• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.257-258
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• 2012

With AKARI, we carried out near-infrared spectroscopy of the nearby barred spiral galaxy, NGC 1097, categorized as Seyfert 1 with a circumnuclear starburst ring. Our observations mapped the galactic center region. As a result, we obtain the spatial distributions of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon $3.3{\mu}m$ and the aliphatic hydrocarbon $3.4-3.6{\mu}m$ emission. The former is detected from all the observed regions and the latter is enhanced near the bar connecting the ring with the nucleus. In addition, we detect absorption features due to $H_2O$ ice and CO/SiO at the ring and the galactic center, while we detect the hydrogen recombination line $Br{\alpha}$ only from the ring. Hence the observed spectra change dramatically within the central 1 kpc region.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.175-185
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• 2002

Almost half of primeval galaxies show P-Cygni type profiles in the Ly$\alpha$ emission line. The main underlying mechanism for the profile formation in these systems is thought to be the frequency re-distribution of the line photons in expanding scattering media surrounding the emission source. A Monte Carlo code is developed to investigate the Ly$\alpha$ line transfer in an optically thick and moving medium with a careful consideration of the scattering in the damping wings. Typical column densities and expansion velocities of neutral hydrogen investigated in this study are $N_{H1}{\~}10^{17-20}\;cm^{-2}$ and ${\Delta}V{\~} 100 km\;s^{-1}$. We investigate the dependence of the emergent profiles on the kinematics and on the column density. Our numerical results are applied to show that the damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbers may possess an expanding H I supershell with bulk flow of ${\~}200 km\;s^{-l}$ and H I column density $N_{H1}{\~}10^{19}\;cm^{-2}$. We briefly discuss the observational implications.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.61.2-61.2
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• 2014

A non-axisymmetric mass distribution of galactic structures including bulge (or bar) causes gas inflow from the disk to the nuclear region, including intense star formation within few hundred parsecs of galactic central. In order to investigate the relation between the ellipticity of the bulge and the presence of a nuclear starburst, we use a volume-limited sample of galaxies with Mr < -19.5 mag at 0.02 < z < 0.05 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. Total sample is 3252 spiral galaxies, which include nuclear starburst galaxies. We find that the occurrence of nuclear starbursts has a moderate correlation with bulge ellipticity of intermediate-type spiral galaxies (morphology classes Sab-Sb) in low galaxy number density environments and isolated regions where the distance between the target galaxies and the closest galaxies is relatively far. In high galaxy number density environments and interacting regions, close encounters and mergers between galaxies can cause gas inflow to the nuclear region even without the presence of non-axisymmetric bulges.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.157-160
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• 2007

I present a model to explain the mass segregation and shallow mass functions observed in the central parts of starburst stellar clusters. The model assumes that the initial pre-stellar cores mass function resulting from the turbulent fragmentation of the proto-cluster cloud is significantly altered by the cores coalescence before they collapse to form stars. With appropriate, yet realistic parameters, this model based on the competition between cores coalescence and collapse reproduces the mass spectra of the well studied Arches cluster. Namely, the slopes at the intermediate and high mass ends, as well as the peculiar bump observed at $6M_{\bigodot}$. This coalescence-collapse process occurs on a short timescale of the order of the free fall time of the proto-cluster cloud (i.e., a few $10^4$ years), suggesting that mass segregation in Arches and similar clusters is primordial. The best fitting model implies the total mass of the Arches cluster is $1.45{\times}10^5M_{\bigodot}$, which is slightly higher than the often quoted, but completeness affected, observational value of a few $10^4M_{\bigodot}$. The model implies a star formation efficiency of ${\sim}30$ percent which implies that the Arches cluster is likely to a gravitationally bound system.

• 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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.38.1-38.1
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• 2014

A non-axisymmetric mass distribution in the galactic bulge (or bar) causes gas flow from the disk to the nuclear region, inducing intense star formation in the nucleus. We investigate the relation between the ellipticity of the bulge and the presence of a nuclear starburst by using a volume-limited sample of galaxies. We use 1,680 spiral galaxies with Mr < -19.5 at 0.02 <= z < 0.05 in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. We find that the occurrence of nuclear starburst has a moderate correlation with bulge ellipticity in intermediate-type spiral galaxies (morphology classes Sab~Sb) in low galaxy number density environments. In high galaxy number density environments, close encounters and mergers between galaxies can cause gas inflow to the nuclear region even without the presence of non-axisymmetric bulges.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.34.2-35
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• 2018

Galaxy transition from star-forming to quiescent, accompanied with morphology transformation, is one of the key unresolved issues in extragalactic astronomy. Although several environmental mechanisms have been proposed, a deeper understanding of the impact of environment on galaxy transition still requires much exploration. My Ph.D. thesis focuses on which environmental mechanisms are primarily responsible for galaxy transition in different environments and looks at what happens during the transition phase using multi-wavelength photometric/spectroscopic data, from UV to mid-infrared (MIR), derived from several large surveys (GALEX, SDSS, and WISE) and our GMOS-North IFU observations. Our multi-wavelength approach provides new insights into the *late* stages of galaxy transition with a definition of the MIR green valley different from the optical green valley. I will present highlights from three areas in my thesis. First, through an in-depth study of environmental dependence of various properties of galaxies in a nearby supercluster A2199 (Lee et al. 2015), we found that the star formation of galaxies is quenched before the galaxies enter the MIR green valley, which is driven mainly by strangulation. Then, the morphological transformation from late- to early-type galaxies occurs in the MIR green valley. The main environmental mechanisms for the morphological transformation are galaxy-galaxy mergers and interactions that are likely to happen in high-density regions such as galaxy groups/clusters. After the transformation, early-type MIR green valley galaxies keep the memory of their last star formation for several Gyr until they move on to the next stage for completely quiescent galaxies. Second, compact groups (CGs) of galaxies are the most favorable environments for galaxy interactions. We studied MIR properties of galaxies in CGs and their environmental dependence (Lee et al. 2017), using a sample of 670 CGs identified using a friends-of-friends algorithms. We found that MIR [3.4]-[12] colors of CG galaxies are, on average, bluer than those of cluster galaxies. As CGs are located in denser regions, they tend to have larger early-type galaxy fractions and bluer MIR color galaxies. These trends can also be seen for neighboring galaxies around CGs. However, CG members always have larger early-type fractions and bluer MIR colors than their neighboring galaxies. These results suggest that galaxy evolution is faster in CGs than in other environments and that CGs are likely to be the best place for pre-processing. Third, post-starburst galaxies (PSBs) are an ideal laboratory to investigate the details of the transition phase. Their spectra reveal a phase of vigorous star formation activity, which is abruptly ended within the last 1 Gyr. Numerical simulations predict that the starburst, and thus the current A-type stellar population, should be localized within the galaxy's center (< kpc). Yet our GMOS IFU observations show otherwise; all five PSBs in our sample have Hdelta absorption line profiles that extend well beyond the central kpc. Most interestingly, we found a negative correlation between the Hdelta gradient slopes and the fractions of the stellar mass produced during the starburst, suggesting that stronger starbursts are more centrally-concentrated. I will discuss the results in relation with the origin of PSBs.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.29.2-29.2
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• 2008

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.76.1-76.1
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• 2005

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.66.1-66.1
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• 2011

E+A galaxies are interpreted as post-starburst systems because of strong Balmer absorption lines but any emission lines indicating the lack of current star formation activities, thus they are one of key populations for understanding how star formation activities evolve in galaxies. We present mid-infrared (MIR) spectral energy distributions of E+A galaxies using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) preliminary released data. Furthermore, we investigate the role of environment with respect to the MIR properties of E+A galaxies.