• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.48.1-48.1
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• 2015

We investigate the role of small-scale and large-scale environments in triggering nuclear activity of the local galaxies using a volume-limited sample with $M_r$ < -19.5 and 0.02 < z < 0.0685 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. To fix the mass of the supermassive black hole in its host galaxy, we limit the central velocity dispersion of the sample galaxies. The active galactic nuclei (AGN) host sample is composed of Type II AGNs identified with flux ratios of narrow emission lines with S/N > 6. In this study, we find that the AGN fraction of late-type host galaxies are commonly larger than of early type galaxies. The AGN fraction of host galaxy with late-type nearest neighbor starts to increase as the host galaxy approaches the virial radius of the nearest neighbor (about a few hundred kpc scale). Our result may support the idea that the hydrodynamic interaction with the nearest neighbor plays an important role in triggering the nuclear activity of galaxy. The early-type galaxies in high density regions show decline of AGN activity compared to ones in lower density regions, whereas the direction of the environmental dependence of AGN activity for late-type galaxies is rather opposite. We also find that the environmental dependence of star formation rate is analogous to one of AGN activity except in the high density region.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.34.4-35
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• 2009

We have studied the radial g-r color gradients of early-type galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR6 in the redshift range 0.00 < z < 0.06. The color profiles of ~30 per cent of the galaxies in this sample show positive color gradients (centers being bluer). These positive gradient galaxies often show strong $H\beta$ absorption line strengths or emission line ratios that are consistent with star-forming populations. Combining the optical data with Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) UV photometry, we find that all positive gradient galaxies show blue UV-optical colors. They also exhibit a tendency of having a lower stellar velocity dispersion. Positive gradient galaxies tend to live in lower density regions than negative gradient galaxies and are likely to have a late-type companion galaxy. On the other hand, massive early-type galaxies show negative color gradients. A simplistic population analysis shows that these positive color gradients are visible only for half a billion years after a star burst. Although the effective radius decreases and mean surface brightness increases due to this centrally concentrated star formation, the positions of the positive gradient galaxies on the fundamental plane cannot be reproduced by any amount of recent star formation. Instead it required a lower velocity dispersion.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.51.4-52
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• 2017

We perform hydrodynamical simulations of a late-type galaxy experiencing frequent high-speed encounters with intruding galaxies, called "galaxy harassment". Specifically, we simulate a Milky Way-like galaxy colliding consecutively with six twice-massive early-type galaxies containing hot diffuse gas on their halos, with various impact parameters ranging from 65 kpc/h to 15 kpc/h at the relative speed of about 1500 km/s. We show that galaxy-galaxy encounters play a significant role in a cluster environment in gas stripping and star formation quenching through hydrodynamic interactions of late-type galaxies with cluster early-type galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.38.2-38.2
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• 2010

We present ultraviolet (UV) color-magnitude relations (CMRs) of early-type dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster, based on Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) UV and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) optical imaging data. We find that dwarf lenticular galaxies (dS0s), including peculiar dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs) with disk substructures and blue centers, show a surprisingly distinct and tight locus separated from that of ordinary dEs, which is not clearly seen in previous CMRs. The dS0s in UV CMRs follow a steeper sequence than dEs and show bluer UV-optical color at a given magnitude. We also find that the UV CMRs of dEs in the outer cluster region are slightly steeper than that of their counterparts in the inner region, due to the existence of faint, blue dEs in the outer region. We explore the observed CMRs with population models of a luminosity-dependent delayed exponential star formation history. We confirm that the feature of delayed star formation of early-type dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster is strongly correlated with their morphology and environment. The observed CMR of dS0s is well matched by models with relatively long delayed star formation. Our results suggest that dS0s are most likely transitional objects at the stage of subsequent transformation of late-type progenitors to ordinary red dEs in the cluster environment, In any case, UV photometry provides a powerful tool to disentangle the diverse subpopulations of early-type dwarf galaxies and uncover their evolutionary histories.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.33.3-34
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• 2016

We explored the GALEX UV properties of optical red sequence galaxies in 4 rich Abell clusters at z ~ 0.1. In particular, we tried to find a hint of merger-induced recent star formation (RSF) in red sequence galaxies. Based on the NUV - r' colors of the galaxies, about 36% of the post-merger galaxies were classified as RSF galaxies with a conservative criterion (NUV - $r^{\prime}{\leq}5$), and that number was doubled (~ 72%) when using a generous criterion (NUV - $r^{\prime}{\leq}5.4$). Post-merger galaxies with strong UV emission showed more violent, asymmetric features on the deep optical images. Also it turned out that all massive RSF galaxies (Mr' < -22 and NUV - $r^{\prime}{\leq}5$) exhibited post-merger signatures. Our results suggested that only 30% of RSF red sequence galaxies show morphological hints of recent galaxy mergers. This implies that internal processes (e.g., stellar mass-loss or hot gas cooling) for the supply of cold gas to early-type galaxies may play a significant role in the residual star formation of early-type galaxies at a recent epoch.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.55.2-55.2
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• 2014

Role of environments is one of today's most widely discussed and debated topic in the field of extra-galactic astronomy. Extreme morphology-density relations found in low-mass galaxies are considered to be the result of an effective role played by environment in the evolution of these galaxies. I will present the results from our dedicated study of early-type dwarf galaxies (dEs) in different environments using imaging and spectroscopic data. We find that Virgo cluster dEs have a variety of structural and kinematic properties. A significant fraction of dEs possesses disk features, such as spiral arm and bar, while a central nucleus seems to be universal in these low mass galaxies. We also find that a majority of dEs are fast rotator and their rotation curves are much steeper than that of spiral galaxies of similar mass. Finally I will discuss how the different environmental mechanisms, i.e., gas-stripping or tidal interaction, can contribute to form heterogeneous dEs in Virgo cluster.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.30.1-30.1
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• 2013

The sizes of galaxies are known to be closely related with their masses, luminosities, redshifts and morphologies. However, when we fix these quantities and morphology, we still find large dispersions in the galaxy size distribution. We investigate the origin of these dispersions for red early-type galaxies, using two SDSS-based catalogs. We find that the sizes of faint galaxies (${\log}(M_{dyn}/M_{\odot})$ < 10.3 or $M_r$ >-19.5) are affected more significantly by luminosity, while the sizes of bright galaxies (${\log}(M_{dyn}/M_{\odot})$ > 11.4 or $M_r$ <-21.4) are by dynamical mass. At fixed mass and luminosity, the sizes of low-mass galaxies (${\log}(M_{dyn}/M_{\odot})$ ~ 10.45 and $M_r$~-19.8) are relatively less sensitive to their colors, color gradients and axis ratios. On the other hand, the sizes of intermediate-mass (${\log}(M_{dyn}/M_{\odot})$ ~ 10.85 and $M_r$~-20.4) and high-mass (${\log}(M_{dyn}/M_{\odot})$ ~ 11.25 and $M_r$~-21.0) galaxies significantly depend on those parameters, in the sense that larger red early-type galaxies have bluer colors, more negative color gradients (bluer outskirts) and smaller axis ratios. These results indicate that the sizes of intermediate- and high-mass red early-type galaxies are significantly affected by their recent minor mergers or rotations. Major dry mergers also may have influenced on the size growth of high-mass red early-type galaxies.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2013

We investigate the dependence of the extended X-ray emission from the halos of optically luminous early-type galaxies on the small-scale (the nearest neighbor distance) and large-scale (the average density inside the 20 nearest galaxies) environments. We cross-match the 3rd Data Release of the Second XMMNewton Serendipitous Source Catalog (2XMMi-DR3) to a volume-limited sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 with $M_r$ < -19.5 and 0.020 < z < 0.085, and find 20 early-type galaxies that have extended X-ray detections. The X-ray luminosity of the galaxies is found to have a tighter correlation with the optical and near infrared luminosities when the galaxy is situated in the low large-scale density region than in the high large-scale density region. Furthermore, the X-ray to optical (r-band) luminosity ratio, $L_X/L_r$, shows a clear correlation with the distance to the nearest neighbor and with large-scale density environment only where the galaxies in pair interact hydrodynamically with seperations of $r_p$ < $r_{vir}$. These findings indicate that the galaxies in the high local density region have other mechanisms that are responsible for their halo X-ray luminosities than the current presence of a close encounter, or alternatively, in the high local density region the cooling time of the heated gas halo is longer than the typical time between the subsequent encounters.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.525-527
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• 2015

We prepare a catalog of the morphological types of 5840 galaxies within z = 0.01. We determine the morphological types by visual inspection using color images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. The majority of the sample galaxies are SDSS spectroscopic target galaxies, but we add ~ 900 galaxies whose redshifts are available in the NASA Extra Galactic Database (NED). The fraction of elliptical and lenticular galaxies is ~ 0.06 while spiral galaxies comprise ~ 30% of the sample with a bar fraction of ~ 0.6. About half of sample are dwarf galaxies of which ~ 35% are dwarf elliptical-like galaxies. There is a strong correlation between the morphological types and luminosities of the galaxies, i.e., high luminosities in the early type galaxies and low luminosity in the late type galaxies. The mean luminosity of dwarf elliptical-like galaxies is similar to that of irregular galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.31.1-31.1
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• 2018

While astronomers are working hard to detect the earliest galaxies and to follow their evolution to redshift z~0, they remain baffled by the present-day dichotomy between disky, star forming (aka late-type) galaxies and quiescent, spheroidal (aka early-type) galaxies. The key is to find galaxies in transition from one class to the other, whose spectra indicate intense recent star formation that has now ended. We have identified thousands of such "post-starburst galaxies" and discovered that they are often the products of late-type galaxy-galaxy mergers. Their current kinematics, stellar populations, and morphologies are consistent with late- to early-type galaxy evolution. I will discuss recent work that suggests new connections between this violent history and the central supermassive black hole. In particular, the molecular gas reservoir of a post-starburst galaxy declines rapidly after the starburst ends and in a manner consistent with feedback from an active nucleus. Furthermore, a star is ~300x more likely to be tidally disrupted by the nucleus of a post-starburst galaxy than in other galaxies. Like the well-known black hole-bulge mass correlation, these surprising links between the properties of a galaxy on kpc scales and its supermassive black hole on pc scales require explanation.