• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.29.4-29.4
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• 2020

Structure in the universe forms hierarchically with the small scales forming first and merging into larger scales. Galaxy clusters are at the pinnacle of the formation process. Peering far into the universe, we can observe galaxy clusters early in their evolution. SpARCSJ1049+56 is a galaxy cluster located at a redshift of 1.71. It has been shown to be rich in cluster galaxies, to have intense star formation, and to have a significant amount of molecular gas. Through careful control of systematics, we detected the weak-lensing signal from this distant galaxy cluster. I will present our HST infrared weak-lensing detection of the cluster with a focus on the method. Our lensing analysis found that the cluster is massive and is rare in a LambdaCDM universe. I will also present the Chandra X-ray discovery of cold gas coincident with the intense star formation and discuss the implications of the detection.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.35.2-35.2
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• 2010

It is crucial to understand the dust properties in the early universe since they provide important clues about how the early cosmic star formation should be interpreted in the presence of dust extinction. GRB 071025 is an unusually red GRB that occured at high redshift, offering an unique opportunity to study the dust properties in the early universe. We investigate the extinction properties of GRB 071025 through the analysis of RIJHK data obtained with the 1-m telescope at Mt. Lemmon Optical Astronomy Observatory (LOAO) and Simultaneous Quad Infrared Imaging Device (SQIID) on the Kitt-Peak Mayall 4-m telescope. Our dataset is independent from that in a previous work (Perley et al. 2010) where a small systematic photometric errors could complicate the interpretation. After determining the temporal power law exponent with five I-band frames from LOAO, we construct a multi-band monochromatic SED of the GRB afterglow. By using various extinction laws, we find that the SED is best fitted with models that incorporate SNe II dust and derive a photometric redshift of 4.99(+0.12/-0.03). Our results strongly support the prior claim that dusts in GRB 071025 originate mainly from supernovae, implying SNe II predominantly contributed to the dust enrichment in the early universe (z ~ 5).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.48.4-48.4
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• 2019

Small-scale shear flows are ubiquitous in the universe, and astrophysical plasmas are often magnetized. We study the thermal condensation instability in magnetized plasmas with shear flows in relation to filamentary structure formation in cool structures in the universe, representatively solar prominences and supernova remnants. A linear stability analysis is extensively performed in the framework of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) with radiative cooling, plasma heating and anisotropic thermal conduction to find the eigenfrequencies and eigenfunctions for the unstable modes. For a shear velocity less than the Alfven velocity of the background plasma, the eigenvalue with the maximum growth rate is found to correspond to a thermal condensation mode, for which the density and temperature variations are anti-phased (of opposite signs). Only when the shear velocity in the k-direction is near zero, the eigenfunctions for the condensation mode are of smooth sinusoidal forms. Otherwise each eigenfunction for density and temperature is singular and of a discrete form like delta functions. Our results indicate that any non-uniform velocity field with a magnitude larger than a millionth of the Alfven velocity can generate discrete eigenfunctions of the condensation mode. We therefore suggest that condensation at discrete layers or threads should be quite a natural and universal process whenever a thermal instability arises in magnetized plasmas.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.183-189
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• 2000

According to Oriental perspective on Universe, all systems become complete when three elements namely time, space, and human are all present. The only computer technology which can integrate these three elements is GIS. The current GIS database and system architecture, however, mainly concentrate on managing and analyzing spatial data without considering temporal and human elements. Despite the limitations, it is certain that GIS technology will develop into a unity within which the three elements of time, space and human are integrated. On the other hand, with the rapid acceptance of Internet technology, a new small universe that can be called "cyber world" is emerging. However, the current small univers created by internet is only a half-universe which does not include the concept of space. The creation of "cyber nation" which truly reflects our living environment in computer and information communication networks can only be achievedthrough the integration of GIS and Internet. Currently, many countries are heavily investing in GIS. Based on the magnitude of investments, we can expect that the concept of "cyber nation" will further develop into "cyber world" where the search for information on any part of global village is possible with the simple use of mobile phone regardless of time or location. If so, it might be possible to create a "Digitopia", a digital utopia in cyber space. A new world is opening by the integration of GIS and Internet.is opening by the integration of GIS and Internet.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.43.3-44
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• 2015

We analyze the clustering of large scale structure in the Universe in a model independent method, accounting for anisotropic effects along and transverse to the line of sight. A large sample of 690,000 galaxies from The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopy Survey Data Release 11 are used to determine the Hubble expansion H, angular distance D_A, and growth rate GT at an effective redshift of z=0.57. After careful bias and convergence studies of the effects from small scale clustering, we find that cutting transverse separations below 40 Mpc/h delivers robust results while smaller scale data leads to a bias due to unmodelled nonlinear and velocity effects. The converged results are in agreement with concordance LCDM cosmology, general relativity, and minimal neutrino mass, all within the $68{\backslash}%$ confidence level. We also present results separately for the northern and southern hemisphere sky, finding a slight tension in the growth rate -- potentially a signature of anisotropic stress, or just covariance with small scale velocities -- but within $68{\backslash}%$ CL.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.34.1-34.1
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• 2010

Studies suggest that activities in luminous AGNs, residing mostly in early-type galaxies, are triggered by merging. However, the observational evidence for the connection between mergers and AGN activity is not clear yet because tracer of the past merging activities such as tidal tail, shell are often too faint. To see if we can reveal the merging features with a small telescope, we observed an AGN, MARK 478, at z=0.077 with long exposure time (7550 seconds) in V filter at Maidanak observatory. Our 2-D fitting analysis shows that the host galaxy of MARK 478 has the bulge to the total luminosity ratio of 0.3. And the residual image, after subtracting point spread function (PSF), bulge and disk components, shows that the host galaxy has an arm-like feature that could be a spiral arm or a feature from minor merging. We also show that the structural parameters obtained from our 2-D fitting match well with those derived from HST image. The promising result suggests that studies of low redshift AGN host galaxies are possible with data from a small telescope. In order to allow a statistical analysis, we hope to expand our sample size in future.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.45.3-45.3
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• 2019

Since the high throughput for diffuse objects and the wide-area survey even with a small telescope can be achieved in space, infrared (IR) obervations have been tried through small missions in Korea. Based upon the previous technical development for infrared spectro-photometric instrument, NISS (Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer for Star formation history) onboard NEXTSat-1, we participated in the all-sky infrared spectro-photometric survey mission, SPHEREx. The SPEHREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) was selected as the NASA MIDEX (Medium-class Explorer) mission (PI Institute: Caltech) in this February. As an international partner, KASI will take part in the hardware development, the operation and the science for the SPHEREx. The SPHEREx will perform the first all-sky infrared spectro-photometric survey 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. For the purpose of the all-sky survey, the SPHEREx is designed to have a wide FoV of 3.5 × 11.3 deg. as well as wide spectral range from 0.75 to 5.0㎛. Here, we report the status of the SPHEREx project and the progress in the Korean participation.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.34.2-34.2
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• 2017

A small wide-field imaging telescope is a powerful instrument to survey the Universe: wide-field image can monitor the variability of many sources at a time, e.g. young stellar objects and active galactic nuclei, and it can be an effective way to locate transient sources without precise positional information such as gravitational wave sources or some gamma-ray bursts. In February 2017, we installed a 0.25 m f/3.6 telescope on the McDonald 0.8 m telescope as a piggyback system. With a $4k{\times}4k$ CCD camera, the telescope has a $2.35{\times}2.35deg$ field-of-view. Currently, it is equipped with Johnson UBVRI filters and 3 narrow-band filters: $H{\alpha}$, OIII and SII. We will present the installation process, and the telescope performance such as detection limit and image quality based on the data from commissioning observations. We will also discuss possible scientific projects with this system.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.413-415
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• 2015

How galaxy evolution differs in different environments is one of the intriguing questions in the study of structure formation. While galaxy properties are clearly distinguished in different environments in the local universe, it is still an open issue what causes this environmental dependence of various galaxy properties. To address this question, in this work, we investigate the build-up of passive galaxies over a wide redshift range, from z ~ 2 to z ~ 0.5, focusing on its dependence on galaxy environment. In the UKIDSS/Ultra Deep Survey (UDS) field, we identify high-redshift galaxy cluster candidates within this redshift range. Then, using deep optical and near-infrared data from Subaru and UKIRT available in this field, we analyze and compare the stellar population properties of galaxies in the clusters and in the field. Our results show that the environmental effect on galaxy star-formation properties is a strong function of redshift as well as stellar mass - in the sense that (1) the effect becomes significant at small redshift, and (2) it is stronger for low-mass ($M_{\ast}<10^{10}M_{\odot}$) galaxies. We have also found that galaxy stellar mass plays a more significant role in determining their star-formation property - i.e., whether they are forming stars actively or not - than their environment throughout the redshift range.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.41.1-41.1
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• 2015

Hierarchical galaxy formation models under LCDM cosmology predict that the most massive structures such as galaxy clusters (M > $10^{14}M_{\odot}$) appear late (z < 1) in the history of the universe through hierarchical clustering of small objects. Galaxy formation is also expected to be accelerated in overdense environments, with the star formation rate-density relation to be established at z ~ 2. In this talk, we present our search of massive structures of galaxies at 0.7 < z < 4, using the data from GOODS survey and our own imaging survey, Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS). From these studies, we find that there are excess of massive structures of galaxies at z > 2 in comparison to the Millennium simulation data. At 1 < z < 2, the number density of massive structures is consistent with the simulation data, but the star formation history is more or less identical between field and cluster. The star formation quenching process is dominated by internal process (stellar mass). The environmental effect becomes important only at z < 1, which contributes to create the well known star formation-density relation in the local universe. Our results suggest that galaxy formation models under LCDM cosmology may require further refinements to match the observation.