• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제30권2호
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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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.37.1-37.1
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• 2019

The faint quasars with M1450 > -24 mag are known to hold the key to the determination of the ultraviolet emissivity for the cosmic reionization. But only a few have been identified so far because of the limitations on the survey data. Here we present the first results of the z ~ 5 faint quasar survey with the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS), which covers ${\sim}100deg^2$ areas in J band to the depths of $J_{AB}$ ~ 23 mag. To improve selection methods, the medium-band follow-up imaging has been carried out using the SED camera for QUasars in Early uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the Otto Struve 2.1 m Telescope. The optical spectra of the candidates were obtained with 8 m class telescopes. We newly discovered 10 quasars with -25 < $M_{1450}$ < -23 at z ~ 5, among which three have been missed in a previous survey using the same optical data over the same area, implying the necessity for improvements in high-redshift faint quasar selection. We derived photometric redshifts from the medium-band data and found that they have high accuracies of ${\langle}{\mid}{\Delta}z{\mid}/(1+z){\rangle}=0.016$. The medium-band-based approach allows us to rule out many of the interlopers that contaminate ${\geq}20%$ of the broadband-selected quasar candidates. These results suggest that the medium-band-based approach is a powerful way to identify z ~ 5 quasars and measure their redshifts at high accuracy (1%-2%). It is also a cost-effective way to understand the contribution of quasars to the cosmic reionization history.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.135-139
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• 2010

We present the result of our investigation on the impact of the low Solar abundance of Asplund and collaborators (2004) on the derived ages for the oldest star clusters based on isochrone fittings. We have constructed new stellar models and corresponding isochrones using this new solar mixture with a proper Solar calibration. We have found that the use of the Asplund et al. (2004) metallicity causes the typical ages for old globular clusters in the Milky Way to be increased roughly by 10%. Although this may appear small, it has a significant impact on the interpretation for the formation epoch of Milky Way globular clusters. The Asplund et al. (2004) abundance may not necessarily threaten the current concordance cosmology but would suggest that Milky Way globular clusters formed before the reionization epoch and before the main galaxy body starts to build up. This is in contrast to the current understanding on the galaxy formation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.45.1-45.1
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• 2014

structure of matters of Lambda cold dark matter (CDM) cosmology on detailed numerical simulations. To accomplish our research goal, we have added the following baryonic physics on the existing cosmological hydrodynamic code, Gadget-2: 1) radiative heating and cooling, 2) reionization of the Universe and UV shielding, 3) star formation, 4) energy and metallicity feedback by supernova. In addition, we included cluster formation to distinguish clustered star formation inside the very high density gas clumps from the field star formation. Our simulations cover a cubic box of a side length 4Mpc/h with 130 million particles. The mass of each particles is $3.4{\times}104Msun$, thus the GCs can be resolved with more than hundreds particles. We discuss various properties of the GCs such as mass function, specific frequency, baryon-to-dark matter ratio, metallicity, spatial distribution, and orbit eccentricity distribution as functions of redshift. We also discuss how the formation and evolution of the GCs are affected by UV shielding.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.63.4-64
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• 2016

We aim to investigate inflow history of matters that fall into the satellite systems around a dwarf galaxy in Lambda-Cold Dark Matter model. Each satellite system has unique properties because all satellite systems have different mass inflow history by environments and/or the events such as cosmic reionization and merging with other halos. To trace mass inflow history of the satellite systems, we perform three different cosmological zoom simulations whose galaxy mass is ${\sim}10^{10}M_{sun}$. Each initial zoom simulation covers a cubic box of $1Mpc/h^3$ with 17 million particles. Particle mass for dark matter (DM) and gas components is $M_{DM}=4.1{\times}10^3M_{sun}$ and $M_{gas}=7.9{\times}10^2M_{sun}$, respectively. Thus, each satellite system is resolved with more than hundreds - thousands of particles. We analyze the influence of the gravitational interaction with host galaxy, baryonic matter inflow by various cooling mechanisms, and merging events with other halos on the mass inflow history of satellite systems.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제42권2호
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• pp.78.4-79
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• 2017

Thermal inflation is an additional inflationary mechanism before the big bang nucleosynthesis, which solves the moduli problem and naturally provides a plausible dark matter candidate. Thermal inflation leaves a slight enhancement followed by huge suppression of a factor of ~50 in the curvature and matter power spectrum, which can be expressed in terms of a single characteristic scale $k_b$. Here we describe the observability of the small-scale features of thermal inflation from various observations, such as CMB distortion, satellite galaxy abundance in the Milky-Way-sized galaxies, and 21-cm power spectrum before the epoch of reionization.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.72.2-72.2
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• 2011

We have performed the first self-consistent, large-scale simulation of cosmic reionization by stellar sources, including the Population III stars that emerged and were hosted by minihalos at very high redshifts (z~40). Based on this result, we calculate the redshifted radiation background from these stars and the relic H II regions which can be observed at near-infrared and infrared regime. Formation of the first stars inside minihalos are quenched by radiative feedback at z~15, while the relic H II regions have much longer lifetime due to the slow recombination rate. Therefore, the radiation output from the relic H II regions, dominated by Lyman alpha photons, will be observed both in the near-infrared and infrared regime. The estimated background from the first stars inside minihalos are still sub-dominant compared to that from stars inside larger halos, however, and thus complementary observations are necessary, such as redshifted 21-cm line observation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.68.3-68.3
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• 2019

Even though the initial mass function (IMF) of the first generation of stars played important roles in reionization of the universe, subsequent star formation, and chemical enrichment of the universe, it is still very uncertain. In this study, among the several indirect ways of estimating the IMF of the population III (Pop III) stars, we make use of extremely metal-poor (EMP; [Fe/H] < -3.0) stars in the Milky Way, in order to infer the characteristic mass range of Pop III stars. As the progenitors of many of the EMP stars are known to be Pop III stars, we attempt to construct the characteristic mass range of the progenitors (e.g., Pop III stars) of the EMP stares by comparing their observed abundance pattern of various chemical elements with chemical yields from supernova models.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.55.1-55.1
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• 2018

Theoretical models of reionization require that approximately 10% of the Lyman Continumm (LyC) photons escape from their host dark matter haloes and re-ionize neutral hydrogen in the Universe. However, observations of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z~3 report much lower escape fractions of $f_{esc}{\sim}1%$. In an attempt to understand the discrepancy, we perform radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of isolated disk galaxies using RAMSES-RT with high resolution (maximum ~ 9 pc). We find that $f_{esc}$ is ~6% on average for the reference run ($Z=0.1Z{\odot}$), whereas the fraction decreases to ~1% in the case of metal-rich disk ($Z=1Z{\odot}$). This happens because dense metal-poor gas clumps are disrupted early due to strong Lya pressure and supernova explosions, while star particles are trapped for a longer period of time in the metal-rich environments. We also find that $f_{esc}$ is still significant (~4%) even when the amount of metal-poor gas is increased by a factor of 5. Our preliminary results suggest that the low escape fractions in LBGs may be better explained by (locally) metal-enriched gas near young stars than high gas fractions in galaxies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.39.2-39.2
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• 2020

Based upon the previous heritage in the complete development of the infrared imaging spectrometer, NISS (Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer for Star formation history) onboard NEXTSat-1, we are participating in the NASA MIDEX mission (PI Institute: Caltech), the all-sky infrared spectro-photometric surveyor SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer). The SPHEREx will provide us the first all-sky infrared spectro-photometric data set to probe the origin of our Universe, to explore the origin and evolution of galaxies, and to explore whether planets around other stars could harbor life. After the SPEHREx have passed the PDR (Preliminary Design Review) on this September, the fabrication of flight hardware will be started soon. As an international partner, KASI takes part in the hardware development, the operation and the science for the SPHEREx. Here, we report the status of the SPHEREx project and the progress in the Korean participation.