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Lee, Jong Chul

Publications and source records attributed to Lee, Jong Chul.

Searching for Mg ii absorbers in and around galaxy clusters

ABSTRACT To study environmental effects on the circumgalactic medium (CGM), we use the samples of redMaPPer galaxy clusters, background quasars, and cluster galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). With ∼82 000 quasar spectra, we detect 197 Mg ii absorbers in and around the clusters. The detection rate per quasar is 2.7 ± 0.7 times higher inside the clusters than outside the clusters, indicating that Mg ii absorbers are relatively abundant in clusters. However, when considering the galaxy number density, the absorber-to-galaxy ratio is rather low inside the clusters. If we assume that Mg ii absorbers are mainly contributed by the CGM of massive star-forming galaxies, a typical halo size of cluster galaxies is smaller than that of field galaxies by 30 ± 10 per cent. This finding supports that galaxy haloes can be truncated by interaction with the host cluster.

Lee, Jong Chul↗

The Dependence of Cluster Galaxy Properties on the Central Entropy of Their Host Cluster

We present a study of the connection between brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and their host galaxy clusters. Using galaxy clusters at 0.1<z<0.3 from the Hectospec Cluster Survey (HeCS) with X-ray information from the Archive of Chandra Cluster Entropy Profile Tables (ACCEPT), we confirm that BCGs in low central entropy clusters are well aligned with the X-ray center. Additionally, the magnitude difference between BCG and the second brightest galaxy also correlates with the central entropy of the intracluster medium. From the red-sequence (RS) galaxies, we cannot find significant dependence of RS color scatter and stellar population on the central entropy of the intracluster medium of their host cluster. However, BCGs in low-entropy clusters are systematically less massive than those in high-entropy clusters, although this is dependent on the method used to derive the stellar mass of BCGs. In contrast, the stellar velocity dispersion of BCGs shows no dependence on BCG activity and cluster central entropy. This implies that the potential of the BCG is established earlier and the activity leading to optical emission lines is dictated by the properties of the intracluster medium in the cluster core.

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A SUBMILLIMETER CONTINUUM SURVEY OF LOCAL DUST-OBSCURED GALAXIES

We conduct a 350 μ m dust continuum emission survey of 17 dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) at z = 0.05–0.08 with the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). We detect 14 DOGs with S{sub 350μm} = 114–650 mJy and signal-to-noise > 3. By including two additional DOGs with submillimeter data in the literature, we are able to study dust content for a sample of 16 local DOGs, which consist of 12 bump and four power-law types. We determine their physical parameters with a two-component modified blackbody function model. The derived dust temperatures are in the range 57–122 K and 22–35 K for the warm and cold dust components, respectively. The total dust mass and the mass fraction of the warm dust component are 3–34 × 10{sup 7} M {sub ⊙} and 0.03%–2.52%, respectively. We compare these results with those of other submillimeter-detected infrared luminous galaxies. The bump DOGs, the majority of the DOG sample, show similar distributions of dust temperatures and total dust mass to the comparison sample. The power-law DOGs show a hint of smaller dust masses than other samples, but need to be tested with a larger sample. These findings support that the reason DOGs show heavy dust obscuration is not an overall amount of dust content, but probably the spatial distribution of dust therein.

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Stellar populations of early-type galaxies with mid-infrared excess emission

We present a stellar population analysis of quiescent (without Hα emission) and bright (M{sub r} < −21.5) early-type galaxies (ETGs) with recent star formation. The ETGs are selected from a spectroscopic sample of SDSS galaxies at 0.04 < z < 0.11 with WISE mid-infrared (IR) and GALEX near-ultraviolet (UV) emissions. We stack the optical spectra of ETGs with different amounts of mid-IR and near-UV excess emissions to measure the strength of 4000 Å break D{sub n}4000 and the width of Balmer absorption line Hδ{sub A} that are indicative of recent (∼1 Gyr) star formation activity. The WISE [3.4]–[12] colors show stronger correlations with the spectral features than NUV–r colors. We fit to the stacked spectra with a spectral fitting code, STARLIGHT, and find that the mass fraction of young (⩽1 Gyr) and intermediate-age (∼1–5 Gyr) stars in the ETGs with mid-IR excess emission is ∼4%–11%, depending on the template spectrum used for the fit. These results show that the ETGs with mid-IR excess emission have experienced star formation within the last 1–5 Gyr and that the mid-IR emission is a useful diagnostic tool for probing recent star formation activity in ETGs.

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Tracing recent star formation of red early-type galaxies out to z ∼ 1

We study the mid-infrared (IR) excess emission of early-type galaxies (ETGs) on the red sequence at z < 1 using a spectroscopic sample of galaxies in the fields of Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). In the mass-limited sample of 1025 galaxies with M {sub star} > 10{sup 10.5} M {sub ☉} and 0.4 < z < 1.05, we identify 696 Spitzer 24 μm detected (above the 5σ) galaxies and find them to have a wide range of NUV-r and r-[12 μm] colors despite their red optical u – r colors. Even in the sample of very massive ETGs on the red sequence with M {sub star} > 10{sup 11.2} M {sub ☉}, more than 18% show excess emission over the photospheric emission in the mid-IR. The combination with the results of red ETGs in the local universe suggests that the recent star formation is not rare among quiescent, red ETGs at least out to z ∼ 1 if the mid-IR excess emission results from intermediate-age stars or/and from low-level ongoing star formation. Our color-color diagram including near-UV and mid-IR emissions are efficient not only for identifying ETGs with recent star formation, but also for distinguishing quiescent galaxies from dusty star-forming galaxies.

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Measurable relationship between bright galaxies and their faint companions in WHL J085910.0+294957, a galaxy cluster at z = 0.30: vestiges of infallen groups?

The properties of satellite galaxies are closely related to their host galaxies in galaxy groups. In cluster environments, on the other hand, the interaction between close neighbors is known to be limited. Our goal is to examine the relationships between host and satellite galaxies in the harsh environment of a galaxy cluster. To achieve this goal, we study a galaxy cluster WHL J085910.0+294957 at z = 0.30 using deep images obtained with CQUEAN CCD camera mounted on the 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope. After member selection based on the scaling relations of photometric and structural parameters, we investigate the relationship between bright (M{sub i} ≤ –18) galaxies and their faint (–18 < M{sub i} ≤ –15) companions. The weighted mean color of faint companion galaxies shows no significant dependence (<1σ to bootstrap uncertainties) on cluster-centric distance and local luminosity density as well as the luminosity and concentration of an adjacent bright galaxy. However, the weighted mean color shows marginal dependence (∼2.2σ) on the color of an adjacent bright galaxy when the sample is limited to bright galaxies with at least two faint companions. By using a permutation test, we confirm that the correlation in color between bright galaxies and their faint companions in this cluster is statistically significant with a confidence level of 98.7%. The statistical significance increases if we additionally remove non-members using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric redshift information (∼2.6σ and 99.3%). Our results suggest three possible scenarios: (1) vestiges of infallen groups, (2) dwarf capturing, and (3) tidal tearing of bright galaxies.

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THE CALIBRATION OF STAR FORMATION RATE INDICATORS FOR WISE 22 {mu}m-SELECTED GALAXIES IN THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

We study star formation rate (SFR) indicators for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) 22 {mu}m-selected, star-forming galaxies at 0.01 < z < 0.3 in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Using extinction-corrected H{alpha} luminosities and total infrared luminosities as reference SFR estimates, we calibrate WISE mid-infrared- (MIR-) related SFR indicators. Both the 12 and 22 {mu}m monochromatic luminosities correlate well with the reference the SFR estimates, but tend to underestimate the SFRs of metal-poor galaxies (at lower than solar metallicity), consistent with previous studies. We mitigate this metallicity dependence by using a linear combination of observed H{alpha} and WISE MIR luminosities for our SFR estimates. This combination provides SFR measurements as robust as those applied to Spitzer data by Kennicutt et al. However, we find that the coefficient a in L{sub H{alpha}(obs)} + aL{sub MIR} increases with the SFR, and show that a nonlinear combination of observed H{alpha} and MIR luminosities gives the best SFR estimates with small scatters and with little dependence on physical parameters. Such a combination of H{alpha} and MIR luminosities for SFR estimates is first applied to the WISE data. Using WISE data, we provide several SFR recipes that are applicable to galaxies with 0.1 {approx}< SFR (M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}) {approx}< 100.

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THE MID-INFRARED AND NEAR-ULTRAVIOLET EXCESS EMISSIONS OF QUIESCENT GALAXIES ON THE RED SEQUENCE

We study the mid-infrared (IR) and near-ultraviolet (UV) excess emissions of spectroscopically selected quiescent galaxies on the optical red sequence. We use the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mid-IR and Galaxy Evolution Explorer near-UV data for a spectroscopic sample of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 to study the possible connection between quiescent red-sequence galaxies with and without mid-IR/near-UV excess. Among 648 12 {mu}m detected quiescent red-sequence galaxies without H{alpha} emission, 26% and 55% show near-UV and mid-IR excess emissions, respectively. When we consider only bright (M{sub r} < -21.5) galaxies with an early-type morphology, the fraction of galaxies with recent star formation is still 39%. The quiescent red-sequence galaxies with mid-IR and near-UV excess emissions are optically fainter and have slightly smaller D{sub n} 4000 than those without mid-IR and near-UV excess emissions. We also find that mid-IR weighted mean stellar ages of quiescent red-sequence galaxies with mid-IR excess are larger than those with near-UV excess, and smaller than those without mid-IR and near-UV excess. The environmental dependence of the fraction of quiescent red-sequence galaxies with mid-IR and near-UV excess seems strong even though the trends of quiescent red-sequence galaxies with near-UV excess differ from those with mid-IR excess. These results indicate that the recent star formation traced by near-UV ({approx}< 1 Gyr) and mid-IR ({approx}< 2 Gyr) excess is not negligible among nearby, quiescent, red, early-type galaxies. We suggest a possible evolutionary scenario of quiescent red-sequence galaxies from quiescent red-sequence galaxies with near-UV excess to those with mid-IR excess to those without near-UV and mid-IR excess.

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WHAT DETERMINES THE SIZES OF RED EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES?

The sizes of galaxies are known to be closely related with their masses, luminosities, redshifts, and morphologies. However, when we fix these quantities and morphology, we still find large dispersions in the galaxy size distribution. We investigate the origin of these dispersions for red early-type galaxies using two SDSS-based catalogs. We find that the sizes of faint galaxies (log (M{sub dyn}/M{sub Sun }) {approx}< 10.3 or {sup 0.1} M{sub r} {approx}> -19.5, where {sup 0.1} M{sub r} is the r-band absolute magnitude, k-corrected to z = 0.1) are affected more significantly by luminosity, while the sizes of bright galaxies (log (M{sub dyn}/M{sub Sun }) {approx}> 11.4 or {sup 0.1} M{sub r} {approx}< -21.4) are by dynamical mass. At fixed mass and luminosity, the sizes of low-mass galaxies (log (M{sub dyn}/M{sub Sun }) {approx} 10.45 and {sup 0.1} M{sub r} {approx} -19.8) are relatively less sensitive to their colors, color gradients, and axis ratios. On the other hand, the sizes of intermediate-mass (log (M{sub dyn}/M{sub Sun }) {approx} 10.85 and {sup 0.1} M{sub r} {approx} -20.4) and high-mass (log (M{sub dyn}/M{sub Sun }) {approx} 11.25 and {sup 0.1} M{sub r} {approx} -21.0) galaxies significantly depend on those parameters, in the sense that larger red early-type galaxies have bluer colors, more negative color gradients (bluer outskirts), and smaller axis ratios. These results indicate that the sizes of intermediate- and high-mass red early-type galaxies are significantly affected by their recent minor mergers or rotations, whereas the sizes of low-mass red early-type galaxies are affected by some other mechanisms. Major dry mergers also seem to have influenced on the size growth of high-mass red early-type galaxies.

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AKARI NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF LUMINOUS INFRARED GALAXIES

We present the AKARI near-infrared (NIR; 2.5-5 {mu}m) spectroscopic study of 36 (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRGs) at z = 0.01-0.4. We measure the NIR spectral features including the strengths of 3.3 {mu}m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission and hydrogen recombination lines (Br{alpha} and Br{beta}), optical depths at 3.1 and 3.4 {mu}m, and NIR continuum slope. These spectral features are used to identify optically elusive, buried active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We find that half of the (U)LIRGs optically classified as non-Seyferts show AGN signatures in their NIR spectra. Using a combined sample of (U)LIRGs with NIR spectra in the literature, we measure the contribution of buried AGNs to the infrared luminosity from the spectral energy distribution fitting to the IRAS photometry. The contribution of these buried AGNs to the infrared luminosity is 5%-10%, smaller than the typical AGN contribution of (U)LIRGs including Seyfert galaxies (10%-40%). We show that NIR continuum slopes correlate well with WISE [3.4]-[4.6] colors, which would be useful for identifying a large number of buried AGNs using the WISE data.

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HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE PIXEL ANALYSIS OF THE INTERACTING S0 GALAXY NGC 5195 (M51B)

We report the properties of the interacting S0 galaxy NGC 5195 (M51B), revealed in a pixel analysis using the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys images in the F435W, F555W, and F814W (BVI) bands. We analyze the pixel color-magnitude diagram (pCMD) of NGC 5195, focusing on the properties of its red and blue pixel sequences and the difference from the pCMD of NGC 5194 (M51A; the spiral galaxy interacting with NGC 5195). The red pixel sequence of NGC 5195 is redder than that of NGC 5194, which corresponds to the difference in the dust optical depth of 2 < {Delta}{tau}{sub V} < 4 at fixed age and metallicity. The blue pixel sequence of NGC 5195 is very weak and spatially corresponds to the tidal bridge between the two interacting galaxies. This implies that the blue pixel sequence is not an ordinary feature in the pCMD of an early-type galaxy, but that it is a transient feature of star formation caused by the galaxy-galaxy interaction. We also find a difference in the shapes of the red pixel sequences on the pixel color-color diagrams (pCCDs) of NGC 5194 and NGC 5195. We investigate the spatial distributions of the pCCD-based pixel stellar populations. The young population fraction in the tidal bridge area is larger than that in other areas by a factor >15. Along the tidal bridge, young populations seem to be clumped particularly at the middle point of the bridge. On the other hand, the dusty population shows a relatively wide distribution between the tidal bridge and the center of NGC 5195.

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DO BARS TRIGGER ACTIVITY IN GALACTIC NUCLEI?

We investigate the connection between the presence of bars and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, using a volume-limited sample of {approx}9000 late-type galaxies with axis ratio b/a > 0.6 and M{sub r} < -19.5 + 5 log h at low redshift (0.02 {<=} z {approx}< 0.055), selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. We find that the bar fraction in AGN-host galaxies (42.6%) is {approx}2.5 times higher than in non-AGN galaxies (15.6%), and that the AGN fraction is a factor of two higher in strong-barred galaxies (34.5%) than in non-barred galaxies (15.0%). However, these trends are simply caused by the fact that AGN-host galaxies are on average more massive and redder than non-AGN galaxies because the fraction of strong-barred galaxies (f{sub SB}) increases with u - r color and stellar velocity dispersion. When u - r color and velocity dispersion (or stellar mass) are fixed, both the excess of f{sub SB} in AGN-host galaxies and the enhanced AGN fraction in strong-barred galaxies disappears. Among AGN-host galaxies we find no strong difference of the Eddington ratio distributions between barred and non-barred systems. These results indicate that AGN activity is not dominated by the presence of bars, and that AGN power is not enhanced by bars. In conclusion, we do not find clear evidence that bars trigger AGN activity.

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