Abstract: Using the spectral data in the 3700 to 10050˚A wavelength range secured with the Hamilton Echelle Spectrograph (HES) at the Lick observatory, we have investigated the expansion velocities and the physical conditions of the elliptical planetary nebula NGC 6803. Various forbidden and permitted lines, e.g. HI, HeI, HeII, [OIII], [NII], [ArIII], and [SII], indicate complicated but systematic physical conditions variation: electron temperatures Tϵ ∼ 9000 – 11 000 K and electron number densities Nϵ ∼ 2000 – 9000 cm−3. The line profile analysis of these ions also indicates the systematic change or the acceleration of the expansion velocities in the range of 10 – 22 km s−1. We show that the velocity gradient and physical condition found in various ions are closely related to the prolate ellipsoidal structure of NGC 6803. The expansion velocity and the ionic abundance of O2+ were derived based on the OII and [OIII] lines. In spite of the discrepancy of ionic abundances derived by the two cases and their line profiles, the expansion velocities of them agree well. We find that the ratios of the red to blue line component of the HeII & OII lines are different from those of the [OIII] or other forbidden lines that indicates a possible involvement of emission of HeII & OII lines. This subtle difference and the different physical condition of the lines are likely to be caused by the elongated geometry and the latitude dependence of the emission zone.

We have studied the environmental effect on optical-NIR color gradients of 273 nearby elliptical galaxies. Color gradient is a good tool to study the evolutionary history of elliptical galaxies, since the steepness of the color gradient reflects merging history of early types. When an elliptical galaxy goes through many merging events, the color gradient can be get less steep or reversed due to mixing of stars. One simple way to measure color gradient is to compare half-light radii in different bands. We have compared the optical and near infrared half-light radii of 273 early-type galaxies from Pahre (1999). Not surprisingly, we find that re(V)s (half-light radii measured in V-band) are in general larger than re(K)s (half-light radii measured in K-band). However, when divided into different environments, we find that elliptical galaxies in the denser environment have gentler color gradients than those in the less dense environment. Our finding suggests that elliptical galaxies in the dense environment have undergone many merging events and the mixing of stars through the merging have created the gentle color gradients.

I review the current status of understanding when, how long, and how giant elliptical galaxies formed, focusing on the globular clusters. Several observational evidences show that massive elliptical galaxies formed at z > 2 (> 10 Gyr ago). Giant elliptical galaxies show mostly a bimodal color distribution of globular clusters, indicating a factor of ≈ 20 metallicity difference between the two peaks. The red globular clusters (RGCs) are closely related with the stellar halo in color and spatial distribution, while the blue globular clusters (BGCs) are not. The ratio of the number of the RGCs and that of the BGCs varies depending on galaxies. It is concluded that the BGCs might have formed 12-13 Gyr ago, while the RGCs and giant elliptical galaxies might have formed similarly 10-11 Gyr ago. It remains now to explain the existence of a gap between the RGC formation epoch and the BGC formation epoch, and the rapid metallicity increase during the gap (Δt ≈ 2 Gyr). If hierarchical merging can form a significant number of giant elliptical galaxies > 10 Gyr ago, several observational constraints from stars and globular clusters in elliptical galaxies can be explained.

다양한 평면변형률 시편들의 균열선단 탄소성 응력상태들에 대한 경우, 여러 연구들을 동해, J-T접근방법의 유효 타당성이 충분히 검증되어졌다. 그러나 J-T 두 변수에 의한 균열선단 응력장 예측의 타당성을 보편화시키기 위해서는, 평면변형률 시편들과 같이 이상화된 구조가 아닌 실제적인 3차원 구조형상에 대한 연구가 필요하다. 이를 배경으로 본 연구에서는 평판과 직관에 대해 완전 3차원 유한요소해석을 수행하여 얻어진 응력장과 계산된 J-T두 변수로 예측되는 응력장을 비교함으로써, J-T 접근방법의 유효성 내지 한계성을 규명하였다.

An elliptical accretion disk may be formed by tidally disrupted debris of a flying-by star in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or by tidal perturbation due to a companion in a binary black hole system. We investigate the iron Kα line profiles expecting from a geometrically thin, relativistic, elliptical disk in terms of model parameters, and find that a broad and skewed line profile can be reproduced well. Its shape is variable to the model parameters, such as, the emissivity power-law index, the ellipticity of the disk, and the major axis orientation of the elliptical accretion disk. We suggest that our results may be useful to search for such an elliptical disk and consequently the tidal disruption event.

The purpose of this paper is to study the buckling characteristics of elliptical latticed domes under conservative loading conditions. The latticed domes are usually designed in geometrically spherical shape. For this type of latticed domes, many researchers have researched and even the simplified estimation codes for the buckling load level have been available. However, geometrically elliptical latticed domes have been often constructed, and show different buckling characteristics following with geometrical parameters as rise-to-span ratio and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the general tendency of buckling characteristics of the elliptical latticed domes. In this paper, to find out some buckling characteristics of elliptical latticed domes, height, boundary configuration and gap are used as the shape coefficients. For each model with different parameters, the eigen values and the buckling loads are evaluated.

In this paper, we investigate the correlation between the radial ultraviolet color distribution and the shapes of the ultraviolet isophote for elliptical galaxies (M32, NGC 1399) and spiral bulges (of M31, M81) by using their archival UIT images. For M31, M81, and NGC 1399, the radial ultraviolet color distributions show a two-component trend; as the distance from the galactic center increase the color becomes redder in the inner region while it becomes bluer in the outer region. On the other hand, the color of M32 continues to become bluer with the increasing galactocentric distance. We also find, unlike the optical/IR images, significant variations of the position angle and the ellipticity in the ultraviolet isophotes of M31, M81, and NGC 1399 through the inner regions. For M32, the variation is significant in the outer region. Since these variation implies the triaxiality of their intrinsic shapes, we suggest that the early-type galaxies and spiral bulges with a radial color gradient in ultraviolet tend to have a triaxiality. On the other hand, the shape parameter characterized by the fourth order cosine Fourier coefficient of the isophote, a(4)/a, indicates that the systematic deviations of the ultraviolet isophotes of the four galaxies are smaller than ~0.2% in units of the semi-major axis. The latter result implies that the ultraviolet isophotes of the galaxies have a pure elliptical shape rather than the boxy or disky shapes. Therefore, there is no clear evidence of correlation between the radial ultra-violet color gradient and the boxy/disky shapes of isophotes.

We present B VRI CCD surface photometry for the central (6'.35 ×6'.35) regions of the dwarf elliptical galaxies NGC 185 and NGC 205 in the Local Group. Surface brightness profiles of NGC 185 (R<225") and NGC 205 (R<186") show excess components in the central regions. The colors of NGC 185 get bluer inward at R<25", while they remain constant at R ≥ 25". The colors of NGC 205 get bluer inward at 1"<R<50", and remain flat outside. Our photometry, supplemented by the photometry based on the far-ultraviolet and visual images of the HST archive data, shows that there is an inversion of color at the very nucleus region (at about 1"). The implications of the redder color of the core part of the nucleus compared with neighboring regions are discussed. The amount of the excess components in the central regions of these galaxies is estimated to be ≈10 5 L⊙. Distributions of dust clouds in the central regions of the two galaxies are also investigated.