• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.119.1-119.1
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• 2009

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.64.1-64.1
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• 2009

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.47.2-47.2
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• 2020

The Experiment to Detect the Global EoR Signature (EDGES) has probed the status of the early Universe through the global 21cm observation. The claimed (brightness temperature) of ~ 500 mK absorption dip at z~17 against the continuum background cannot be explained in the standard LambdaCDM framework. In the meantime, the Planck 2018 Legacy Data, especially the E-mode polarization power spectrum, puts rather strong constraints on the high-redshift reionization process. We show how these two observational contraints can be accomodated in a series of reionization scenarios, with a special focus on the strongly self-regulated reionization by first stars.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.49-67
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• 2014

A novel method to characterize the topology of the early-universe intergalactic medium during the epoch of cosmic reionization is presented. The 21-cm radiation background from high redshift is analyzed through calculation of the 2-dimensional (2D) genus. The radiative transfer of hydrogen- ionizing photons and ionization-rate equations are calculated in a suite of numerical simulations under various input parameters. The 2D genus is calculated from the mock 21-cm images of high-redshift universe. We construct the 2D genus curve by varying the threshold differential brightness temperature, and compare this to the 2D genus curve of the underlying density field. We find that (1) the 2D genus curve reflects the evolutionary track of cosmic reionization and (2) the 2D genus curve can discriminate between certain reionization scenarios and thus indirectly probe the properties of radiation-sources. Choosing the right beam shape of a radio antenna is found crucial for this analysis. Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is found to be a suitable apparatus for this analysis in terms of sensitivity, even though some deterioration of the data for this purpose is unavoidable under the planned size of the antenna core.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.37.1-37.1
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• 2019

The faint quasars with M1450 > -24 mag are known to hold the key to the determination of the ultraviolet emissivity for the cosmic reionization. But only a few have been identified so far because of the limitations on the survey data. Here we present the first results of the z ~ 5 faint quasar survey with the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS), which covers ${\sim}100deg^2$ areas in J band to the depths of $J_{AB}$ ~ 23 mag. To improve selection methods, the medium-band follow-up imaging has been carried out using the SED camera for QUasars in Early uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the Otto Struve 2.1 m Telescope. The optical spectra of the candidates were obtained with 8 m class telescopes. We newly discovered 10 quasars with -25 < $M_{1450}$ < -23 at z ~ 5, among which three have been missed in a previous survey using the same optical data over the same area, implying the necessity for improvements in high-redshift faint quasar selection. We derived photometric redshifts from the medium-band data and found that they have high accuracies of ${\langle}{\mid}{\Delta}z{\mid}/(1+z){\rangle}=0.016$. The medium-band-based approach allows us to rule out many of the interlopers that contaminate ${\geq}20%$ of the broadband-selected quasar candidates. These results suggest that the medium-band-based approach is a powerful way to identify z ~ 5 quasars and measure their redshifts at high accuracy (1%-2%). It is also a cost-effective way to understand the contribution of quasars to the cosmic reionization history.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.207-212
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• 2015

We introduce the Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT), a remotely operated, robotic 0.43-meter telescope. The telescope was installed at the Siding Spring Observatory, Australia, in 2014 October, to secure regular and exclusive access to the dark sky and excellent atmospheric conditions in the southern hemisphere from the Seoul National University (SNU) campus. Here, we describe the LSGT system and its performance, present example images from early observations, and discuss a future plan to upgrade the system. The use of the telescope includes (i) long-term monitoring observations of nearby galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and supernovae; (ii) rapid follow-up observations of transients such as gamma-ray bursts and gravitational wave sources; and (iii) observations for educational activities at SNU. Based on observations performed so far, we find that the telescope is capable of providing images to a depth of R = 21:5 mag (point source detection) at 5-σ with 15 min total integration time under good observing conditions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.32.1-32.1
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• 2015

The gradual infall of small dark matter halos onto larger ones has become a relatively straightforward aspect of the standard hierarchical formation paradigm. What happens to the baryons they contain, however, is less well understood. Of special relevance are the processes that regulate and ultimately suppress star formation in galaxies in the early universe. The z=1.5-2.5 epoch is then particularly interesting as a transition period when global star-formation in the universe starts peaking but also where the first ostensibly collapsed and virialized galaxy clusters appear, along with segregated galaxy populations. From a theoretical point of view, the mode of gas accretion in massive halos is also expected to change around this time, switching from a cold to a hot phase and affecting the build-up and evolution of the galaxies they host. A lot of effort has thus been devoted to the search for high-redshift structures, in particular galaxy clusters, through a variety of methods. However, as the limited area for which deep datasets are available remains relatively limited, only few massive z>1.5 structures have been found so far. Here I will instead discuss the regulation of star-formation in lower-mass, X-ray detected halos at z~2 and its implication for galaxy quenching at high redshift. As these smaller, group-size halos are vastly more abundant and structurally simpler than massive clusters, they allow for true statistical studies and offer a novel way to probe environmental effects in this transitional epoch.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.78.1-78.1
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• 2017

We present a noble method to determine BH mass of many AGNs directly through reverberation mapping using a small telescope with wide-field of view. In 2017 August we installed five medium-band filters to a 0.25m diameter $5deg^2$ FOV telescope at the McDonald observatory. The width of these filters (FWHM ~ 50nm) are matched to the broad line width of type-1 AGNs at various redshifts. From recently obtained data, about r ~ 19 magnitude AGNs can be detected in line component with 150s exposure. With this magnitude limit, about 20~30 AGNs can be studied in one field. We plan to carry out at one day cadence observation over 20~30 fields, enabling us to monitor up to ~1000 AGNs over a wide range of variability. This poster presents out plan and early results from test observation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.52.1-52.1
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• 2017

The discovery of GW150914, black hole - black hole merger via gravitational waves (GWs) opened a new window to observe the Universe. GW frequencies from heavenly bodies and early Universe are expected to span between sub-nHz up to kHz. At present, GW detectors on Earth (LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, LIGO-India) aims frequency ranges between 10-2000 Hz. The space-borne GW detector and Pulsar Timing Array targets mHz and nHz sources. Starting in March 2017, the KKN (KASI-KISTI-NIMS) collaboration launched a pilot study of SLGT (Superconducting Low-frequency Gravitational-wave Telescope). This project is funded by NST (Korea Institute of Science and Technology). The main detection bands expected for SLGT ranges between 0.1-10Hz, which is complementary of LIGO-type detectors and LISA for multi-band GW observation. We will present an overview of the SLGT project and report the status of the NST pilot study. We will also present prospective of GW astronomy with SLGT.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.34.1-34.1
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• 2010

Studies suggest that activities in luminous AGNs, residing mostly in early-type galaxies, are triggered by merging. However, the observational evidence for the connection between mergers and AGN activity is not clear yet because tracer of the past merging activities such as tidal tail, shell are often too faint. To see if we can reveal the merging features with a small telescope, we observed an AGN, MARK 478, at z=0.077 with long exposure time (7550 seconds) in V filter at Maidanak observatory. Our 2-D fitting analysis shows that the host galaxy of MARK 478 has the bulge to the total luminosity ratio of 0.3. And the residual image, after subtracting point spread function (PSF), bulge and disk components, shows that the host galaxy has an arm-like feature that could be a spiral arm or a feature from minor merging. We also show that the structural parameters obtained from our 2-D fitting match well with those derived from HST image. The promising result suggests that studies of low redshift AGN host galaxies are possible with data from a small telescope. In order to allow a statistical analysis, we hope to expand our sample size in future.