arXiv subjects

He-Xu Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to He-Xu Zhang.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

From CMB to LHC: A hybrid inflation model with gauged scale symmetry

We propose a hybrid inflation model based on gauged scale symmetry, in which an axion-like field drives inflation while the Standard Model Higgs serves as the waterfall field. During slow-roll inflation, the Higgs is trapped in the electroweak-symmetric vacuum. When the inflaton reaches a critical value, the Higgs acquires a nonzero vacuum expectation value and and triggers electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) through the waterfall dynamics. We identify viable parameter regions that simultaneously accommodate current cosmic microwave background observations and Higgs data from the Large Hadron Collider. The relaxation mechanism connects the inflationary and electroweak scales by reducing the large vacuum-energy contribution required during inflation. Our framework thus provides a dynamical connection between inflation and EWSB.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Purely quadratic non-Gaussianity from tachyonic instability: Primordial black holes and scalar-induced gravitational waves

We investigate primordial black hole (PBH) formation in a cosmological scenario where curvature perturbations follow purely quadratic non-Gaussianity, $ζ= A(ϕ^2-langleϕ^2\rangle)$, arising from tachyonic instability in multicomponent inflationary models. Within an extended Press-Schechter framework based on the compaction function, we derive the probability distribution of the linear compaction function and its asymptotic exponential tail, demonstrating that the PBH abundance is exponentially sensitive not only to the amplitude of perturbations but also to the correlation coefficient $ρ$ between the smoothed field and its radial gradient. We further find that, in this tachyonic amplification scenario, the spectral width of the curvature power spectrum plays a decisive role in avoiding PBH overproduction: broad spectra yield mildly negative $ρ$ and fail to suppress PBH formation, while sufficiently narrow spectra drive $ρ\to -1$, resulting in exponential suppression while maintaining a sizable gravitational-wave signal. Thermal inflation serves as a benchmark for asteroid-mass PBH dark matter and high-frequency scalar-induced gravitational waves potentially detectable by future space-based interferometers, but its typically broad spectra make it challenging to reconcile pulsar timing array observations with PBH constraints.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Axionlike particle-assisted supercooling chiral phase transition in QCD: Identifying Coleman-Weinberg type-chiral phase transition in QCD-like scenarios

We propose a new scenario to realize the Coleman-Weinberg (CW) type chiral phase transition in the QCD thermal history. This scenario predicts a heavy axionlike particle (ALP) with mass $\sim$ 5 MeV, consistently with the current experimental and cosmological bounds. The chiral phase transition is evaluated by monitoring ordinary QCD setup in a view of a two-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model including a simplified meson fluctuation contribution. The present work thus can open a new window to search for the ALP associated with the QCD phase transition epoch of the thermal history. The new QCD cosmological scenario potentially predicts rich epochs around the QCD scale: a mini-inflation; a nonperturbative preheating and/or reheating, which can provide characteristic gravitational wave and primordial black hole productions. This proposal is based on a generic classification of the order of the chiral phase transition at the level of the mean field approximation in view of the scale violation classes: the soft-scale breaking term and the CW-type scale anomaly term, in or off the medium with or without chemical potentials. On this theoretical ground, we also revisit existing scenarios which undergo the supercooling chiral phase transition, such as nearly scale-invariant QCD and QCD with a large baryon chemical potential.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Significance of soft-scale breaking on primordial black hole production in Coleman-Weinberg type supercooling-phase transition

Ultra-supercooling phase transitions can generate large overdensities in the Universe, potentially leading to the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs), which can also be a dark matter candidate. In this work, we focus on the supercooling phase transition for the scale symmetry breaking based on the effective potential of the Coleman-Weinberg (CW) type. We investigate the effect on the PBH production in the presence of an additional mass term for the CW scalar field, what we call a soft-scale breaking term, which serves as the extra explicit-scale breaking term other than the quantum scale anomaly induced by the CW mechanism. We demonstrate that even a small size of the soft-scale breaking term can significantly affect the PBH production depending on its sign: a positive term slows down the phase transition, thereby enhancing the PBH abundance and improving the model's ability to account for dark matter; in contrast, a negative term suppresses the PBH formation. The inclusion of such soft-scale breaking terms broadens the viable parameter space and increases the flexibility of the framework. We further illustrate our results through two ultraviolet-complete realizations: i) a many-flavor QCD-inspired model as a reference model which can dynamically induce a positive-soft scale breaking; ii) a Higgs portal model with a $B-L$ scalar as the benchmark for the case where a negative-soft scale breaking is induced. Our study would provide a new testable link between PBH dark matter and gravitational wave signatures in the CW-type scenario.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Quasinormal modes and greybody factor of charged black hole in non-commutative geometry

In this article, the quasinormal modes and greybody factor of charged black hole in non-commutative geometry are studied. Under the assumption of a uniformly distributed charge within the matter, we obtain the metric for a charged black hole in non-commutative geometry. We calculated the wave function and obtained the effective potential of three different perturbed fields with spin. Then we applied $6^{\rm{th}}$ order WKB method to analyze the quasinormal modes of the black hole and derived quasinormal frequencies. Futhermore, we discussed the greybody factor in different perturbed fields under this spacetime.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Walking-dilaton hybrid inflation with $B-L$ Higgs embedded in dynamical scalegenesis

We propose a hybrid inflationary scenario based on eight-flavor hidden QCD with the hidden colored fermions being in part gauged under $U(1)_{B-L}$. This hidden QCD is almost scale-invariant, so-called walking, and predicts the light scalar meson (the walking dilaton) associated with the spontaneous scale breaking, which develops the Coleman-Weinberg (CW) type potential as the consequence of the nonperturbative scale anomaly, hence plays the role of an inflaton of the small-field inflation. The $U(1)_{B-L}$ Higgs is coupled to the walking dilaton inflaton, which is dynamically induced from the so-called bosonic seesaw mechanism. We explore the hybrid inflation system involving the walking dilaton inflaton and the $U(1)_{B-L}$ Higgs as a waterfall field. We find that observed inflation parameters tightly constrain the $U(1)_{B-L}$ breaking scale as well as the walking dynamical scale to be $\sim 10^9$ GeV and $\sim 10^{14}$ GeV, respectively, so as to make the waterfall mechanism worked. The lightest walking pion mass is then predicted to be around 500 GeV. Phenomenological perspectives including embedding of the dynamical electroweak scalegenesis and possible impacts on the thermal leptogenesis are also addressed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Impact of local CP-odd domain in hot QCD on axionic domain-wall interpretation for NANOGrav 15-year Data

We argue that the axionic domain-wall with a QCD bias may be incompatible with the NANOGrav 15-year data on a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background, when the domain wall network collapses in the hot-QCD induced local CP-odd domain. This is due to the drastic suppression of the QCD bias set by the QCD topological susceptibility in the presence of the CP-odd domain with nonzero $θ$ parameter of order one which the QCD sphaleron could generate. We quantify the effect on the GW signals by working on a low-energy effective model of Nambu-Jona-Lasinio type in the mean field approximation. We find that only at $θ=π$, the QCD bias tends to get significantly large enough due to the criticality of the thermal CP restoration, which would, however, give too big signal strengths to be consistent with the NANOGrav 15-year data and would also be subject to the strength of the phase transition at the criticality.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Gravitational wave footprints from Higgs-portal scalegenesis with multiple dark chiral scalars

We discuss the gravitational wave (GW) spectra predicted from the electroweak scalegenesis of the Higgs portal type with a large number of dark chiral flavors, which many flavor QCD would underlie and give the dynamical explanation of the negative Higgs portal coupling required to trigger the electroweak symmetry breaking. We employ the linear-sigma model as the low-energy description of dark many flavor QCD and show that the model undergoes ultra-supercooling due to the produced strong first-order thermal phase transition along the (approximately realized) flat direction based on the Gildener-Weinberg mechanism. Passing through evaluation of the bubble nucleation/percolation, we address the reheating and relaxation processes, which are generically non-thermal and nonadiabatic. Parametrizing the reheating epoch in terms of the e-folding number, we propose proper formulae for the redshift effects on the GW frequencies and signal spectra. It then turns out that the ultra-supercooling predicted from the Higgs-portal scalegenesis generically yields none of GW signals with the frequencies as low as nano Hz, unless the released latent heat is transported into another sector other than reheating the universe. Instead, models of this class prefer to give the higher frequency signals and still keeps the future prospected detection sensitivity, like at LISA, BBO, and DECIGO, etc. We also find that with large flavors in the dark sector, the GW signals are made further smaller and the peak frequencies higher. Characteristic phenomenological consequences related to the multiple chiral scalars include the prediction of dark pions with the mass much less than TeV scale, which is also briefly addressed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Dynamical realization of the small field inflation of Coleman-Weinberg type in the post supercooled universe

The small field inflation (SFI) of Coleman-Weinberg (CW) type suffers from precise tuning of the initial inflaton field value to be away from the true vacuum one. We propose a dynamical trapping mechanism to solve this problem: an ultra-supercooling caused by an almost scale-invariant CW potential traps the inflaton at the false vacuum, far away from the true vacuum dominantly created by the quantum scale anomaly, and allows the inflaton to dynamically start the slow-roll down due to a classical explicit-scale breaking effect. To be concrete, we employ a successful CW-SFI model and show that the proposed mechanism works consistently with the observed bounds on the inflation parameters. The proposed new mechanism thus provides new insights for developing small field inflation models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Double shadow of a 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet black hole and their connection between with quasinormal modes

In this paper, we study the shadow of a 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet black hole as photons couple to the Weyl tensor and find that the propagation of light depends on its polarization which leads to the existence of a double shadow. Then, we discuss the effect of the coupling parameter $λ$, the polarization of light and the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant $α$ on shadow. Further we explore the influence of the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant $α$ on the quasinormal modes (QNMs) of massless scalar field and investigate the connection between the real part of QNMs in the eikonal limit and the shadow radius of black holes. We find that in the eikonal limit the real part of QNMs is inversely proportional to the shadow radius under the case of the photons uncoupled to the Weyl tensor.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Bardeen black hole in magnetically charged four-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

In this paper, we investigate the shadow radius and quasinormal modes of a four-dimensional magnetically charged Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Bardeen black hole and point out a simple connection between them in the eikonal limit. By studying a massless scalar field perturbation in this spacetime background and using the sixth-order Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin(WKB) approximation, we get the quasinormal modes(QNMs) and perform a detailed analysis. It shows that the quasinormal modes are depend on the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant and the magnetic charge. We also give a formula of the QNMs and shadow radius in the eikonal limit and check it numerically for the real and imaginary part of it, respectively.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Shadow cast by a rotating and nonlinear magnetic-charged black hole in perfect fluid dark matter

We derived an exact solution of the spherically symmetric Hayward black hole surrounded by perfect fluid dark matter (PFDM). By applying the Newman-Janis algorithm, we generalized it to the corresponding rotating black hole. Then, we studied the shadows of rotating Hayward black hole in PFDM. The apparent shape of the shadow depends upon the black hole spin $a$, the magnetic charge $Q$ and the PFDM intensity parameter $k$ ($k<0$). The shadow is a perfect circle in the non-rotating case ($a=0$) and a deformed one in the rotating case ($a\neq{0}$). For a fixed value of $a$, the size of the shadow increases with the increasing $\vert{k}\vert$, but decreases with the increasing $Q$. We further investigated the black hole emission rate. We found that the emission rate decreases with the increasing $\vert{k}\vert$ (or $Q$) and the peak of the emission shifts to lower frequency. Finally, we discussed the observational prospects corresponding to the supermassive black hole $\mathrm{Sgr\ A^{*}}$ at the center of the Milky Way.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Bardeen black hole surrounded by perfect fluid dark matter

We derive an exact solution of the spherically symmetric Bardeen black hole surrounded by perfect fluid dark matter (PFDM). By treating the magnetic charge $g$ and dark matter parameter $α$ as thermodynamic variables, we find that the thermodynamic first law and the corresponding Smarr formula are satisfied. The thermodynamic stability of the black hole is also studied. The result show that, there exists a critical radius $r_{+}^{C}$, where the heat capacity diverges, suggesting that the black hole is thermodynamically stable in the range $0<r_{+}<r_{+}^{C}$. In addition, the critical radius $r_{+}^{C}$ increases with the magnetic charge $g$ and decreases with the dark matter parameter $α$. Applying the Newman-Janis algorithm, we generalize the spherically symmetric solution to the corresponding rotating black hole. With the metric at hand, the horizons and ergospheres are studied. It turns out that for a fixed dark matter parameter $α$, in a certain range, with the increase of the rotation parameter $a$ and magnetic charge $g$, the Cauchy horizon radius increases while the event horizon radius decreases. Finally, we investigate the energy extraction by the Penrose process in rotating Bardeen black hole surrounded by PFDM.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Optical properties of a nonlinear magnetic charged rotating black hole surrounded by quintessence with a cosmological constant

In this paper,we discuss optical properties of the nonlinear magnetic charged black hole surrounded by quintessence with a non-zero cosmological constant $Λ$. Setting the state parameter $ω=-3/2$ , we studied the horizon, the photon region and the shadow of this black hole. It turned out that for a fixed quintessential parameter $γ$, in a certain range, with the increase of the rotation parameter $a$ and magnetic charge $Q$, the inner horizon radius increases while the outer horizon radius decreases. And the cosmological horizon $r_Λ$ decrease when $γ$ or $Λ$ incease and increase slightly with increasing $a$ and $Q$. The shapes of photon region were then studied and depicted through graphical illustrations. Finally, we discussed the effects of the quintessential parameter $γ$ and the cosmological constant $Λ$ on the shadow cast by this balck hole with a fixed observer position.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Optical properties of a Brane-World black hole as photons couple to the Weyl tensor

In this article, we have investigated the equations of motion of the photons coupled to Weyl tensor by the geometric optics approximation and the corresponding shadow in a Brane-World black hole spacetime. It is shown that there exists a double shadow for a black hole since the coupling photons with different polarization directions propagate along different paths in the spacetime. Furthermore, we discuss the effects of the metric parameter $α$ related to the cosmological constant, X-cold dark matter parameter $β$ and the coupling parameter $λ$ on the umbra (the overlap region of the double shadow) and the penumbra. We also obtain the finite-distance corrections to the deflection angle of light in the Brane-World black hole spacetime as the photons coupled to Weyl tensor by using a recent geometric method.

gr-qc↗