swkwak.github.io

SungWon Kwak’s Homepage

(Last updated in Aug. 2023)

Hi, I am an astrophysicist working as a postdoc at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) in Germany. I use numerical simulations as my main tool to understand the galaxy formation and evolution. My Ph.D. study was about the chemodynamical properties of the Galactic Halo and its formation scenario by comparing a large photometric/spectroscopic catalog of RR Lyrae variables and the AURIGA simulations. Before that, I worked on various projects related to dwarf galaxies in cluster environments and the formation of spiral, bar, and nuclear ring in disk galaxies.

You can download my CV here (pdf)

Like galaxy evolution, the way people pronounce my name has been evolving in many countries. You can simply think it is [Sing-Sang-‘Sung’+ Won]. Here’s what it actually sounds like (Link).

Short Bio

Before coming to Potsdam in Germany, I’ve been to many cities around the world. I was born in Daejeon, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and my family moved to Seoul when I was 10. After finishing my middle school in Seoul, I went to USA alone to study abroad. I went to a high school in Las Vegas for a semester and then transferred to the Storm King high school in New York where I graduated from. I started my undergraduate as an engineering major, but later became more interested in the outer world, so ended up doing double major in astronomy and physics at the University of Washington, Seattle. After spending one semester in Geneva, Switzerland (St.Genis, France) as an internship student at CERN, I got M.S. in Astronomy at Seoul National Univeristy and spent 3 years for mandatory military service in Daejeon, Korea. My Ph.D. study in Astronomy and Astrophysics was carried at the University of Rome, Italy during the pandemic, and the dissertation was made in March 2023.

My GitHub

ORCID: 0000-0003-0957-6201

Google Scholar

Education/Employment

• 2023.09-present Postdoc the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, Germany

• 2023.06-08 Postdoc Seoul National University, Korea

• 2019-2022 Ph.D. Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Rome, joint by Sapienza and Tor Vergata, Italy (Dissertation in 2023.03)

• 2016-2019 Researcher at Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Conscription for 3 years)

• 2014-2016 M.S. Astronomy at Seoul National University, Korea

• Winter 2014 Research Intern at CERN, Switzerland

• 2009-2013 B.S. Physics & Astronomy at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA

• 2007-2009 Storm King High School, New York, USA

Research

Bar Formation and Buckling Instability (Kwak et al. 2017)

Faint spiral in dwarfs (Kwak et al. 2019) and Nuclear Ring (Seo et al. 2019)

(the Auriga Simulations)

My research interests are:

• Galaxy formation and evolution in cosmological zoom-in and isolated simulations.
• Stellar Halo: The mass distribution, chemodynamical properties, and the formation scenario.
• Bulge/Disk: Metallicity gradients and the role of the Galactic bulge.
• Dark Matter Halo: Finding evolutionary connection among Bulge, Stellar Halo, and Dark Matter Halo.
• Dwarf Galaxies in Galaxy Cluster (isolation, tidal force, and merger)
• Bar and Spiral Formation
• Buckling Instability (movie)
• Gas effects on bar and nuclear ring
• Gaseous dwarf formation under cluster tidal force (movie)
• Cluster merger effects on infalling disk galaxies (movie)

Publications [ADS list]

• 9. The Formation and the Chemodynamical Evolution of the Stellar Haloes in the Auriga Simulations
  • Kwak, SungWon, et al. (in prep.)
• 8. Understanding the Origin of Metal-rich RR Lyrae through the Auriga Simulations
  • Kwak, SungWon, et al. (in prep.)
• 7. The Shape of the Galactic Halo up to 150 kpc through RR Lyrae and the Auriga Simulations
  • Kwak, SungWon, et al. (submitted to A&A Letter)
• 6. On the Use of Field, RR Lyrae as Galactic Probes. VII. Mixed mode RR Lyrae variables in Fornax and in nearby dwarf galaxies (ads)
  • Braga, V. F., et al. (accepted to MNRAS)
• 5. On the Use of Field RR Lyrae as Galactic Probes. V. Optical and Radial Velocity Curve Templates (ads)
  • Braga, V. F., et al., APJ, 919, 85B (2021)

• 4. Origin of Non-axisymmetric Features of Virgo Cluster Early-type Dwarf Galaxies – II. Tidal Effects on Disk Features and Stability (ads)

  • Kwak, SungWon; Kim, Woong-Tae; Rey, Soo-Chang; & Quinn, Thomas R., ApJ, 887, 139K (2019)

• 3. The Geometric Albedo of (4179) Toutatis Estimated from KMTNet DEEP-South Observation (ads)

  • Bach, Yoonsoo P., et al., JKAS, 52, 71B (2019)

• 2. Effects of Gas on Formation and Evolution of Stellar Bars and Gaseous Nuclear Rings in Disk Galaxies (ads)

  • Seo, Woo-Young; Kim, Woong-Tae; Kwak, SungWon; Hsieh, Pei-Ying; Han, Cheongho; & Hopkins, Phil F., ApJ, 872, 5 (2019)

• 1. Origin of Non-axisymmetric Features of Virgo Cluster Early-type Dwarf Galaxies – I. Bar Formation and Recurrent Buckling (ads)

  • Kwak, SungWon; Kim, Woong-Tae; Rey, Soo-Chang; & Kim, Suk, ApJ, 839, 24 (2017)