• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.150.2-150.2
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• 2009

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.70.2-70.2
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• 2011

We present a study of the metallicities, ages, and alpha-elements of globular clusters (GCs) in nearby giant elliptical galaxies (gEs) (M87, M49, M60, NGC 5128, NGC 1399, NGC 1407, and NGC 4636) using data in the literature. We used only the data for the GCs derived from the comparison of absorption line indices with the single stellar population model. The metallicity distributions of GCs in these gEs are bimodal, showing the existence of metal-poor and metal-rich populations. All these gEs harbor young GCs with ages less than 5 Gyr as well as old GCs. The mean age of the metal-rich GCs ([Fe/H]>-0.9) is about 3 Gyr younger than that of the metal-poor GCs. The mean values for the alpha-elements of the GCs are smaller than or similar to that of the Milky Way GCs. All the GCs in these gEs show an age-metallicity relation; the larger the metallicities of the GCs are, the younger the GCs are. Old GCs with ages > 10 Gyr have two distinct sub-populations (metal poor and metal rich), while young GCs show a broad metallicity distribution with a single peak. We discuss these results in relation with the formation of GCs in gEs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.33.2-33.2
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• 2015

The color distribution functions (CDFs) of globular clusters (GCs) in individual early-type galaxies show great diversity in their morphology. Based on the conventional "linear" relationship between colors and metallicities of GCs, the inferred GC metallicity distribution functions and thus their formation histories should be as diverse as they appear. In contrast, an alternative scenario rooted in the "nonlinear" nature of the color-to-metallicity transformation finds the various CDFs pointing systematically to a simple picture, i.e., such a high degree of variety stems predominately from only one parameter, the mean metallicity of GCs. The simulated CDFs of GCs aimed to reproduce 67 massive early-type galaxies from the ACS Virgo & Fornax Cluster Survey show that over 70% of the CDFs concur fully with the nonlinearity scenario. We discuss our new findings in terms of early-type galaxy formation in the cluster environment.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.29.1-29.1
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• 2010

Recent observations reveal that some early-type galaxies show a color-magnitude relation of blue globular clusters (GCs) in the color-magnitude diagrams, which is referred to as 'blue tilt'. This phenomenon is interpreted as a mass-metallicity relation -- metallicities of blue GCs increase with increasing mass, and thus provides a crucial clue to the chemical enrichment processes of GCs as a function of their mass. However, some galaxies show 'non-tilt' or even 'reverse blue tilt' on the blue GC sequence, and thus the origin of blue tilt still remains a puzzle. In this study, we put forward the theoretical explanation for the phenomenon and discuss its implications towards galaxy formation scenarios.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.27-27
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• 2014

The past three decades have witnessed a renaissance in the field of extragalactic globular clusters (GCs). GC systems have now been investigated in galaxies ranging from dwarfs to giants and spanning all the morphological types. Detailed studies of GCs provide strong constraints on galaxy formation that can be obtained in the near-field. In this talk I will review some of the pivotal studies performed with the HST and large ground-based telescopes and state-of-the-art simulations. Also, I will attempt to introduce my new solution to a long-standing puzzle in this field----the origin of GC bimodality in color. I will show that the theory gives a simple, cohesive explanation for the key observations of extragalactic GCs. The implication of the results will be discussed in the context of formation of GC systems and their parent galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.27.1-27.1
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• 2010

Globular cluster (GC) systems in most galaxies, particularly in ellipticals, show bimodal color distributions. Because broadband colors trace metallicity at old ages, this phenomenon has been commonly interpreted as bimodal metallicity distributions, implying the presence of two sub-populations in the globular cluster system within a galaxy. However, a new explanation has recently been proposed, in which the non-linear nature of color-metallicity relations induced by horizontal-branch stars can produce bimodal color distributions even from unimodal metallicity distributions. In this study, we put these two explanations to the test on the origin of color bimodality, using multi-band (U,B,V and I) photometry of globular clusters in NGC 1399, the central giant elliptical galaxy in Fornax galaxy cluster. We find significant changes in the morphology of color distributions when using different colors. The observation is also well reproduced by the Monte Carlo realization of GC color when a unimodal metallicity distribution and the theoretical non-linear color-metallicity relations are assumed. We discuss the implications regarding theories on galaxy formation and evolution.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.32.3-32.3
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• 2016

The presence of multiple stellar populations is now well established in most globular clusters in the Milky Way. Here we show that two populations of RR Lyrae stars and the double red clump observed in the Milky Way bulge are another manifestations of the same multiple population phenomenon observed in halo globular clusters. We will discuss the implications of this result on the stellar populations and formation of early-type galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.63.2-63.2
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• 2016

One of the well-known problems in the lambda cold dark matter (${\Lambda}CDM$) models is a missing satellite problem. The slope of the mass function of low mass galaxies predicted by ${\Lambda}CDM$ models is much steeper than that based on the luminosity function of dwarf galaxies in the local universe. This implies that the model prediction is an overestimate of low mass galaxies, or that the current census of dwarf galaxies in the local universe may be an underestimate of dwarf galaxies. Previous studies of galaxy luminosity functions to address this problem are based mostly on the sample of galaxies brighter than Mv ~ -10 in the nearby galaxies. In this study we try to search for ultra-faint galaxies (UFDs), which are much fainter than those in the previous studies. We use multi-field HST ACS images of M60 in the archive. M60 is a giant elliptical galaxy located in the east part of the Virgo cluster, and hosts a large population of globular clusters and UCDs. Little is known about the dwarf galaxies in this galaxy. UFDs are much fainter, much smaller, and have lower surface brightness than normal dwarf galaxies so HST images of massive galaxies are an ideal resource. We present preliminary results of this search.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.46.1-46.1
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• 2015

M85 is a merger remnant galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, showing complex merging features. Globular clusters in M85 are a good tracer of its merging history. To investigate globular cluster system of M85, we obtain deep and wide field images of M85 in ugi filters covering one square degree using CFHT/MegaCam. We discover about 1,000 globular cluster candidates in these images. The color distribution of the globular cluster candidates within r < 5' from M85 does not show a clear bimodality and blue globular cluster candidates are more than red ones. These features are different from those in massive early-type galaxies. The spatial distribution of the globular cluster candidates is elongated along the faint stellar light of M85. We also investigate the spatial distribution of sub-populations of the globular cluster candidates with different color and brightness and estimate their ages based on their color. We discuss these results in relation with the formation history of M85.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.33.3-34
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• 2015

We present the spectroscopic study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the massive elliptical galaxy M86 in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Using the spectra obtained from the Multi-Object Spectroscopy (MOS) mode of Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) on the Subaru Telescope, we measure the radial velocities for 56 GCs in M86. The mean velocity of the GCs is derived to be $<v_p>=-335{\pm}41km/s$, which is different from the velocity of the M86 nucleus ($<v_{gal}>=-224{\pm}5km/s$) within ${\sim}2.5{\sigma}$. The mean velocity ($<v_p>=-342{\pm}60km/s$) of 33 blue GCs in M86 is similar to that ($<v_p>=-314{\pm}71km/s$) of 23 red GCs. We also derive the mean velocities of the GC systems in other 16 nearby early-type galaxies (ETGs) from the radial velocity data in the literature. The mean value of the differences between the mean velocity of the GC systems in each galaxy and the nucleus velocity of their host galaxies, is almost zero except the M86 GC system. But the scatter of the differences in the blue GC system is larger than that in the red GC system. We will discuss these results in the context of GC formation in ETGs.