arXiv subjects

Enwei Liang

Publications and source records attributed to Enwei Liang.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Prompt-to-afterglow transition of optical emission in a long gamma-ray burst consistent with a fireball

Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which signify the end-life collapsing of very massive stars, are produced by extremely relativistic jets colliding into circumstellar medium. Huge energy is released both in the first few seconds, namely the internal dissipation phase that powers prompt emissions, and in the subsequent self-similar jet-deceleration phase that produces afterglows observed in broad-band electromagnetic spectrum. However, prompt optical emissions of GRBs have been rarely detected, seriously limiting our understanding of the transition between the two phases. Here we report detection of prompt optical emissions from a gamma-ray burst (i.e. GRB 201223A) using a dedicated telescope array with a high temporal resolution and a wide time coverage. The early phase coincident with prompt γ-ray emissions show a luminosity in great excess with respect to the extrapolation of γ-rays, while the later luminosity bump is consistent with onset of the afterglow. The clearly detected transition allows us to differentiate physical processes contributing to early optical emissions and to diagnose the composition of the jet

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

The radio signal of PSR B0950+08 is detected over the whole pulse phase

Pulsars are the "lighthouses" in the universe. Periodic pulses with the duty-cycle ~10% are detected when the radio beam of the rotating pulsar sweeps across the telescope. In this report, the 160 min-data of a nearby pulsar, PSR B0950+08, observed with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is analysed. Thanks to the extremely high sensitivity of FAST, it is found that the radiation of PSR B0950+08 could be detected over the entire pulse period. To investigate the radiative characteristics of the pulsar' "bridge emission", a function, $Θ$(n), is defined to reveal the weak radiation there. It is suggested that the narrow peaks of both the main and the inter pulses could be radiated at low altitude, while other weak emission (e.g., the "bridges") from upper magnetosphere though its radiative mechanism is still a matter of debate. The measured mean pulse behaviors are consistent with previous results in the phase of strong emission of this pulsar, and both the frequency-independent separation between the inter-pulse and main pulse and the narrow pulse width may support a double-pole model. In order to understand the magnetospheric geometry of this pulsar, further polarization calibrated observation with FAST and a proper determination of the baseline emission, especially during the weak emission phase, are surely required.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Extended phase-space symplectic-like integrators for coherent post-Newtonian Euler-Lagrange equations

Coherent or exact equations of motion for a post-Newtonian Lagrangian formalism are the Euler-Lagrange equations without any terms truncated. They naturally conserve energy {and} angular momentum. Doubling the phase-space variables of positions and momenta in the coherent equations, we establish extended phase-space symplectic-like integrators with the midpoint permutations. The velocities should be solved iteratively from the algebraic equations of the momenta defined by the Lagrangian during the course of numerical integrations. It is shown numerically that a fourth-order extended phase-space symplectic-like method exhibits good long-term stable error behavior in energy {and} angular momentum, as a fourth-order implicit symplectic method with a symmetric composition of three second-order implicit midpoint rules or a fourth-order Gauss-Runge-Kutta implicit symplectic scheme does. For given time step and integration time, the former method is superior to the latter integrators in computational efficiency. {The extended phase-space method is used to study the effects of the parameters and initial conditions on the orbital dynamics of the coherent Euler-Lagrange equations for a post-Newtonian circular restricted three-body problem. It is also applied to trace the effects of the initial spin angles, initial separation and initial orbital eccentricity on the dynamics of the coherent post-Newtonian Euler-Lagrange equations of spinning compact binaries.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Adjustment of force-gradient operator in symplectic methods

Many force-gradient explicit symplectic integration algorithms have been designed for the Hamiltonian $H=T (\mathbf{p})+V(\mathbf{q})$ with kinetic energy $T(\mathbf{p})=\mathbf{p}^2/2$ in the existing references. When the force-gradient operator is appropriately adjusted as a new operator, they are still suitable for a class of Hamiltonian problems $H=K(\mathbf{p},\mathbf{q})+V(\mathbf{q})$ with \emph{integrable} part $K(\mathbf{p},\mathbf{q}) = \sum_{i=1}^{n} \sum_{j=1}^{n}a_{ij}p_ip_j+\sum_{i=1}^{n} b_ip_i$, where $a_{ij}=a_{ij}(\textbf{q})$ and $b_i=b_i(\textbf{q})$ are functions of coordinates $\textbf{q}$. The newly adjusted operator is not a force-gradient operator but is similar to the momentum-version operator associated to the potential $V$. The newly extended (or adjusted) algorithms are no longer solvers of the original Hamiltonian, but are solvers of slightly modified Hamiltonians. They are explicit symplectic integrators with symmetry or time-reversibility. Numerical tests show that the standard symplectic integrators without the new operator are generally poorer than the corresponding extended methods with the new operator in computational accuracies and efficiencies. The optimized methods have better accuracies than the corresponding non-optimized counterparts. Among the tested symplectic methods, the two extended optimized seven-stage fourth-order methods of Omelyan, Mryglod and Folk exhibit the best numerical performance. As a result, one of the two optimized algorithms is used to study the orbital dynamical features of a modified Hénon-Heiles system and a spring pendulum. These extended integrators allow for integrations in Hamiltonian problems, such as the spiral structure in self-consistent models of rotating galaxies and the spiral arms in galaxies.

math.NA↗

arXiv2021

Dynamics of charged particles moving around Kerr black hole with inductive charge and external magnetic field

We mainly focus on the effects of small changes of parameters on the dynamics of charged particles around the Kerr black hole surrounded by an external magnetic field, which can be considered as a tidal environment. The radial motions of charged particles on the equatorial plane are studied via an effective potential. It is found that the particle energies at the local maxima values of the effective potentials increase with an increase of the black hole spin and the particle angular momenta, but decrease with an increase of one of the inductive charge parameter and magnetic field parameter. The radii of stable circular orbits on the equatorial plane also increase, whereas those of the innermost stable circular orbits decrease. On the other hand, the effects of small variations of the parameters on the orbital regular and chaotic dynamics of charged particles on the non-equatorial plane are traced by means of a time-transformed explicit symplectic integrator, Poincaré sections and fast Lyapunov indicators. It is shown that the dynamics sensitively depends on small variations of the inductive charge parameter, magnetic field parameter, energy and angular momentum. Chaos occurs easily as each of the dynamical parameters increases. When the dragging effects of the spacetime increase, the chaotic properties are not always weakened under some circumstances.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Machine Learning interpretation of the correlation between infrared emission features of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Supervised machine learning models are trained with various molecular descriptors to predict infrared emission spectra of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We demonstrate that a feature importance analysis based on the random forest algorithm can be utilized to explore the physical correlation between emission features. Astronomical correlations between infrared bands are analyzed as examples of demonstration by finding the common molecular fragments responsible for different bands, which improves the current understanding of the long-observed correlations. We propose a way to quantify the band correlation by measuring the similarity of the feature importance arrays of different bands, via which a correlation map is obtained for emissions in the out-of-plane bending region. Moreover, a comparison between the predictions using different combinations of descriptors underscores the strong prediction power of the extended-connectivity molecular fingerprint, and shows that the combinations of multiple descriptors of other types in general lead to improved predictivity.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Construction of second-order six-dimensional Hamiltonian-conserving scheme

It is shown analytically that the energy-conserving implicit nonsymplectic scheme of Bacchini, Ripperda, Chen and Sironi provides a first-order accuracy to numerical solutions of a six-dimensional conservative Hamiltonian system. Because of this, a new second-order energy-conserving implicit scheme is proposed. Numerical simulations of Galactic model hosting a BL Lacertae object and magnetized rotating black hole background support these analytical results. The new method with appropriate time steps is used to explore the effects of varying the parameters on the presence of chaos in the two physical models. Chaos easily occurs in the Galactic model as the mass of the nucleus, the internal perturbation parameter, and the anisotropy of the potential of the elliptical galaxy increase. The dynamics of charged particles around the magnetized Kerr spacetime is easily chaotic for larger energies of the particles, smaller initial angular momenta of the particles, and stronger magnetic fields. The chaotic properties are not necessarily weakened when the black hole spin increases. The new method can be used for any six-dimensional Hamiltonian problems, including globally hyperbolic spacetimes with readily available (3+1) split coordinates.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Energy-conserving integrator for conservative Hamiltonian systems with ten-dimensional phase space

In this paper, an implicit nonsymplectic exact energy-preserving integrator is specifically designed for a ten-dimensional phase-space conservative Hamiltonian system with five degrees of freedom. It is based on a suitable discretization-averaging of the Hamiltonian gradient, with a second-order accuracy to numerical solutions. A one-dimensional disordered discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation and a post-Newtonian Hamiltonian system of spinning compact binaries are taken as our two examples. We demonstrate numerically that the proposed algorithm exhibits good long-term performance in the preservation of energy, if roundoff errors are neglected. This result is independent of time steps, initial orbital eccentricities, and regular and chaotic orbital dynamical behavior. In particular, the application of appropriately large time steps to the new algorithm is helpful in reducing time-consuming and roundoff errors. This new method, combined with fast Lyapunov indicators, is well suited related to chaos in the two example problems. It is found that chaos in the former system is mainly responsible for one of the parameters. In the latter problem, a combination of small initial separations and high initial eccentricities can easily induce chaos.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

The Changing Look Blazar B2 1420+32

Blazars are active galactic nuclei with their relativistic jets pointing toward the observer, with two major sub-classes, the flat spectrum radio quasars and BL Lac objects. We present multi-wavelength photometric and spectroscopic monitoring observations of the blazar, B2 1420+32, focusing on its outbursts in 2018-2020. Multi-epoch spectra show that the blazar exhibited large scale spectral variability in both its continuum and line emission, accompanied by dramatic gamma-ray and optical variability by factors of up to 40 and 15, respectively, on week to month timescales. Over the last decade, the gamma-ray and optical fluxes increased by factors of 1500 and 100, respectively. B2 1420+32 was an FSRQ with broad emission lines in 1995. Following a series of flares starting in 2018, it transitioned between BL Lac and FSRQ states multiple times, with the emergence of a strong Fe pseudo continuum. Two spectra also contain components that can be modeled as single-temperature black bodies of 12,000 and 5,200 K. Such a collection of "changing look" features has never been observed previously in a blazar. We measure gamma-ray-optical and the inter-band optical lags implying emission region separations of less than 800 and 130 gravitational radii respectively. Since most emission line flux variations, except the Fe continuum, are within a factor of 2-3, the transitions between FSRQ and BL Lac classifications are mainly caused by the continuum variability. The large Fe continuum flux increase suggests the occurrence of dust sublimation releasing more Fe ions in the central engine and an energy transfer from the relativistic jet to sub-relativistic emission components.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

The use of Kepler solver in numerical integrations of quasi-Keplerian orbits

A Kepler solver is an analytical method used to solve a two-body problem. In this paper, we propose a new correction method by slightly modifying the Kepler solver. The only change to the analytical solutions is that the obtainment of the eccentric anomaly relies on the true anomaly that is associated to a unit radial vector calculated by an integrator. This scheme rigorously conserves all integrals and orbital elements except the mean longitude. However, the Kepler energy, angular momentum vector and Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector for perturbed Kepler problems are slowly-varying quantities. However, their integral invariant relations give the quantities high-precision values that directly govern five slowly-varying orbital elements. These elements combined with the eccentric anomaly determine the desired numerical solutions. The newly proposed method can considerably reduce various errors for a post-Newtonian two-body problem compared with an uncorrected integrator, making it suitable for a dissipative two-body problem. Spurious secular changes of some elements or quasi-integrals in the outer solar system may be caused by short integration times of the fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm. However, they can be eliminated in a long integration time of 10^8 years by the proposed method, similar to Wisdom-Holman second-order symplectic integrator. The proposed method has an advantage over the symplectic algorithm in the accuracy but gives a larger slope to the phase error growth.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Side-On transition radiation detector: a detector prototype for TeV energy scale calibration of calorimeters in space

Transition Radiation (TR) plays an important role in particle identification in high-energy physics and its characteristics provide a feasible method of energy calibration in the energy range up to 10 TeV, which is of interest for dark matter searches in cosmic rays. In a Transition Radiation Detector (TRD), the TR signal is superimposed onto the ionization energy loss signal induced by incident charged particles. In order to make the TR signal stand out from the background of ionization energy loss in a significant way, we optimized both the radiators and the detector. We have designed a new prototype of regular radiator optimized for a maximal TR photon yield, combined with the Side-On TRD which is supposed to improve the detection efficiency of TR. We started a test beam experiment with the Side-On TRD at Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), and found that the experimental data is consistent with the simulation results.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

A novel energy-conserving scheme for eight-dimensional systems

We design a novel, exactly energy-conserving implicit non-symplectic integration method for an eight-dimensional Hamiltonian system with four degrees of freedom. In our algorithm, each partial derivative of the Hamiltonian with respect to one of phase-space variables is discretized by the average of eight Hamiltonian difference terms. Such a discretization form is a second-order approximation to the Hamiltonian gradient. It is shown numerically via simulations of an FPU-$β$ system and a post-Newtonian conservative system of compact binaries with one body spinning that the newly proposed method has extremely good energy-conserving performance, compared to the Runge-Kutta, implicit midpoint symplectic method and extended phase-space explicit symplectic-like integrators. The new method is advantageous over very long times and for large time steps compared to state-of-the-art Runge-Kutta method in the accuracy of numerical solutions. Although such an energy-conserving integrator exhibits a higher computational cost than any one of the other three algorithms, the superior results justify its use for satisfying some specific purposes on the preservation of energies in numerical simulations with much longer times, e.g. obtaining a high enough accuracy of the semimajor axis in a Keplerian problem in the Solar System or accurately grasping the frequency of a gravitational wave from a circular orbit in a post-Newtonian system of compact binaries. The new integrator will be potentially applied to model time-varying external electromagnetic fields or time-dependent spacetimes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Spectral and temporal analysis of the joint Swift/BAT-Fermi/GBM GRB sample

Using the gamma-ray bursts simultaneously detected by Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM we performed a joint spectral and temporal analysis of the prompt emission data and confirm the rough correlation between the BAT-band photon index Gamma_BAT and the peak spectral energy Epeak. With the redshift known sub-sample, we derived the isotropic gamma-ray energy E_gamma,iso and also confirm the E_gamma,iso - Epeak,rest relation, with a larger scatter than the Amati sample but consistent with GBM team analyses. We also compare the T_90 values derived in the GBM band with those derived in the BAT band and find that for long GRBs the BAT T_90 is usually longer than the GBM T_90, while for short GRBs the trend reverses. This is consistent with the soft/hard nature of long/short GRBs and suggests the importance of an energy-dependent temporal analysis of GRBs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

A New Classification Method for Gamma-Ray Bursts

Recent Swift observations suggest that the traditional long vs. short GRB classification scheme does not always associate GRBs to the two physically motivated model types, i.e. Type II (massive star origin) vs. Type I (compact star origin). We propose a new phenomenological classification method of GRBs by introducing a new parameter epsilon=E_{gamma, iso,52}/E^{5/3}_{p,z,2}, where E_{γ,iso} is the isotropic gamma-ray energy (in units of 10^{52} erg), and E_{p,z} is the cosmic rest frame spectral peak energy (in units of 100 keV). For those short GRBs with "extended emission", both quantities are defined for the short/hard spike only. With the current complete sample of GRBs with redshift and E_p measurements, the epsilon parameter shows a clear bimodal distribution with a separation at epsilon ~ 0.03. The high-epsilon region encloses the typical long GRBs with high-luminosity, some high-z "rest-frame-short" GRBs (such as GRB 090423 and GRB 080913), as well as some high-z short GRBs (such as GRB 090426). All these GRBs have been claimed to be of the Type II origin based on other observational properties in the literature. All the GRBs that are argued to be of the Type I origin are found to be clustered in the low-epsilon region. They can be separated from some nearby low-luminosity long GRBs (in 3sigma) by an additional T_{90} criterion, i.e. T_{90,z}<~ 5 s in the Swift/BAT band. We suggest that this new classification scheme can better match the physically-motivated Type II/I classification scheme.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Probing the Nature of High-z Short GRB 090426 with Its Early Optical and X-ray Afterglows

GRB 090426 is a short duration burst detected by Swift ($T_{90}\sim 1.28$ s in the observer frame, and $T_{90}\sim 0.33$ s in the burst frame at $z=2.609$). Its host galaxy properties and some $γ$-ray related correlations are analogous to those seen in long duration GRBs, which are believed to be of a massive-star origin (so-called Type II GRBs). We present the results of its early optical observations with the 0.8-m TNT telescope at Xinglong observatory, and the 1-m LOAO telescope at Mt. Lemmon Optical Astronomy Observatory in Arizona. Our well-sampled optical afterglow lightcurve covers from $\sim 90$ seconds to $\sim 10^4$ seconds post the GRB trigger. It shows two shallow decay episodes that are likely due to energy injection, which end at $\sim 230$ seconds and $\sim 7100$ seconds, respectively. The decay slopes post the injection phases are consistent with each other ($α\simeq 1.22$). The X-ray afterglow lightcurve appears to trace the optical, although the second energy injection phase was missed due to visibility constraints introduced by the {\em Swift} orbit. The X-ray spectral index is $β_X\sim 1.0$ without temporal evolution. Its decay slope is consistent with the prediction of the forward shock model. Both X-ray and optical emission is consistent with being in the same spectral regime above the cooling frequency ($ν_c$). The fact that $ν_c$ is below the optical band from the very early epoch of the observation provides a constraint on the burst environment, which is similar to that seen in classical long duration GRBs. We therefore suggest that death of a massive star is the possible progenitor of this short burst.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

X-ray Radiation Mechanisms and Beaming Effect of Hot Spots and Knots in Active Galactic Nuclear Jets

The observed radio-optical-X-ray spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 22 hot spots and 45 knots in the jets of 35 active galactic nuclei are complied from literature and modeled with single-zone lepton models. It is found that the observed luminosities at 5 GHz (L_5GHz) and at 1 keV (L_1keV) are tightly correlated, and the two kinds of sources can be roughly separated with a division of L_1keV=L_5GHz. Our SED fits show that the mechanisms of the X-rays are diverse. Considering the sources at rest, the synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) scattering would dominate the IC process. This model can interpret the X-rays of some hot spots with a magnetic field strength (B_ssc^delta=1) being consistent with the equipartition magnetic field (B_eq^delta=1) in one order of magnitude, but an unreasonably low B_ssc^delta=1 is required to model the X-rays for all knots. The ratio R_B=B_eq^delta=1/B_ssc^delta=1 is greater than 1 and it is tightly anti-correlated with ratio R_L= L_1keV/L_5GHz for both the knots and the hot spots. We propose that the deviation may be due to the neglect of the relativistic bulk motion for these sources. Considering this effect, we show that the IC/CMB model well explains the X-ray emission for most sources. Both B_eq' and delta are tentatively correlated with R_L. Corrected by the beaming effect, the L'_5GHz-L'_1keV relations for the two kinds of sources are even tighter than the observed ones. These facts suggest that, under the equipartition condition, the observational differences of the X-rays from the knots and hot spots may be mainly due the differences on the Doppler boosting effect and the co-moving magnetic field of the two kinds of sources. Our IC scattering models predict a prominent GeV-TeV component in the SEDs for some sources, which are detectable with H.E.S.S. and Fermi/LAT.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2008

X-Ray Flares of Gamma-Ray Bursts: Quakes of Solid Quark Stars?

We propose a star-quake model to understand X-ray flares of both long and short Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in a solid quark star regime. Two kinds of central engines for GRBs are available if pulsar-like stars are actually (solid) quark stars, i.e., the SNE-type GRBs and the SGR-type GRBs. It is found that a quark star could be solidified about 10^3 to 10^6 s later after its birth if the critical temperature of phase transition is a few MeV, and then a new source of free energy (i.e., elastic and gravitational ones, rather than rotational or magnetic energy) could be possible to power GRB X-ray flares.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Low-Luminosity Gamma-Ray Bursts as a Distinct GRB Population:A Firmer Case from Multiple Criteria Constraints

The intriguing observations of Swift/BAT X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the BATSE-BeppoSAX gamma-ray burst GRB 980425, both with much lower luminosity and redshift compared to other observed bursts, naturally lead to the question of how these low-luminosity (LL) bursts are related to high-luminosity (HL) bursts. Incorporating the constraints from both the flux-limited samples observed with CGRO/BATSE and Swift/BAT and the redshift-known GRB sample, we investigate the luminosity function for both LL- and HL-GRBs through simulations. Our multiple criteria, including the log N - log P distributions from the flux-limited GRB sample, the redshift and luminosity distributions of the redshift-known sample, and the detection ratio of HL- and LL- GRBs with Swift/BAT, provide a set of stringent constraints to the luminosity function. Assuming that the GRB rate follows the star formation rate, our simulations show that a simple power law or a broken power law model of luminosity function fail to reproduce the observations, and a new component is required. This component can be modeled with a broken power, which is characterized by a sharp increase of the burst number at around L < 10^47 erg s^-1}. The lack of detection of moderate-luminosity GRBs at redshift ~0.3 indicates that this feature is not due to observational biases. The inferred local rate, rho_0, of LL-GRBs from our model is ~ 200 Gpc^-3 yr^-1 at ~ 10^47 erg s^-1, much larger than that of HL-GRBs. These results imply that LL-GRBs could be a separate GRB population from HL-GRBs. The recent discovery of a local X-ray transient 080109/SN 2008D would strengthen our conclusion, if the observed non-thermal emission has a similar origin as the prompt emission of most GRBs and XRFs.

astro-ph↗