arXiv subjects

Bo-Qiang Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Bo-Qiang Lu.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Testing clockwork axion with gravitational waves

We investigate the gravitational waves (GWs) produced from the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) phase transition associated with the clockwork axion. The PQ phase transition can be first-order when the dimension-6 operator is included into the scalar potential. The GWs from the PQ phase transition at scale in the range of $10^3-10^6$ GeV are detectable for the BBO and ALIA interferometers. The LISA and Taiji interferometers can probe the GWs from the PQ scale $f\lesssim 10^4$ GeV, while the GW signals from the scale $f\gtrsim 10^5$ GeV can be detected by the ground-based GW observatories ET and CE. We find that the parameter space $κ_m\sim 0.06-0.001$, $κ_l\sim 0.04-0.001$, and $\varepsilon\sim 0.1-0.01$ at the scale $f=10^5$ GeV and most of the parameter regions at the scale $f=10^6$ GeV have been excluded by the LIGO O2 run. The LIGO O3 and design phases can further probe the remaining parameter space. We show that the GWs from the annihilation of domain walls with a PQ scale $f\simeq 2\times 10^5$ GeV can induce the stochastic signals indicated by the 12.5-year observation of NANOGrav. The LIGO O3 run has the opportunity of detecting the GW signals from the first-order PQ phase transition around this scale.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Evidence of a simple dark sector from XENON1T excess

We propose that the nearly massless dark photons produced from the annihilation of keV dark fermions in the Galaxy can induce the excess of electron recoil events recently observed in the XENON1T experiment. The minimal model for this is the extension of a $U(1)_{X}$ gauge symmetry, under which the dark photon couples to both dark and visible matter currents. We find that the best-fit parameters of the dark sector are compatible with the most stringent constraints from stellar cooling. We also show that in the freeze-out scenario, the dark fermions can explain the anomaly while contributing $\gtrsim 1\%$ of the DM relic density.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

First-order electroweak phase transition in a complex singlet model with $\mathbb{Z}_3$ symmetry

We consider an extension of the Standard Model with a complex singlet scalar, where a global $U(1)$ symmetry is explicitly broken to $\mathbb{Z}_3$ symmetry. We study the two-step electroweak phase transition in the model and find that it can be of first-order if the heavy scalar mass falls in the range of $1-2$~TeV and the mixing angle $\left | θ\right |\gtrsim 0.2$ ($11.5^{\circ}$). The Higgs signal strength measurements at the LHC, on the other hand, restrict the mixing angle $\left | θ\right |\lesssim 0.4$ ($23^{\circ}$). Future colliders including high-luminosity LHC can probe the remaining parameter space of first-order phase transition in this scenario. After the $U(1)$ symmetry breaking, the pseudo-Goldstone boson becomes a dark matter candidate due to a hidden $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry of the model. We find that the pseudo-Goldstone boson can make up a small fraction of the observed dark matter and escape from the constraints of current direct detection. We also show that the stochastic gravitational wave signals from the phase transition are potentially discoverable with future space-based interferometers.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Constraining primordial black holes in dark matter with kinematics of dwarf galaxies

We propose that the kinematical observations of dwarf galaxies can be used to constrain the primordial black hole's (PBH) abundance in dark matter since the presence of primordial black holes in star clusters will lead to the radial velocity dispersion of the system. For instance, using the velocity dispersion observations from Leo I we show that the primordial black hole fraction $f_{\rm PBH}\gtrsim 2.0\times(1~M_{\odot}/m_{\rm PBH})^2$ is ruled out at a 99.99\% confidence level. This method yields the most stringent limits on the PBH abundance at the mass scales $\sim (1-10^3)~M_{\odot}$ and tightly constrains the primordial origin of gravitational wave events observed by the LIGO experiments.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Damping of gravitational waves in a viscous Universe and its implication for dark matter self-interactions

It is well known that a gravitational wave (GW) experiences the damping effect when it propagates in a fluid with nonzero shear viscosity. In this paper, we propose a new method to constrain the GW damping rate and thus the fluid shear viscosity. By defining the effective distance which incorporates damping effects, we can transform the GW strain expression in a viscous Universe into the same form as that in a perfect fluid. Therefore, the constraints of the luminosity distances from the observed GW events by LIGO and Virgo can be directly applied to the effective distances in our formalism. We exploit the lognormal likelihoods for the available GW effective distances and a Gaussian likelihood for the luminosity distance inferred from the electromagnetic radiation observation of the binary neutron star merger event GW170817. Our fittings show no obvious damping effects in the current GW data, and the upper limit on the damping rate with the combined data is $6.75 \times 10^{-4}\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ at 95\% confidence level. By assuming that the dark matter self-scatterings are efficient enough for the hydrodynamic description to be valid, we find that a GW event from its source at a luminosity distance $D\gtrsim 10^4\;\rm Mpc$ can be used to put a constraint on the dark matter self-interactions.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Constraints on the Sommerfeld-enhanced dark matter annihilation from the gamma rays of subhalos and dwarf galaxies

The substructures of the Galactic dark matter halo such as dark matter subhalos and dwarf galaxies have very low velocity dispersions, which makes them useful in constraining the scenario of Sommerfeld-enhanced dark matter annihilation. We calculate the velocity distribution of dark matter particles in dark matter halo substructures using the Eddington's formula with NFW density profile. We parametrize the effect of Sommerfeld enhancement of s-wave dark matter annihilation on the gamma-ray flux as the Sommerfeld-enhanced J-factors, and explicitly calculate their values for 15 known dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Using the Fermi-LAT 3FGL data on the unassociated point-sources and the N-body simulation results on the dark matter subhalo distribution, we derive upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross sections with Sommerfeld enhacement. Similar upper limits are derived from the Ferm-LAT gamma-ray data on the dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We find that in a wide region of parameter space, the constraints can be a few orders of magnitude more stringent than that in the case without the Sommerfeld enhancement. For dark matter annihilation dominantly into $e^+e^-$, $μ^+μ^-$, $τ^{+}τ^{-}$ and $b\bar b$, those constraints can exclude thermal relic dark matter for the dark matter mass below about 1 TeV.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Comment on "Hearing the signal of dark sectors with gravitational wave detectors" [Phys. Rev. D 94, no. 10, 103519 (2016)]

We revisit the calculation of the gravitational wave spectra generated in a classically scale-invariant $SU(2)$ gauge sector with a scalar field in the adjoint representation, as discussed by J.~Jaeckel, et al. The finite-temperature potential at 1-loop level can induce a strong first-order phase transition, during which gravitational waves can be generated. With the accurate numerical computation of the on-shell Euclidean actions of the nucleation bubbles, we find that the triangle approximation employed by J.~Jaeckel, et al. strongly distorts the actual potential near its maximum and thus greatly underestimates the action values. As a result, the gravitational wave spectra predicted by J.~Jaeckel, et al deviate significantly from the exact ones in peak frequencies and shapes.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Limits on the Dark Matter from AMS-02 antiproton and positron fraction data

We derive limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section and lifetime using measurements of the AMS-02 antiproton ratio and positron fraction data. In deriving the limits, we consider the scenario of secondary particles accelerated in supernova remnants (SNRs) which has been argued to be able to reasonably account for the AMS-02 high energy positron/antiproton fraction data. We parameterize the contribution of secondary particles accelerated in SNRs and then fit the observational data within the conventional cosmic ray propagation model by adopting the GALPROP code. We use the likelihood ratio test to determine the 95$\%$ confidence level upper limits of the possible dark matter (DM) contribution to the antiproton/positron fractions measured by AMS-02. Our limits are stronger than that set by the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray Pass 8 data of the dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies. We also show that the solar modulation (cosmic ray propagation) parameters can play a non-negligible role in modifying the constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section and lifetime for $m_χ<100$ GeV ($m_χ>100$ GeV), where $m_χ$ is the rest mass of the dark matter particles. Using this results, we also put limits on the effective field theory of dark matter.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

The `excess' of primary cosmic ray electrons

With the accurate cosmic ray (CR) electron and positron spectra (denoted as $Φ_{\rm e^{-}}$ and $Φ_{\rm e^{+}}$, respectively) measured by AMS-02 collaboration, the difference between the electron and positron fluxes (i.e., $ΔΦ=Φ_{\rm e^{-}}-Φ_{\rm e^{+}}$), dominated by the propagated primary electrons, can be reliably inferred. In the standard model, the spectrum of propagated primary CR electrons at energies $\geq 30$ GeV softens with the increase of energy. The absence of any evidence for such a continuous spectral softening in $ΔΦ$ strongly suggests a significant `excess' of primary CR electrons and at energies of $100-400$ GeV the identified excess component has a flux comparable to that of the observed positron excess. Middle-age but `nearby' supernova remnants (e.g., Monogem and Geminga) are favored sources for such an excess.

astro-ph.HE↗