• 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.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.271-273
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• 2017

The AKARI North Ecliptic Pole Deep Field is a natural location to accomplish deep extragalactic surveys. It is supported by comprehensive ancillary data extending from radio to X-ray wavelengths, which have been used to classify radio sources as radio-loud and radio-quiet objects and to create a catalogue of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). This has been achieved by using a radio-optical classification and colour-colour diagrams rather than the more usual way based on spectroscopy Furthermore, we explore whether this technique can be extended by using a far-Infrared (FIR) colour-colour diagram which has been used to identify 268 high redshift candidates.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.30.1-30.1
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• 2016

We have estimated a metallicity map of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using the Magellanic Cloud Photometric Survey (MCPS) and Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE III) photometric data. This is a first of its kind, high-spatial resolution map of metallicity up to a radius of $4^{\circ}-5^{\circ}$, derived using large area photometric data and calibrated using spectroscopic data of Red Giant Branch (RGB) stars. The RGB is identified in the V, (V - I) colour- magnitude diagrams of small subregions of varying sizes in both data sets. The slope of the RGB is used as an indicator of the mean metallicity of a subregion, and it is calibrated to metallicity using spectroscopic data for field and cluster red giants in selected subregions. The mean metallicity of the LMC is found to be [Fe/H] = -0.37 dex (${\sigma}[Fe/H]=0.12$) from MCPS data, and [Fe/H] = -0.39 dex (${\sigma}[Fe/H]=0.10$) from OGLE III data. The bar is found to have an uniform and higher metallicity compared to the disk, and is indicative of an active bar in the past. Both the data sets suggest a shallow radial metallicity gradient up to a radius of 4 kpc ($-0.049{\pm}0.002$ dex kpc-1 to $-0.066{\pm}0.006$ dex kpc-1). This metallicity gradient of the LMC disk, though shallow, resembles the gradient seen in spiral galaxies, and similar to that found in our Galaxy.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 1993

We have conducted surface photometry of a spiral galaxy NGC4419, by making use of photographic plates in U, B, V and R-bands taken by 105cm Schmidt Camera at Kiso Observatory. Two dimensional surface brightness distributions as well as luminosity profiles along the major axis are examined in detail to decipher the morphological properties of the galaxy. Analysis of the color distributions of NGC4419 shows that B-V and U-B colors remain constant throughout the galaxy with a weak trend of blue bulge in B-V color. The blue bulge might indicate an active star formation in the nucleus of NGC4419. For a quantitative analysis of the luminosity distribution of NGC4419, the observed luminosity profiles are decomposed into bulge and disk components, assuming the bulge component to follow de Vaucouleurs $\gamma^{1/4}-law$ while the disk component is assumed to be exponential. The fitting generally fails at the central part and at the shoulder near r = 15' where bulge and disk components overlap. The failure at the central part cannot be attributed wholly by the seeing disk since the core-radius of the central plateau is much larger than the width of point spread function. The failure at shoulder could be due to the luminosities from the spiral arms.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.40.2-40.2
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• 2014

The connection between the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star formation activity is one of the most important issues in understanding the coevolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and galaxies. In our recent study, by using SDSS quasar spectra we found that the emission-line flux rations involving a nitrogen line, i.e., $NV{\lambda}1240$, correlate with the Eddington ratio. This correlation suggests that the mass accretion into SMBH is associated with a post-starburst phase, when AGB stars enrich the interstellar medium with the nitrogen. Moreover, we focused on nitrogen-loud quasars, which have prominent emission lines of the nitrogen, to investigate whether this argument is correct or not. We will present our recent results described above and discuss the relation between the star formation and feeding to SMBHs.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.633-636
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• 2015

KaVA (KVN and VERA Array) is a new combined VLBI array composed of KVN (Korean VLBI Network) and VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry). Here, we report the following two issues. (1) We review the initial results of imaging observations of M87 at 23 GHz following Niinuma et al. (2014). The KaVA images reveal extended outflows including complex substructures such as knots and limb-brightening, in agreement with previous VLBI observations. KaVA achieves a high dynamic range of ~1000, more than three times better than that achieved by VERA alone. (2) Based on subsequent observations and discussions led by the KaVA AGN SubWorking Group, we set monitoring observations of Sgr $A^{\ast}$ and M87 as our Key Science Project (hereafter KSP) because of the closeness and largeness of their central super-massive black holes. The main science goals of the KSP are (i) testing the magnetically-driven-jet paradigm by mapping velocity fields of the M87 jet, and (ii) obtaining tight constraints on physical properties of the radio emitting region in Sgr $A^{\ast}$. Towards KSP, we show the first preliminary images of M87 at 23 GHz and Sgr $A^{\ast}$ at 43 GHz with the bandwidth of 256 MHz.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.433-437
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• 2015

We show the results of a time series analysis of the long-term light curves of four blazars. 3C 279, 3C 345, 3C 446, and BL Lacertae. We used densely sampled light curves spanning 32 years at three frequency bands (4.8, 8, 14.5 GHz), provided by the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory monitoring program. The spectral indices of our sources are mostly flat or inverted (-0.5 < ${\alpha}$ < 0), which is consistent with optically thick emission. Strong variability was seen in all light curves on various time scales. From the analyses of time lags between the light curves from different frequency bands and the evolution of the spectral indices with time, we find that we can distinguish high-peaking flares and low-peaking flares according to the Valtaoja et al. classification. The periodograms (temporal power spectra) of the light curves are in good agreement with random-walk power-law noise without any indication of (quasi-)periodic variability. We note that random-walk noise light curves can originate from multiple shocks in jets. The fact that all our sources are in agreement with being random-walk noise emitters at radio wavelengths suggests that such behavior is a general property of blazars. We are going to generalize our approach by applying our methodology to a much larger blazar sample in the near future.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.59.1-59.1
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• 2019

Immediate vicinity of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) is an important place to test general relativity in strong gravity regime. Also, this is a place where mass accretion and jet formation actively occurs at the centers of active galaxies. Theoretical studies predict presence of bright ring-like emission encircling an accreting SMBH with a diameter of about 5 Schwarzschild radii, and a flux depression at the center (i.e., BH shadow). Direct imaging of the BH shadow is accordingly of great importance in modern astrophysics. However, the angular sizes of the horizon-scale structures are desperately small (e.g., ~40-50 microarcseconds (uas) diameter for the nearest best candidates). This poses serious challenges to observe them directly. Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a global network of sensitive radio telescopes operating at 230 GHz (1.3 mm), providing ultra-high angular resolution of 20 uas by cutting-edge very long baseline interferometry techniques. With this resolution, EHT aims to directly image the nearest SMBHs; M87 and the galactic center Sgr $A{\ast}$ (~40-50 uas diameters). In Spring 2017, the EHT collaboration conducted a global campaign of EHT and multiwavelength observations of M87 and Sgr $A{\ast}$, with addition of the phased ALMA to the 1.3mm VLBI array. In this talk, I review results from past mm-VLBI and EHT observations, provide updates on the results from the 2017 campaign, and future perspectives.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.53.2-53.2
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• 2021

Quasar luminosity function (QLF) shows the active galactic nucleus (AGN) demography as a result of the combination of the growth and the evolution of black holes, galaxies, and dark matter halos along the cosmic time. The recent wide and deep surveys have improved the census of high-redshift quasars, making it possible to construct reliable ultraviolet (UV) QLFs at 2 < z < 6 down to M1450 = -23 mag. By parameterizing these up-to-date observed UV QLFs that are the most extensive in both luminosity and survey area coverage at a given redshift, we show that the UV QLF has a universal shape, and their evolution can be approximated by a pure density evolution (PDE). In order to explain the observed QLF, we construct a model QLF employing the halo mass function, a number of empirical scaling relations, and the Eddington ratio distribution. We also include the outshining of AGN over its host galaxy, which made it possible to reproduce a moderately flat shape of the faint end of the observed QLF (slope of ~ -1.1). This model successfully explains the observed PDE behavior of UV QLF at z > 2, meaning that the QLF evolution at high redshift can be understood under the framework of halo mass function evolution. The importance of the outshining effect in our model also implies that there could be a hidden population of faint AGNs (M1450 > -24 mag), which are buried under their host galaxy light.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.297-298
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• 2012

ANIR (Atacama Near InfraRed camera) is a near infrared camera for the University of Tokyo Atacama 1m telescope, installed at the summit of Co. Chajnantor (5,640 m altitude) in northern Chile. The high altitude and extremely low water vapor (PWV = 0.5 mm) of the site enable us to perform observation of hydrogen $Pa{\alpha}$ emission line at $1.8751{\mu}m$. Since its first light observation in June 2009, we have been carrying out a $Pa{\alpha}$ narrow-band imaging survey of nearby luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs), and have obtained $Pa{\alpha}$ for 38 nearby LIRGs listed in AKARI/FIS-PSC at the velocity of recession between 2,800 km/s and 8,100 km/s. LIRGs are affected by a large amount of dust extinction ($A_V$~ 3 mag), produced by their active star formation activities. Because $Pa{\alpha}$ is the strongest hydrogen recombination line in the infrared wavelength ranges, it is a good and direct tracer of dust-enshrouded star forming regions, and enables us to probe the star formation activities in LIRGs. We find that LIRGs have two star-forming modes. The origin of the two modes probably come from differences between merging stage and/or star-forming process.