Koji Kawabata

Last Updated :2024/04/03

Affiliations, Positions
Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Professor
Web Site
E-mail
kawabtkjhiroshima-u.ac.jp
Other Contact Details
Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan, Japan
TEL : (+81)82-424-7371 FAX : (+81)82-424-5765
Self-introduction
I was born and grew up in Iwate Prefecture, in northern part of Japanese main land Honshu. I majored in astronomy. I study the explosions of stars and evolution of resultant ejecta and of stellar wind in a scales of the host galaxy. I am engaged in maintenance of 1.5-m optical/near-infrared telescope `Kanata' of Hiroshima University. I also work for developing an instrument for astronomical observation, especially for polarimetry.

Basic Information

Major Professional Backgrounds

  • 2001/01/01, 2003/10/31, National Astronomical Observatory, Optical and Infrared Astronomy Division, COE Postdoctoral Fellow
  • 1999/04/01, 2000/12/31, National Astronomical Observatory, Optical and Infrared Astronomy Division, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • 2003/11/01, 2004/03/31, Hiroshima University, Graduate School of Science, Research Associate
  • 2004/04/01, 2007/03/31, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Research Associate
  • 2007/04/01, 2009/03/31, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Assistant Professor
  • 2009/04/01, 2017/03/31, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Associate Professor
  • 2017/04/01, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Professor

Educational Backgrounds

  • Tohoku University, Graduate School of Science, Astronomy, Japan, 1996/04, 1999/03
  • TOHOKU UNIVERSITY, Faculty of Science, Astronomical Institute, Japan, 1990/04, 1994/03

Academic Degrees

  • Ph.D. (Science), TOHOKU UNIVERSITY
  • Master of Science, TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

Educational Activity

  • [Bachelor Degree Program] School of Science : Physics : Physics
  • [Master's Program] Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering : Division of Advanced Science and Engineering : Physics Program
  • [Doctoral Program] Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering : Division of Advanced Science and Engineering : Physics Program

In Charge of Primary Major Programs

  • Physics

Research Fields

  • Mathematical and physical sciences;Astronomy;Astronomy

Research Keywords

  • Optical and Infrared Astronomy
  • Supernovae and gamma-ray bursts
  • Gravitational wave source
  • circumstellar medium
  • polarization
  • instrumentation

Affiliated Academic Societies

  • Astronomical Society of Japan, 1995
  • International Astronomical Union, 2003
  • Japanese Society for Education and Popularization of Astronomy, 2005

Educational Activity

Course in Charge

  1. 2024, Liberal Arts Education Program1, 1Term, Astronomy
  2. 2024, Undergraduate Education, 3Term, Teaching Contents of Earth Science III
  3. 2024, Undergraduate Education, 4Term, Advanced Physics
  4. 2024, Undergraduate Education, First Semester, Special Study for Graduation A
  5. 2024, Undergraduate Education, Second Semester, Special Study for Graduation B
  6. 2024, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 2Term, Observational Astronomy in Optical and Near-Infrared Region
  7. 2024, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , First Semester, Exercise in Physics I
  8. 2024, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , Second Semester, Exercise in Physics II
  9. 2024, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , First Semester, Special Exsecise in Physics A
  10. 2024, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , Second Semester, Special Exsecise in Physics B
  11. 2024, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , Academic Year, Special Research in Physics
  12. 2024, Graduate Education (Doctoral Program) , Academic Year, Special Research in Physics

Research Activities

Academic Papers

  1. Low- and medium-dispersion spectropolarimetry of nova V475 Scuti (nova scuti 2003): Discovery of an asymmetric high-velocity wind in a moderately fast nova, ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL, 132(1), 433-442, 200607
  2. Spectropolarimetry of R Coronae Borealis in 1998-2003: Discovery of transient polarization at maximum brightness, ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL, 134(5), 1877-1889, 200711
  3. EXTREMELY LUMINOUS SUPERNOVA 2006gy AT LATE PHASE: DETECTION OF OPTICAL EMISSION FROM SUPERNOVA, ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 697(1), 747-757, 20090520
  4. ★, A massive star origin for an unusual helium-rich supernova in an elliptical galaxy, NATURE, 465(7296), 326-328, 20100520
  5. A New Spectropolarimeter at the Dodaira Observatory, Publication of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 111, 898-908, 19990701
  6. Nova V4444 Sagittarii 1999: Spectropolarimetric Evidence for a Preexisting Circumstellar Dust Cloud, Astrophysical Journal, 540, 429-435, 20000901
  7. Spectropolarimetric Evidence of Asymmetric Outburst in the Fast Nova V1494 Aquilae, Astrophysical Journal, 552, 782-786, 20010501
  8. SUPERNOVA 2002ap IN M74, International Astronomical Union Circulars, 7835, 20020201
  9. ★, Optical Spectropolarimetry of SN 2002ap: A High-Velocity Asymmetric Explosion, Astrophysical Journal, 580, L39-L42, 20021101
  10. Properties of FOCAS Optical Component, in Instrument Design and Performance for Optical/Infrared Ground-Based Telescopes= Proc. SPIE, 4841, 1219-1228, 20030401
  11. ★, On The Spectrum and Spectropolarimetry of Type Ic Hypernova SN 2003dh/GRB 030329, Astrophysical Journal, 539, L19-L22, 20030801
  12. ★, OPTICAL AND NEAR-INFRARED POLARIMETRY OF HIGHLY REDDENED Type Ia SUPERNOVA 2014J: PECULIAR PROPERTIES OF DUST IN M82, ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, 795(1), 20141101
  13. Wide-field one-shot optical polarimeter: HOWPol, Proceedings of the SPIE, 7014, 70144L, 200807
  14. A type la supernova at the heart of superluminous transient SN 2006gy, SCIENCE, 367(6476), 415-+, 20200124

Invited Lecture, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation

  1. Develpment of Astronomical Detector at Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Koji S. Kawabata, UEMCOS2022: 4th International Conference on Sensors & Transducers 2022, 2022/09/22, Without Invitation, English, UEM Kolkata, India, UEM Kolkata/Online
  2. Galactic Magnetic Field Studied by Recent Kanata/HONIR Polarimetric Survey, Koji Kawabata, SGMAP team, Workshop on supernovae/transients, 2023/03/27, Without Invitation, English, Koji Kawabata, Tatsuya Nakaoka, Anjasha Gangopadhyay, Avinash Singh (Hiroshima U.), Masayuki Yamanaka (Kagoshima U.), Faculty of Science Buidling C212 room, Hiroshima Univ.
  3. Observational Studies of Supernova with 1.5m Kanata Telescope, Koji Kawabata, Kanata Telescope team, Exploring the Transient Universe, 2022/12/14, With Invitation, English, Keiichi Maeda (Kyoto U.; Chair), Mamoru Doi (U. Tokyo), Toshikazu Shigeyama (U. Tokyo), The University of Tokyo (Hongo campus), 5F Auditorium, Faculty of Science Chemistry Bldg.
  4. Optical Polarimetry for Bright Early Afterglow of GRB 180720B, Koji Kawabata, Kengo Takagi, Tatsuya Nakaoka (Hiroshima Univ), Miho Kawabata (Kyoto Univ) and Kanata GRB team, Astronomical Polarimetry 2020: New Era of Multi-wavelength Polarimetry, 2021/03/25, Without Invitation, English, Hiroshima University, Kagoshima University, International Astronomical Union, Higashi Hiroshima Arts & Culture Hall Kurara, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan
  5. Time domain astronomy with `Kanata' and `HinOTORI' telescopes, Kawabata, K. S., Kanata Telescope team, HinOTORI Telescope team, AMON Workshop 2019, 2019/05/21, With Invitation, English, Cowen, Doug (Penn State Univ.; AMON) Yoshida, Shigeru (Chiba Univ.), Engineering Research Building, Chiba University (Chiba), This workshop is being held to explore the future potential of multi-messenger observations by the collection of sub-threshold events, which cannot be recognized as intriguing signals by observations in individual experiments (such as neutrino, gamma-ray, gravitation wave, etc.), as well as investigating unknown celestial phenomena by comparing mutual time and space correlation. We also would like to exchange ideas and informations between various observatories including ones conducting non-electromagnetic sky monitor such as neutrino telescopes.
  6. Supernovae and related objects unveiled by TMT, Koji S. Kawabata, TMT Science and Instrumentation Workshop 2011, 2011/03/28, With Invitation, English, Victoria, Canada
  7. Probing the evolution of massive stars by late-time observations of core-collapse supernovae, Koji S. Kawabata, Kore-Japan Collaboration Workshop, 2012/11/15, With Invitation, English, Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and KASI, Korea, Seoul National University
  8. TMT Polarimetry for Supernovae and Related Objects, Koji S. Kawabata, TMT Science and Instrumentation Workshop 2012, 2012/12/10, With Invitation, English, IUCAA, Pune, India
  9. Future SGMAP Project: Optical Polarimetric Survey of Northern Hemisphere, Koji S. Kawabata, Understanding Relativistic Jets by Polarimetry and Synergetic Study from Radio to TeV, 2014/03/24, Without Invitation, English, CORE-U, Hiroshima Univ., Hiroshima Univ.
  10. Optical and NIR observation of GRB afterglows, Koji S. Kawabata, GRB Workshop 2015, 2015/08/31, With Invitation, English, Nagataki, S. (Chair), Shigeyama, T., Kawai, N., Yonetoku, D., Serino, M., RIKEN, Wako, Saitama, Japan
  11. J-GEM Follow-up Observations for gravitational wave events and GW170817, Koji S. Kawabata, J-GEM team, The 27th Workshop on General Relativity and Gravitation in Japan, 2017/11/28, With Invitation, English
  12. SPICA FIR Polarimetry for ISM and Transient Objects, Koji S. Kawabata, SPICA domestic workshop 2017, 2017/11/22, With Invitation, English
  13. Optical and NIR follow-up observations for transient objects  with Hirosima 1.5-m telescope and tutorial `how to read  the data’, Koji S. Kawabata, Kanata team, Multimessenger astronomy workshop 2018, 2018/03/27, With Invitation, English
  14. Time domain astronomy with `Kanata' and `HinOTORI' telescopes, Koji S. Kawabata, AMON WORKSHOP 2019, 2019/05/21, With Invitation, English, Doug Cowen (Penn State Univ.), Shigeru Yoshida (Chiba Univ.), ICEHAP Neutrino Astrophysics Dept., Chiba Univ.
  15. Review of HinOTORI project / HinOTORI open-use and management related / The coming efforts for HinOTORI support, fund and team, extention of MoU, Koji S. Kawabata, Workshop on Ali-HinOTORI and China-Japan Cooperation based on Ali Platform, 2019/03/28, Without Invitation, English, National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Science

Awards

  1. 2020/03/17, The PASJ Excellent Paper Award, Astronomical Society of Japan, Kilonova from post-merger ejecta as an optical and near-Infrared counterpart of GW170817

External Funds

Acceptance Results of Competitive Funds

  1. 2010
  2. 2010
  3. 2004
  4. 2004
  5. KAKENHI, 2014, 2016
  6. KAKENHI, Basic development of high sensitivity, large format and inexpensive near-infrared image sensor, 2011, 2013
  7. KAKENHI, Simultaneous optical and NIR polarimetry of compact objects accompanied with astrophysical jets, 2011, 2013
  8. KAKENHI, 2009, 2010
  9. KAKENHI, Observational study of polarization of gamma-ray burst optical Afterglow using one-shot wide-field polarimeter, 2008, 2011
  10. KAKENHI, Development of Next-generation Infrared High-resolution Spectrograph for Studying the Cosmic Re-ionization Era with High Redshift Gamma-ray Bursts, 2008, 2011
  11. KAKENHI, Observation of the site of particle acceleration near black holes by high-speed spectrosopy, 2007, 2009
  12. KAKENHI, 2005, 2007
  13. KAKENHI, Study of Anisotropy of celestial objects with Spectro-photo-polarimetry, 2005, 2008
  14. KAKENHI, Development of Dedicated Telescope for Observation of Transient & Cataclysmic Astronomical Objects by Using 1.5m Infrared Simulator, 2005, 2007
  15. KAKENHI, 2002, 2006
  16. KAKENHI, 2015, 2020
  17. KAKENHI(Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)), 2018, 2020

Social Activities

Organizing Academic Conferences, etc.

  1. Workshop on supernovae/transients, LOC of Workshop on supernovae/transients, 2023/03, 2023/03
  2. 2021/11, 2021/11
  3. Astronomical Polarimetry 2020: New Era of Multi-wavelength Polarimetry, Local Organizing Committee, 2020/03, 2021/03
  4. 2007/02
  5. 2010/10
  6. The 6th Subaru International Conference: Panoramas of the Evolving Cosmos, Local Organizing Comittee, 2016/11, 2016/12
  7. 2nd CORE-U Conference: Cosmic Polarimetry from Micro to Macro Scales, Scientific Organizing Committee, 2017/02, 2017/02