color-dependence are usually correct in sign but incorrect in magnitude.