• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.405-407
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• 2015

We describe a survey of quasars in the early universe, beyond z ~ 5, which is one of the main science goals of the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS) conducted by the Center for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe (CEOU). We use multi-wavelength archival data from SDSS, CFHTLS, UKIDSS, WISE, and SWIRE, which provide deep images over wide areas suitable for searching for high redshift quasars. In addition, we carried out a J-band imaging survey at the United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope with a depth of ~23 AB mag and survey area of ${\sim}120deg^2$, which makes IMS a suitable survey for finding faint, high redshift quasars at z ~ 7. In addition, for the quasar candidates at z ~ 5.5, we are conducting observations with the Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (CQUEAN) on the 2.1m telescope at McDonald Observatory, which has a custom-designed filter set installed to enhance the efficiency of selecting robust quasar candidate samples in this redshift range. We used various color-color diagrams suitable for the specific redshift ranges, which can reduce contaminating sources such as M/L/T dwarfs, low redshift galaxies, and instrumental defects. The high redshift quasars we are confirming can provide us with clues to the growth of supermassive black holes since z ~ 7. By expanding the quasar sample at 5 < z < 7, the final stage of the hydrogen reionization in the intergalactic medium (IGM) can also be fully understood. Moreover, we can make useful constraints on the quasar luminosity function to study the contribution of quasars to the IGM reionization.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2005

This paper summarizes the recent progress made by our group at Seoul National University on studies of the evolution and formation of distant galaxies. Various research projects are currently underway, which include: (i) the number density of distant early-type galaxies (z < 1); (ii) the optical-NIR color gradient of nearby early-type galaxies; (iii) J - K-selected Extremely Red Objects (EROs) in field (CDF-S) and the cluster environment; and (iv) the Lyman-break galaxies in the Spitzer First Look Survey (FLS) field. These works will constrain the mass evolution and the star formation history of galaxies in different environments, and the results will serve as useful contraints on galaxy formation models.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.35.2-35.2
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• 2016

Lyman alpha photons emitted from the early generation galaxies are scattered through the intergalactic medium, and can be observed as Lyman alpha emitting sources. We examine the Lyman alpha line transfer mechanism by tracing the random scattering histories of Lyman alpha photons in the intergalactic medium of the early universe. The density and ionization fields are based on the 3D map by N-body + radiation transfer simulations of the epoch of reionization. The calculation is compared with analytical models, too. The emergent line profile and the size of the Lyman alpha blob are strongly tied to the density and ionization environment, likely to give constraints when high-z Lyman alpha blobs are observed.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.51.2-51.2
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• 2014

CQUEAN(Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse) has been used at the 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope of the McDonald Observatory since 2010. This camera is optimized at 0.7 - 1.1 um for the survey of Lyman break of high redshift (z > 5) quasars in the early universe. The current system has a filter wheel consist of seven (g', r', I', z', Y, Iz and Is) broad-band filters. We are upgrading this filter wheel to have 20 narrow band filters, with which we can take spectral energy distributions of targets. The new filter wheel consists of interchangeable cartridges for 50 mm square filters, a speed reducer unit, and a step motor. This new design of the large size filter wheel can be applied to other large format CCD cameras.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.72.1-72.1
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• 2013

Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (CQUEAN) is an optical CCD camera, developed by Center for Exploration of Origin of the Universe (CEOU), which is now searching for high red shift quasar candidates. It has been operated since 2010, attached to the 2.1m Otto Struve telescope at the McDonald Observatory, USA. Based on the previous operation experiences, we present CQUEAN II system design which has a new filter wheel allowing with 20 narrow band filters. In addition, the auto guiding system will be rearranged and the interfacing units between the telescope and the instrument will become stabilized.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.59.1-59.1
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• 2013

Type Ia supernovae (SNe) are providing the most conclusive evidence for accelerating universe with dark energy in observational cosmology. In these investigations, look-back time evolution of SNe luminosity is regarded as negligible on the basic assumption. However, several recent works present some systematic differences among hosts which have different characteristics of stellar population. For more direct investigation, we are proceeding with our YONSEI (YOnsei Nearby Supernovae Evolution Investigation) project. Only early-type hosts in our catalogue were chosen in order to estimate the luminosity-weighted mean age and metallicity directly using Single Stellar Population (SSP) models and ignore the effect from the dust extinction. Observations using low-resolution spectrographs are still in progress at Las Campanas Observatory with 2.5m telescope and at McDonald Observatory with 2.7m telescope. We have thus far obtained spectra for 30 early-type hosts. After weak emission line correction, Lick/IDS absorption-line indices are measured and YEPS spectroscopic evolution model was applied to determine mean population ages and metallicities. Our preliminary results show that SNe Ia hosted in older galaxies seem to be brighter at 1.4 - 3 sigma levels, however, more observations and analyses are still needed to confirm this correlation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.55.1-55.1
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• 2011

Luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs; $L_{IR}$ > ${10^{11}}_{Lsun}$) are the most powerful objects in the local Universe. Previous work suggested that dust re-processing of starburst and/or active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity, triggered by galaxy interactions, is responsible for their enormous infrared emission. To understand the nature of LIRGs, it is essential to determine their spectral types. Optical spectral types of 115 ultraluminous infrared galaxies in the southern sky are presented using CTIO observations. The AGN fraction is on average 50% and increases with infrared luminosity. Near-infrared spectral types of 36 LIRGs are also presented based on AKARI observations. In the sample, 12 optically elusive buried AGNs are found. To investigate the evolutionary sequence of LIRGs, star formation histories of ~6000 LIRGs in the SDSS and IRAS/AKARI matched sample are derived by comparing observed optical spectra and stellar population models. AGN-dominated LIRGs are currently massive relative to starburst-dominated LIRGs, which originates from an enhancement of star formation at intermediate-ages. For ~1100 early-type LIRGs, optical and NIR fundamental planes (FPs) are constructed. The FP of LIRGs is significantly different from that of normal early-type galaxies, but the difference is minimized in low luminous and AGN-like LIRGs. These findings support that the importance of AGN is growing as infrared luminosity increases and that LIRGs follow at least in the high mass regime the standard evolutionary scenario: starburst LIRGs evolve into AGN LIRGs and finally into normal early-type galaxies.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2016

Multiple color selection techniques are successful in identifying quasars from wide-field broadband imaging survey data. Among the quasars that have been discovered so far, however, there is a redshift gap at 5 ≲ z ≲ 5.7 due to the limitations of filter sets in previous studies. In this work, we present a new selection technique of high redshift quasars using a sequence of medium-band filters: nine filters with central wavelengths from 625 to 1025 nm and bandwidths of 50 nm. Photometry with these medium-bands traces the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a source, similar to spectroscopy with resolution R ~ 15. By conducting medium-band observations of high redshift quasars at 4.7 ≤ z ≤ 6.0 and brown dwarfs (the main contaminants in high redshift quasar selection) using the SED camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the 2.1-m telescope at the McDonald Observatory, we show that these medium-band filters are superior to multi-color broad-band color section in separating high redshift quasars from brown dwarfs. In addition, we show that redshifts of high redshift quasars can be determined to an accuracy of Δz/(1 + z) = 0.002 - 0.026. The selection technique can be extended to z ~ 7, suggesting that the medium-band observation can be powerful in identifying quasars even at the re-ionization epoch.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.28.2-28.2
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• 2015

High redshift quasars (z > 5) hold keys to understanding the evolution of the universe in its early stage. Yet, the number of high redshift quasars uncovered from previous studies is relatively small (70 or so), and are concentrated mostly in a limited redshift range (z ~ 6). To understand the early mass growth of supermassive black holes and the final stage of the cosmic reionization, it is important to find a statistically meaningful sample of quasars with various physical properties. Here we present a survey for high redshift quasars at 5 < z < 7. Through color selection techniques using multi-wavelength data, we found quasar candidates and carried out imaging follow-up observations to reduce contaminants. After optical spectroscopy, we discovered eight new quasars. We obtained near-infrared spectra for 3 of these 8 quasars, measured their physical properties such as black hole masses and Eddington ratios, and found that the high redshift quasars we discovered are growing via accretion more vigorous than those of their lower redshift counterparts. We estimated the quasar number densities from our discoveries and compared them to those expected from the quasar luminosity functions in literature. In contrast to the observed number density of quasars at z ~ 5, which agrees with literature, the observed number density at z ~ 7 shows values lower than what is expected, even after considering an extrapolated number density evolution. We conclude that the quasar number density at z ~ 7 declines toward higher redshift, more steeply than the empirically expected evolution.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.56.2-56.2
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• 2014

We present an extensive study of the environment of galaxies with bars in the low-redshift Uni-verse, using a volume-limited sample of over 30,000 galaxies drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with visually-determined morphological classifications and bar identifications. We use four different statistics to quantify the environment of our galaxies: the projected two-point cross-correlation function with respect to a spectroscopic sample of reference galaxies, the background-subtracted number count of galaxies in a deep photometric sample in the vicinity of our galaxies, the overdensity of the local environment estimated at ~3 Mpc scale from the three-dimensional reconstruction of the cosmic density field of the local Universe, and the membership of our galaxies in the SDSS galaxy groups to segregate central to satellite systems. We find a weak, but significant trend for early-type galaxies with a bar to be more strongly clustered on scales from a few 100 kpc to 1 Mpc, when compared to early-type galaxies without a bar. For late-type galaxies, we find less neighbours within ~50 kpc around the barred late-types when compared to the unbarred late-types. For late-type galaxies we also detect a decrease of the bar fraction for dark matter dominated systems, and finally we find no obvious correlation between the overdensity and the fraction of barred galaxies in our sample.