Boye Su | Searcharxiv

arXiv2023

Phase transition during inflation and the gravitational wave signal at pulsar timing arrays

The gravitational wave (GW) signal offers a promising window into the dynamics of the early universe. The recent results from the pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) could be the first glimpse of such new physics. In particular, they could point to new details during inflation, which can not be probed by other means. We explore the possibility that the new results could come from the secondary GWs sourced by curvature perturbations, generated by a first-order phase transition during inflation. Based on the results of a field-theoretic lattice simulation of the phase transition process, we show that the GW signal generated through this mechanism can account for the new results from the PTAs. We analyze the spectral shape of the signal in detail. Future observations can use such information to distinguish the GW signal considered here from other possible sources.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Probing Ultralight Bosons with Compact Eccentric Binaries

Ultralight bosons can be abundantly produced through superradiance process by a spinning black hole and form a bound state with hydrogen-like spectrum. We show that such a "gravitational atom" typically possesses anomalously large mass quadrupole and leads to significant orbital precession when it forms an eccentric binary with a second compact object. Dynamically formed black hole binaries or pulsar-black hole binaries are typically eccentric during their early inspirals. We show that the large orbital precession can generate distinct and observable signature in their gravitational wave or pulsar timing signals.

gr-qc↗