We summarize the progress on the rest-frame optical spectroscopy of quasars at 3 2.5−5μm . This spectral window has been utilized for detecting redshifted Hα emission lines of our high redshift subsample of quasars. From the calculated emission line widths and luminosities we measured supermassive black hole masses using well calibrated optical mass estimators. Science topics regarding optical based black hole masses at high-z are discussed.

This paper presents Hα emission line detections for four galaxies at z > 3.5 made with AKARI as part of the FUHYU mission program. These are the highest-redshift Hα detections to date in star-forming galaxies. AKARI's unique near-infrared spectroscopic capability has made these detections possible. For two of these galaxies, this represents the first evidence of their redshifts and confirms their physical association with a companion radio galaxy. The star formation rates (SFRs) estimated from the Hα lines under-predict the SFRs estimated from their far-infrared luminosities by a factor of ~ 2 - 3. We have also detected broad Hα components in the two radio galaxies which indicate the presence of quasars.

We present a photometric catalog of infrared (IR) sources based on the North Ecliptic Pole Wide field (NEP-Wide) survey of AKARI, which covered a 5.4 deg 2 circular area centered on NEP. The catalog contains about 115,000 sources detected at the 9 IRC filter bands, comprehensively covering a wavelength range from 2 to 24 μm . This is a band-merged catalog including all of the photometry results from the supplementary optical data as well as the IRC bands. To validate a source at a given IRC band, we searched for counterparts in the other bands. The band-merging was done based on this cross-matching of the sources among the filter bands. The NIR sources without any counterpart in any other bands are finally excluded to avoid false objects.

The North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) Wide survey covered about 5.4 deg 2 , a nearly circular area centered on the NEP, using nine passbands of InfraRed Camera (IRC). We present the photometric properties of the data sets, and the nature of the sources detected in this field. The number of detected sources varied according to the filter band: with about 109,000 sources in the NIR, about 20,000 sources in the MIR-S, and about 16,000 sources seen in the MIR-L channel. The 5σ detection limits are about 21 mag in the NIR and 19.5 - 18.5 mag in the MIR bands in terms of the AB magnitude. 50% completeness levels are about 19.8 mag at 3 μm , 18.6 mag at 9 μm , and 18 mag at 18 μm band (in AB magnitude), respectively. In order to validate the detected sources, all of them are confirmed by matching tests with those in other bands. The 'star-like' sources, defined by the high stellarity and magnitude cut from the optical ancillary data, appear statistically to have a high probability of being stars. The nature of the various types of extragalactic sources in this field are discussed using the color-color diagrams of the NIR and MIR bands with the redshift tracks of galaxies providing useful guidelines.

Gravitational waves are predicted by the Einstein's theory of General Relativity. The direct detection of gravitational waves is one of the most challenging tasks in modern science and engineering due to the 'weak' nature of gravity. Recent development of the laser interferometer technology, however, makes it possible to build a detector on Earth that is sensitive up to 100-1000 Mpc for strong sources. It implies an expected detection rate of neutron star mergers, which are one of the most important targets for ground-based detectors, ranges between a few to a few hundred per year. Therefore, we expect that the gravitational-wave observation will be routine within several years. Strongest gravitational-wave sources include tight binaries composed of compact objects, supernova explosions, gamma-ray bursts, mergers of supermassive black holes, etc. Together with the electromagnetic waves, the gravitational wave observation will allow us to explore the most exotic nature of astrophysical objects as well as the very early evolution of the universe. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the theory of gravitational waves, principles of detections, gravitational-wave detectors, astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, and future prospects.

Many gravitational wave detectors are now being built or under operation throughout the world. In particular, LIGO has taken scientific data several times, although current sensitivity is not sufficient to detect the weak signals routinely. However, the sensitivities have been improving steadily over past years so that the real detection will take place in the near future. Data analysis is another important area in detecting the gravitational wave signal. We have carried out the basic research in order to implement data analysis software in Korea@home environment. We first studied the LIGO Science Collaboration Algorithm Library(LAL) software package, and extracted the module that can generate the virtual data of gravitational wave detector. Since burst sources such as merging binaries of neutron stars and black holes are likely to be detected first, we have concentrated on the simulation of such signals. This module can generate pure gravitational wave forms, noise suitable for LIGO, and combination of the signal and noise. In order to detect the gravitational signal embedded in the noisy data, we have written a simple program that employs 'matched filtering' method which is very effective in detecting the signal with known waveform. We found that this method works extremely well.

Astronomical research in Asian Pacific region has been growing rapidly in recent years. However, most important papers have been published in well established existing journals in US and Europe because we do not have high impact international journals in this region. I review the current trends of the local journals of East Asian countries and propose to establish a new regional journal by combining domestic journals.

ASTRO-F is the next generation Japanese infrared space mission of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. ASTRO-F will be dedicated to an All Sky Survey in the far-infrared in 4 bands from 50-200microns with 2 additional mid-infrared bands at 9microns and 20microns. This will be the first all sky survey in the infrared since the ground breaking IRAS mission almost 20 years ago and the first ever survey at 170microns. The All Sky Survey should detect 10's of millions of sources in the far-infrared bands most of which will be dusty luminous and ultra-luminous star forming galaxies, with as many as half lying at redshifts greater than unity. In this contribution, the ASTRO-F mission and its objectives are reviewed and many of the mission expectations are discussed.

ASTRO-F /FIS will carry out all sky survey in the wavelength from 50 to 200 μm. At far infrared, stars and galaxies may not be good calibration sources because the IR fluxes could be sensitive to the dust shell of stars and star formation activities of galaxies. On the other hand, asteroids could be good calibration sources at far infrared because of rather simple spectral energy distribution. Recent progresses in thermal models for asteroids enable us to calculate the far infrared flux fairly accurately. We have derived the Bond albedos and diameters for 559 asteroids based on the IRAS and ground based optical data. Using these thermal parameters and standard thermal model, we have calculated the spectral energy distributions of asteroids from 10 to 200 μm. We have found that more than 70% of our sample asteroids have flux errors less than 10% within the context of the best fitting thermal models. In order to assess flux uncertainties due to model parameters, we have computed SEDs by varing external parameters such as emissivity, beaming parameter and phase integral. We have found that about 100 asteroids can be modeled to be better than 5.8% of flux uncertainties. The systematic effects due to uncertainties in phase integral are not so important.

We present N-body simulations of globular clusters including gravitational field of the Galaxy, in order to study effects of tidal field systematically on the shape of outer parts of globular clusters using NBODY6. The Galaxy is assumed to be composed of central bulge and outer halo. We mvestigate the cluster of multi-mass models with a power-law initial mass function (IMF) starting with different initial masses, initial number of particles, different slopes of the IMF and different orbits of the cluster. We have examined the general evolution of the clusters, the shape of outer parts of the clusters, density profiles and the direction of tidal tails. The density profiles appear to become somewhat shallower just outside the tidal boundary consistent with some observed data. The position angle of the tidal tall depends on the location in the Galaxy as well as the direction of the motion of. clusters. We found that the clusters become more elongated at the apogalacticon than at the pengalacticon. The tidal tails may be used to trace the orbital paths of globular clusters.

We developed a Monte Carlo code that describes the resonant Lyα line transfer in an optically thick, dusty, and static medium. The code was tested against the analytic solution derived by Neufeld (1990). We explain the line transfer mechanism by tracing histories of photons in the medium. We find that photons experiences a series of wing scatterings at the moment of thier escape from the medium, during which polarization may develop. We examined the amount of dust extinction for a wide range of dust abundances, which are compared with the analytic solution. Brief discussions on the astrophysical application of our work are presented.

Two-component models (normal star and degenerate star components) are the simplest realization of clusters with a mass spectrum because the high mass stars quickly evolve off leaving degenerate stars behind, while low mass stars survive for a long time as main-sequence stars. In the present study we examine the post-collapse evolution of globular clusters using two-component Fokker-Planck models that include three-body binary heating. We confirm that a simple parameter є ≡ (Etot/trh)/(Ec/trc) well describes the occurrence of gravothermal oscillations of two-component clusters. Also, we find that the degree of instability depends on the steepness of the mass function such that clusters with a steeper mass function are less exposed to instability.

We have detected a SiO maser line (v=1, J=2- 1) for 15 stars out of about 80 long period variables in the wide range of period. No new sources are detected; all detected sources are variables with period longer than 300 days; no evidence is found that the dust grains in the outer envelope have influenced on this line. The time variation of this maser line for 7 stars, T Cep, μ Cep, U Her, R Leo, R Lmi, U Ori, and R Ser is observed and compared with optical light curve at the same epoch of maser observation. No universial relation between the time variation and the optical light curve is found. It implies that the radiation from a central star does not much play an important role for the direct pumping of the SiO maser line.

Cores of globular clusters are an ideal place for close encounters between stars. The outcome of tidal capture can be stellar mergers, close binaries between normal stars (W UMa type), cataclysmic variables composed of white dwarf and normal star pairs, or low-mass X-ray binaries consisting of a neutron star and a normal star pairs. Stellar mergers can be the origin of blue stragglers in dense globular clusters although they are hard to observe. Low mass X-ray binaries would eventually become binary pulsars with short pulse periods after the neutron stars accrete sufficient amount of matter from the companion. However, large number of recently discovered, isolated millisecond pulsars (as opposed to binary pulsars) in globular clusters may imply that they do not have to gain angular speeds during the X-ray binary phase. We propose that these isolated millisecond pulsars may have formed through the disruptive encounters, which lead to the formation of accretion disk without Roche lobe filling companion, between a neutron star and a main-sequence star. Based on recently developed multicomponent models for the dynamical evolution of globular clusters, we compute the expected numbers of various systems formed by tidal capture as a function of time.