• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.66.2-66.2
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• 2016

Red quasars have been suspected to be an intermediate population between merger-driven star-forming galaxies and normal quasars. In this scenario, red quasars are expected to have dusty red color coming from the dust extinction by dust and gas in their host galaxy. However, several studies have proposed different explanation of the red color of red quasars, which are i) a moderate viewing angle between type 1 and 2 quasars, ii) an unusual covering factor of dust torus, and iii) an anomalous synchrotron emission with a peak at NIR wavelength. In this study, we investigate the factor leading to the red color of red quasars by using the line luminosity ratios of the hydrogen Balmer to Paschen series of 11 red quasars. We find the Pb/Hb luminosity ratios of the red quasars are significantly higher than those of normal quasars. Moreover, we compare the Pb/Hb luminosity ratios of the red quasars to the theoretically expected line luminosity ratios computed from the CLOUDY code. We find the line luminosity ratios of the red quasars cannot be explained by the theoretical line luminosity ratios with any physical conditions. We conclude that red color of red quasars comes from dust extinction by their host galaxy. This result is consistent with the picture that red quasars are an intermediate population between the merger-driven star-forming galaxies and normal quasars.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.125-128
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• 2005

In this paper, we argue that the gigahertz peaked spectrum (GPS) quasars are special blazars, blazars in dense and dusty gas enviornment. The ROSAT detection rate of GPS quasars is similar to that of flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), suggesting that the relativistic jets in GPS quasars are oriented at small angle to the line of sight. Due to strong inverse Compton scattering off infrared photons from dense and dusty nuclear interstellar media in GPS quasars, most of them may have significant soft gamma-ray and X-ray emission, which is consistent with ASCA X-ray observations. Because Compton cooling in GPS quasars is stronger than that in FSRQs, synchrotron emission in GPS quasars may less dominate over thermal emission of the accretion disk and hot dust, hence most GPS quasars show low optical polarization and small variability, consistent with observations. We suggest that it is the significant radio emission of electron/positron pairs produced by the interaction of gamma-rays with the dense gas and dust grains in GPS quasars that makes GPS quasars show steep radio spectra, low radio polarization, and relatively faint VLBI/VLBA cores. Whether GPS quasars are special blazars can be tested by gamma-ray observations with GLAST in the near future, with the detection rate of GPS quasars being similar to that of FSRQs.

• 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.40 no.1
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• pp.78.3-78.3
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• 2015

About 70 high redshift quasars with $z{\geq}5$ have been discovered through combinations of standard broad-band filters to distinguish them from contaminating sources. However, among the discovered quasars so far, there is a redshift gap at $5{\leq}z{\leq}6$ due to the limitation of traditional filter sets and selection techniques. 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 suggest a new selection technique of high redshift quasars using medium-band filters: nine filters with bandwidths of 50nm and central wavelengths from 625 to 1025nm. Photometry with these medium-bands traces the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a source, similar to spectroscopy with R~15. We installed these filters to SED camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the 2.1m telescope at McDonald Observatory, and conducted test observations of known high redshift quasars at $4.7{\leq}z{\leq}6.1$ and also dwarf stars for comparison. We found differences in SED shapes between high redshift quasars and dwarf stars, determined their locations on color-color diagrams, and demonstrated that the medium-band filters can enhance the efficiency of selecting robust quasar candidates in this redshift range. In this poster, we propose an effective selection method of high redshift quasars using these medium-band filters and discuss its effect on our high redshift quasar survey.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.43.2-43.2
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• 2015

The massive limit of black holes (BHs) is observed as present day ten billion solar masses. We search for observational signatures of BHs that become extremely massive (EMBHs, 1-10 billion solar masses). I will report on the evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) through the growth of BH mass and their dust emission strength. First, we measured 26 EMBH masses of quasars at 1

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.75.1-75.1
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• 2019

The universe has been ionized in the post-reionization by several photon contributors. The dominant source to produce the hydrogen ionizing photons is not revealed so far. Faint quasars have been expected to generate UV photon budgets required to maintain ionization state of universe. Observational limits, however, hinder to discover them despite their higher number density than bright one. Consequently, the influence of faint quasars on post-reionization are not considered sufficiently. Therefore, a survey to find faint quasars at z ~ 5 is crucial to determine the main ionizing source in the post-reionization era. Deep images from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC SSP) allow us to search for quasar swith low luminosities in the ELAIS-N1 field. J band information are obtained by the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS) and the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) - Deep ExtragalacticSurvey (DXS). Faint quasar candidates were selected from several multi-band color cut criteria based on simulated quasars on color-color diagram. To choose the reliable candidates with possible Lyman break, we have performed medium-bands observations. Whether a candidate is a quasar or a dwarf star contamination was decided by results from chi-square minimization of quasar/dwarf model fitting. Spectroscopic follow-up observations confirm three quasars at z ~ 5. 100% spectral confirmation success rate implies that the medium-band observations effectively select faint quasars with strong Lyman alpha emission.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.36.4-36.4
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• 2019

Ricci et al. (2017, Nature, 549, 488) discovered a lack of high accretion rate, obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in the hard X-ray selected Swift/BAT local AGN survey. This was interpreted as radiative pressure driven AGN feedback clearing its immediate vicinity composed of dusty gas (having an effectively low Eddington limit in the order of 0.01-0.1), and governing the level of nuclear obscuration. As we find Eddington-limited accretion and high extinction values among obscured, luminous AGN (quasars) however, it may be that the local X-ray AGN and the distant quasars undergo different feedback mechanisms in clearing their surroundings. In this study, we simply compare the obscuring column density and Eddington ratio values for quasars selected by various methods, including X-ray obscured, optically blue, infrared red/luminous, and submillimeter bright AGN. We find obscured quasars lying on the column density-Eddington ratio diagram previously unoccupied by Ricci et al., suggesting that radiative pressure is insufficient to clear its dusty structure at high luminosity, or that the dust in obscured quasars are more extended than the low luminosity counterparts to become fully transparent. We discuss alternative feedback scenarios that may be more relevant for obscured quasars.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2007

Quasars at cosmological distances can be gravitationally lensed by galaxies into two or more images. The probability of this lensing and the angular separation between the images depend on the geometry and the expansion history of the universe as well as the lensing galaxies. The time delay between lensed images is also a direct indicator of the size of the universe. I review these cosmological applications of multiple-image gravitationally lensed quasars to determine or constrain the cosmological parameters.

• 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.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.157-161
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• 2017

The dusty torus of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) is one of the important components for the unification theory of AGNs. The geometry and properties of the dusty torus are key factors in understanding the nature of AGNs as well as the formation and evolution of AGNs. However, they are still under discussion. Infrared observation is useful for understanding the dusty torus as thermal emission from hot dust with the dust sublimation temperature (~ 1500 K) has been observed in the infrared. We have analyzed infrared spectroscopic data of low-redshift and high-redshift quasars, which are luminous AGNs. For the low-redshift quasars, we constructed the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with AKARI near-infrared and Spitzer mid-infrared spectra and decomposed the SEDs into a power-law component from the nuclei, silicate features, and blackbody components with different temperatures from the dusty torus. From the decomposition, the temperature of the innermost dusty torus shows the range between 900-2000 K. For the high-redshift quasars, AKARI traced rest-frame optical and near-infrared spectra of AGNs. Combining with WISE data, we have found that the temperature of the innermost dusty torus in high redshift quasars is lower than that in typical quasars. The hydrogen $H{\alpha}$ emission line from the braod emission line region in the quasars also shows narrow full width at half maximum of $3000-4000km\;s^{-1}$. These results indicate that the dusty torus and the broad emission line region are more extended than those of typical quasars.