• 천문학회보
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.83.1-83.1
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• 2014

Open clusters consisting of a co-spatial and coeval population with a similar chemical composition are a superb astrophysical test bed in both stellar and galactic astronomy. We introduce not only several scientific issues relating to these objects but also comprehensive studies of the two young open clusters Westerlund 1 and IC 1848 formed in extremely different star-forming conditions. Westerlund 1 is known as the most massive starburst cluster in the Galaxy. Located in the Scutum-Centaurus spiral arm, the cluster is relatively close to the Galactic Center. The apparent surface density is very high. On the other hand, IC 1848 is a core cluster within the large-scale star-forming region W5 lying in the Perseus arm. Unlike Westerlund 1, IC 1848 with a putatively low metallicity exhibits a low surface density. We present the fundamental parameters of those young clusters, such as reddening, distance, and age, obtained from the broadband photometric analysis. The stellar initial mass function (IMF) of the clusters is used to investigate the effects of the different star-forming conditions on the star formation activity. With the results of previous studies for several young open clusters, our preliminary results support a possibility that star formation activity may be affected by the environmental factors or the initial condition of natal clouds. In addition, we shortly discuss the age scale and spread of pre-main sequence stars to understand the formation processes of star clusters.

• 천문학회지
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.123-144
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• 2003

The 8m class telescopes in the ground-based optical astronomy together with help from the ultra-sharp eye of the Hubble Space Telescope have enabled us to observe forming galaxies beyond red shift z = 5. In particular, more than twenty Ly$\alpha$-emitting galaxies have already been found at z > 5. These findings provide us with useful hints to investigate how galaxies formed and then evolved in the early universe. Further, detailed analysis of Ly$\alpha$ emission line profiles are useful in exploring the nature of the intergalactic medium because the trailing edge of cosmic reionization could be close to z $\~$ 6 -7, at which forming galaxies have been found recently. We also discuss the importance of superwinds from forming galaxies at high redshift, which has an intimate relationship between galaxies and the intergalactic medium. We then give a review of early cosmic star formation history based on recent progress in searching for Ly$\alpha$-emitting young galaxies beyond red shift 5.

• 천문학회보
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.63.2-63.2
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• 2011

We present a photometric study of star clusters in three nearby barred spiral galaxies NGC 1300, NGC 1672 and NGC 6217. We use the Hubble Heritage CCD images taken with Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in several filters. We have selected hundreds of star clusters with V $\leq$ 24 mag in each galaxy, based on the morphological parameters and visual inspection. Most of the blue star clusters with B-V $\leq$ 0.5 are strongly concentrated in spiral arms. A significant fraction of these star clusters are distributed in ansae (the joint between spiral arms and bar structure). Some of the blue star clusters are also found in the nuclear starburst region, especially in NGC 1672. A small number of star clusters are found in the bar region. In contrast, the red star clusters with B-V < 0.5 are relatively uniformly located over the entire field of galaxy, and show some central concentration around the bulge. We discuss the physical properties of these star clusters with the expected results from simulations.

• 천문학회보
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.44.3-44.3
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• 2019

Massive stars, supernovae, and kilonovae are among the most luminous radiation sources in the universe. Observations usually show near- to mid-infrared (NIR-MIR, 1-5~micron) emission excess from H II regions around young massive star clusters (YMSCs) and anomalous dust extinction and polarization towards Type Ia supernova (SNe Ia). The popular explanation for such NIR-MIR excess and unusual dust properties is the predominance of small grains (size a<0.05micron) relative to large grains (a>0.1micron) in the local environment of these strong radiation sources. The question of why small grains are predominant in these environments remains a mystery. Here we report a new mechanism of dust destruction based on centrifugal stress within extremely fast rotating grains spun-up by radiative torques, namely the RAdiative Torque Disruption (RATD) mechanism, which can resolve this question. We find that RATD can destroy large grains located within a distance of ~ 1 pc from a massive star of luminosity L~ 10^4L_sun and a supernova. This increases the abundance of small grains relative to large grains and successfully reproduces the observed NIR-MIR excess and anomalous dust extinction/polarization. We show that small grains produced by RATD can also explain the steep far-UV rise in extinction curves toward starburst and high redshift galaxies, as well as the decrease of the escape fraction of Ly-alpha photons observed from HII regions surrounding YMSCs.

• 천문학회보
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• 제46권1호
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• pp.55.1-55.1
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• 2021

Ram-pressure stripping (RPS) is known as a typical mechanism of quenching star formation (SF) of galaxies orbiting in clusters, but it can also boost the SF activity within a short period of time. Jellyfish galaxies, with eye-catching blue tails and knots, are such starburst galaxies undergoing strong RPS in galaxy clusters. Thus, they are very useful targets to understand their SF activity in relation to RPS. We study the SF activity of three jellyfish galaxies in massive clusters at z=0.3-0.4 (MACSJ1752-JFG2, MACSJ0916-JFG1, and A2744-F0083) with Gemini GMOS/IFU and compare our results to those of jellyfish galaxies in low-mass clusters. We obtain total star formation rates (SFRs) of up to 60 Mo/yr and SFRs in the tails of up to 15 Mo/yr, which are much higher than those of jellyfish galaxies in low-mass clusters with the median SFRs of 1.1 Mo/yr in total and 0.03 Mo/yr in tails. In addition, these SFRs are also significantly higher than the SF main sequence of galaxies at the redshifts of the three jellyfish galaxies. This implies that their SF activity is much more enhanced compared to jellyfish galaxies in low-mass clusters due to extreme RPS in massive clusters.

• 천문학논총
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.237-242
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• 2012

We have performed a systematic study of interstellar dust grains in various environments of galaxies. AKARI has revealed the detailed properties of dust grains not only in star-forming regions but also in regions not relevant to star formation, some of which are found not to follow our old empirical knowledge. Because of its unique capabilities, AKARI has provided new knowledge on the processing of large grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). For example, we detect PAHs from elliptical galaxies, which show unusual spectral features and spatial distributions, demonstrating importance of material processing in the interstellar space. We find that copious amounts of large grains and PAHs are flowing out of starburst galaxies by galactic superwinds, which are being shattered and destroyed in galactic haloes. We discover evidence for graphitization of carbonaceous grains near the center of our Galaxy, providing a clue to understanding the activity of the Galactic center. We review the results obtained from our AKARI program, focusing on the processing of carbonaceous grains in various environments of galaxies.

• 천문학논총
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.301-303
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• 2012

We present the result of our near infrared J- (${\lambda}=1.25{\mu}m$), H- (${\lambda}=1.63{\mu}m$), and $K_s$-band (${\lambda}=2.14{\mu}m$) imaging of ultraluminous ($L_{IR}$ > $10^{12}L_{\odot}$) and luminous ($L_{IR}=10^{11-12}L_{\odot}$) infrared galaxies (ULIRGs and LIRGs), to investigate their relationship through properties of their host galaxies. We find that (1) for single-nucleus ULIRGs and LIRGs, their spheroidal host galaxies have similar properties, but ULIRGs display a substantially higher level of nuclear activity than LIRGs, suggesting that their infrared luminosity difference comes primarily from the different level of current nuclear activity. We infer that LIRGs and ULIRGs have similar progenitor galaxies, follow similar evolutionary processes, and may evolve into optically-selected QSOs. (2) Largely-separated multiple-nuclei ULIRGs have significantly brighter host galaxies than single-nucleus ULIRGs and LIRGs in $K_s$-band, indicating that multiple-nuclei ULIRGs have a bias towards mergers of intrinsically large progenitor galaxies, in order to produce high infrared luminosity ($L_{IR}$ > $10^{12}L_{\odot}$) even at the early merging stage. (3) We derive dust extinction of host galaxies of ULIRGs and LIRGs to be $A_V$ ~ 14 mag in the optical or equivalently $A_K$ ~ 0.8 mag in the near-infrared $K_s$-band, based on the comparison of host galaxy's luminosities in the J-, H-, and $K_s$-bands.

• 천문학논총
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.281-284
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• 2012

We utilize AKARI's slitless spectroscopic capability to detect the $3.3{\mu}m$ polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emission and measure star formation (SF) activity for various AKARI programs. First, we obtain $2{\sim}5{\mu}m$ spectra of 20 flux-limited galaxies with mixed SED classes in order to calibrate the $3.3{\mu}m$ PAH luminosity ($L_{PAH3.3}$) as a star formation rate (SFR) indicator. We find that $L_{PAH3.3}$ correlates with $L_{IR}$ as well as with the $6.2{\mu}m$ PAH luminosity ($L_{PAH6.2}$). The correlations does not depend on SED classes. We find that ULIRGs deviate from the correlation between PAH luminosities and $L_{IR}$, while they do not for the correlation between PAH luminosities. We suggest possible effects to cause this deviation. On the other hand, how AGN activity is linked to SB activity is one of the most intriguing questions. While it is suggested that AGN luminosity of quasars correlates with starburst (SB) luminosity, it is still unclear how AGN activity is connected to SF activity based on host galaxy properties. We are measuring SFRs for the LQSONG sample consisting of reverberation mapped AGNs and PG-QSOs. This is an extension of the ASCSG program by which we investigated the connection between SB and AGN activities for Seyferts type 1s at z ~ 0.36. While we found no strong correlation between $L_{PAH3.3}$ and AGN luminosity for these Seyferts 1s, $L_{PAH3.3}$ measured from the central part of galaxies correlates with AGN luminosity, implying that SB and AGN activities are directly connected in the nuclear region.

• 천문학논총
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.285-286
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• 2012

We combine data from two all-sky surveys, the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope 22 Month Source Catalog and the AKARI Point Source Catalogue, in order to study the connection between the hard X-ray (> 10 keV) and infrared (IR) properties of local active galactic nuclei (AGN). We find two photometric diagnostics are useful for source classification: one is the X-ray luminosity vs. IR color diagram, in which type 1 radio-loud AGN are well isolated from other AGN. The second one uses the X-ray vs. IR color-color diagram as a redshift-independent indicator for identifying Compton-thick (CT) AGN. Importantly, CT AGN and starburst galaxies in composite systems can also be separated in this plane based upon their hard X-ray fluxes and dust temperatures. This diagram may be useful as a new indicator to classify objects in new surveys such as with WISE and NuSTAR.

• 천문학회보
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.34.1-34.1
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• 2013

Interstellar ices (e.g., $H_2O$, $CO_2$, and CO ices) are formed on the surface of dust grains in dense molecular clouds. In a near-infrared spectrum, we can observe deep absorption features particularly due to $H_2O$ ice at $3.05{\mu}m$ and $CO_2$ ice at $4.27{\mu}m$. These interstellar ices have many pieces of information on the interstellar environment. Among various ices, $CO_2$ ice is one of the most important ones as a probe of the interstellar environment. That is because $CO_2$ ice is a secondary product unlike $H_2O$ and CO ices which are primarily formed on dust grains. Past studies for $CO_2$ ice in nearby galaxies were performed only for the galactic center in a few galaxies. In order to utilize the information from $CO_2$ ice effectively, it is valuable to perform mapping observations of ices on a galactic scale. With AKARI, we obtain the spatially-resolved near-infrared ($2.5-5.0{\mu}m$) spectra for the central ~1 kpc region of the nearby starburst galaxy M 82. These spectra clearly show the absorption features due to interstellar $H_2O$ and $CO_2$ ices, and we created their column density maps. As a result, we find that the spatial distribution of $H_2O$ ice is significantly different from that of $CO_2$ ice; $H_2O$ ice is widely distributed, while $CO_2$ ice is concentrated near the galactic center. Our result for the first time reveals spatial variations in $CO_2/H_2O$ ice abundance ratio on a galactic scale, suggesting that the ice-forming interstellar environment changes within a galaxy. In this presentation, we discuss the cause of the variations in the ice abundance ratio.