We analyzed spectral data of the astrophysical diuse emission obtained with the low-resolution spec- troscopy mode on the AKARI InfraRed Camera (IRC) in the 1.8-5.3 μm wavelength region. Advanced reduction methods specialized for slit spectroscopy of diuse sky spectra have been developed, and a catalog of 278 spectra of the diffuse sky covering a wide range of Galactic and ecliptic latitudes was constructed. Using this catalog, two other major foreground components, the zodiacal light (ZL) and the diuse Galactic light (DGL), were separated and subtracted by taking correlations with ZL brightness es- timated by the DIRBE ZL model and with the 100 μm dust thermal emission, respectively. The isotropic emission was interpreted as the extragalactic background light (EBL), which shows significant excess over the integrated light of galaxies at <4 μm.

We have identified 22 quasars in the AKARI far-infrared all-sky Bright Source Catalogue, using a matching radius of < 10", and excluding matches which are close to foreground extended sources or cirrus. We have confirmed a relation between quasar optical luminosity and far-infrared luminosity which was found in an earlier study. In addition, we have found that the 11 sources which are at redshift z > 1 are magnified with respect to the predicted far-infrared luminosity, and consider this may be due to gravitational lensing. If confirmed, this would provide a new way to identify lenses; if not, we may have identied an interesting new population of extreme starbursting quasars.

We crossmatch AKARI all-sky survey with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10 (SDSS DR10) and the Final Data Release of the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) and identify 118 Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs) and one Hyperluminous Infrared Galaxy (HLIRG). We find 40 new ULIRGs and one new HLIRG. ULIRGs in our sample are interacting galaxies or ongoing/post mergers. This is consistent with the fact that ULIRGs are major mergers of disk galaxies. We find that compared to local star forming SDSS galaxies of similar mass, local ULIRGs have lower oxygen abundances and this is consistent with the previous studies.

We discuss a new IRAS Faint Source Catalog galaxy redshift catalogue (RIFSCz) which incorporates data from Galex, SDSS, 2MASS, WISE, AKARI and Planck. AKARI uxes are consistent with photometry from other far infrared and submillimetre missions provided an aperture correction is applied. Results from the Hermes-SWIRE survey in Lockman are also discussed brie y, and the strong contrast between the galaxy populations selected at 60 and 500 μm is summarized.

We present the results of our mid-infrared (MIR) observations of distant clusters of galaxies with AKARI. The wide-eld of view of IRC/AKARI (10'X10') is ideally suited for studying dust-obscured star-formation (SF) activity of galaxies along the cosmic web in the distant universe. We performed a deep and wide-field 15 μm (rest-frame  8 μm) imaging observation of the RXJ1716+6708 cluster (z = 0:81) with IRC. We find that 15 m-detected cluster member galaxies (with total infrared luminosities of LIR & 1011L⊙) are most preferentially located in the cluster outskirt regions, whilst such IR-luminous galaxies avoid the cluster centre. Our Hα follow-up study of this field conrmed that a significant fraction of 15 μm-detected cluster galaxies are heavily obscured by dust (with AHα>3 mag in extreme cases). The environment of such dusty star-burst galaxies coincides with the place where we see a sharp "break" of the colour-density relation, suggesting an important link between dust-obscured SF activity and environmental quenching. We also report the discovery of a new cluster candidate around a radio galaxy at z = 1:52 (4C 65.22), where we obtained one of the deepest IRC imaging datasets with all the nine filters at 2-24 μm. This field will provide us with the final, excellent laboratory for studying the dust-enshrouded SF activity in galaxies along the cosmic web at the critical epoch of cluster galaxy evolution with AKARI.

We present a summary of our spectroscopic redshift catalogue of 404 sources in the AKARI Deep Field South (ADF-S). We have used the AAOmega spectrograph to target mid-infrared and far-infrared sources selected primarily from AKARI observations in this field for which we were able to obtain optical counterparts. Our sources with identified redshifts include 316 with Hα detections at z  0:345 and 15 sources at z > 1 with MgII or Ly emission lines. About 13% of our z  0:345 sources are dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGN) emission, although many show emission from both star formation and AGNs. The median Balmer decrement is 5.9. Ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) were found only in the higher-redshift sources. Optical and near infrared data will be available shortly, enabling calibration of the line luminosities and spectral energy distribution (SED) tting for these sources.

We report the results of a multi-wavelength study in the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) deep field and examine the far infrared-radio correlation (FIRC) for high and low redshift objects. We have found a correlation between the GMRT data at 610 MHz and the Herschel data at 250μm that has been used to define a spectral index. This spectral index shows no evolution against redshift. As a result of the study, we show a radio colour-infrared diagram that can be used as a redshift indicator.

Using the InfraRed Camera (IRC) on board the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI we study the 3.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature and its connection to active galactic nucleus (AGN) properties for a sample of 54 hard X-ray selected bright AGN, including both Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 type objects. The sample is selected from the 9-month Swift/BAT survey in the 14-195 keV band and all of the sources have known neutral hydrogen column densities (NH). The 3.3 μm PAH luminosity (L3:3μm) is used as a proxy for star-formation (SF) activity and hard X-ray luminosity (L14-195keV) as an indicator of the AGN power. We explore for possible dierence of SF activity between type 1 (un-absorbed) and type 2 (absorbed) AGN. We use several statistical analyses taking the upper-limits of the PAH lines into account utilizing survival analysis methods. The results of our log(L14-195keV) versus log(L3:3μm) regression shows a positive correlation and the slope for the type 1/unobscured AGN is steeper than that of type 2/obscured AGN at a 3σ level. Also our analysis shows that the circum-nuclear SF is more enhanced in type 2/absorbed AGN than type 1/un-absorbed AGN for low L14-195keV luminosity/low Eddington ratio AGN, while there is no significant dependence of SF activity on the AGN type in the high L14-195keV luminosities/Eddington ratios.

We performed systematic observations of the Hi Brα line (4.05 μm) in 51 nearby (z<0.3) ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), using AKARI near-infrared spectroscopy. The Brα line is predicted to be the brightest among the Hi recombination lines in ULIRGs with visual extinction higher than 15 mag. We detected the Brα line in 33 ULIRGs. In these galaxies, the relative contribution of starburst to the total infrared luminosity (LIR) is estimated on the basis of the ratio of the Brα line luminosity (LBrα) to LIR. The mean LBrα/LIR ratio in LINERs or Seyferts is significantly lower (~50%) than that in Hii galaxies. This result indicates that active galactic nuclei contribute signicantly (~50%) to LIR in LINERs, as well as Seyferts. We also estimate the absolute contribution of starburst to LIR using the ratio of star formation rates (SFRs) derived from LBrα (SFRBrα) and those needed to explain LIR (SFRIR). The mean SFRBrα/SFRIR ratio is only 0.33 even in Hii galaxies, where starburst is supposed to dominate the luminosity. We attribute this apparently low SFRBrα/SFRIR ratio to the absorption of ionizing photons by dust within Hii regions.

Combining the AKARI Point Source Catalog and the 37-month Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) catalog, the infrared and X-ray properties of nearby active galactic nuclei were investigated. The 37-month MAXI catalog tabulates 100 nearby Seyfert galaxies, 73 of which are categorized into Seyfert I galaxies. Among these Seyfert galaxies, 69 ones were found to have an AKARI infrared counterpart. For the Seyfert I galaxies in this sample, a well-known correlation was found between the infrared and X-ray luminosities. However, the observed X-ray luminosity of the Seyfert II galaxies tends to be lower for the infrared luminosity than the Seyfert I galaxies. This suggests that the X-ray absorption is significant in the Seyfert II galaxies. The Seyfert II galaxies seem to have a bimodal distribution of the IR color between 18 μm and 90 μm. Especially, a large fraction of the Seyfert II galaxies exhibits a redder IR color than the Seyfert I galaxies. A possible origin of the redder IR color is brie y discussed, in relation to the star formation activity in the host galaxy, and to the X-ray absorption.

We study CO2/H2O ice abundance ratios in nearby galaxies using AKARI near-infrared slit spec- troscopy. Past studies of the ices intensively examined CO2/H2O ratios mainly in our Galaxy, and found that there were considerable variations in the CO2/H2O ratios from object to object. The cause of the variations is, however, still under debate. As a result of the analysis of our sample that includes 1031 regions in 158 galaxies, the CO2/H2O ratios are in a range of 0.05-0.30. In the dataset, we nd that the CO2/H2O ratios positively correlate with the Brα/PAH 3.3 μm ratios which re ect the massive star formation activity. Furthermore, we find that the CO2/H2O ratios positively correlate with the specific star formation rates of the galaxies where the ices are detected, that re ect the evolutionary stage of a galaxy. These results suggest that the CO2/H2O ratios are enhanced in active star-forming regions and young galaxies.

We detected bright mid- to far-infrared emission from the helium nova V445 Puppis in the AKARI all-sky survey data taken in 2006. Assuming an optically thin condition, we decomposed the spectral energy distribution (SED) of V445 Puppis in October 2006 by model tting and found that the SED can be explained by a combination of cold amorphous carbon (125 K and the mass of 4:5+6:6 2:7 X 10-4 M⊙) and warm amorphous carbon (250 K and the mass of 1:8+1:0 -0:5 X 10-5 M⊙). Assuming that the former is pre-existing dust formed in the past nova outbursts and the latter is newly formed dust in December 2000's nova wind, this result suggests that the amount of dust formed around V445 Puppis in a single outburst is larger than 10-5 M⊙, which is larger than those in any other classical novae ever reported.

Our understanding of dust emission, interaction, and evolution, is evolving. In recent years, electric dipole emission by spinning dust has been suggested to explain the anomalous microwave excess (AME), appearing between 10 and 90 Ghz. The observed frequencies suggest that spinning grains should be on the order of 10nm in size, hinting at polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules (PAHs). We present data from the AKARI/Infrared Camera (IRC) due to its high sensitivity to the PAH bands. By inspecting the IRC data for a few AME regions, we nd a preliminary indication that regions well-tted by a spinning- dust model have a higher 9 m than 18 m intensity vs. non-spinning-dust regions. Ongoing eorts to improve the analysis by using DustEM and including data from the AKARI Far Infrared Surveyor (FIS), IRAS, and Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI) are described.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are considered to be carriers of the unidentified infrared bands, which are ubiquitously observed in the Universe. PAHs are mainly formed around evolved carbon-rich stars and injected into interstellar space. Planetary nebulae (PNe), a late stage of low- and intermediate stellar mass evolution, are suitable objects to investigate the formation and evolution of PAHs. The shortest PAH feature is located in 3.3 μm, which is important to examine the excitation and size distribution of PAHs. While the number of samples had been limited before, the high sensitivity of AKARI/IRC has drastically increased the number of samples. We obtained the 2-5 μm spectra of Galactic PNe with AKARI/IRC and compiled a near-infrared spectral catalog, containing 73 PNe. We investigate the detection rate and the evolution of the PAH features. The characteristics of the catalog are illustrated and the origin of the evolution of the PAH features is discussed.

We conducted an unbiased near- to mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopic survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) as a part of the AKARI Mission Program \Large-area Survey of the LMC" (LSLMC, PI: T. Onaka). An area of about 10 square degrees of the LMC was observed by ve photometric bands (3.2, 7, 11, 15, and 24 m) and a low-resolution slitless prism (2 { 5 m, R 20) equipped with AKARI/IRC. We constructed and publicly released photometric and spectroscopic catalogues of point sources in the LMC based on the survey data. The catalogues provide a large number of near-infrared spectral data, coupled with complementary broadband photometric data. Combined use of the present AKARI LSLMC catalogues with other infrared point source catalogues of the LMC possesses scientic potential that can be applied to various astronomical studies.

Debris disks are circumstellar dust disks around main-sequence stars. They are important observational clues to understanding the planetary system formation. The zodiacal light is the thermal emission from the dust disk in our Solar system. For a comprehensive understanding of the nature and the evolution of dust disks around main-sequence stars, we try a comparative study of debris disks and the zodiacal light. We search for debris disks using the AKARI mid-infrared all-sky point source catalog. By applying accurate ux estimate of the photospheric emission based on the follow-up near-infrared observations with IRSF, we have improved the detection rate of debris disks. For a detailed study of the structure and grain properties in the zodiacal dust cloud, as an example of dust disks around main-sequence stars, we analyze the AKARI mid-infrared all-sky diffuse maps. As a result of the debris disks search, we found old (>1 Gyr) debris disks which have large excess emission compared to their age, which cannot be explained simply by the conventional steady-state evolution model. From the zodiacal light analysis, we nd the possibility that the dust grains trapped in the Earth's resonance orbits have increased by a factor of 3 in the past 20 years. Combining these results, we discuss the non-steady processes in debris disks and the zodiacal light.

The zodiacal light emission is the thermal emission from the interplanetary dust and the dominant diuse radiation in the mid- to far-infrared wavelength region. Even in the far-infrared, the contribution of the zodiacal emission is not negligible at the region near the ecliptic plane. The AKARI far-infrared all-sky survey covered 97% of the whole sky in four photometric bands with band central wavelengths of 65, 90, 140, and 160 m. AKARI detected the small-scale structure of the zodiacal dust cloud, such as the asteroidal dust bands and the circumsolar ring, in far-infrared wavelength region. Although the most part of the zodiacal light structure in the AKARI far-infrared all-sky image can be well reproduced with the DIRBE zodiacal light model, there are discrepancies in the small-scale structures. In particular, the intensity and the ecliptic latitude of the peak position of the asteroidal dust bands cannot be repro- duced precisely with the DIRBE models. The AKARI observational data during more than one year has advantages over the 10-month DIRBE data in modeling the full-sky zodiacal dust cloud. The resulting small-scale zodiacal light structure template has been used to subtract the zodiacal light from the AKARI all-sky maps.

Presently, the number of known asteroids is more than 710,000. Knowledge of size and albedo is essential in many aspects of asteroid research, such as the chemical composition and mineralogy, the size-frequency distribution of dynamical families, and the relationship between small bodies in the outer solar system or comets. Recently, based on the infrared all-sky survey data obtained by IRAS, AKARI, and WISE, the large asteroid catalogs containing size and albedo data have been constructed. In this paper, we discuss the compositional distribution in the main belt regions based on the compiled data on size, albedo, and separately obtained taxonomic type information.