arXiv subjects

Hsin-Yu Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Hsin-Yu Chen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Impact of eccentricity and higher-modes on neutron star-black hole parameter estimation

Detections of gravitational waves from neutron star-black hole systems provide avenues for studying extreme matter, constraining binary formation channels, and testing the nature of compact objects in strong gravity. Eccentric signatures in the signal further enhance this potential by improving parameter estimation and offering clues about binary formation. Because eccentricity is primarily imprinted during the inspiral phase, it is often weakly constrained or missed entirely in binary black hole observations; in contrast, neutron star-black hole systems produce longer in-band signals, enabling more precise measurements of eccentricity and leaving a distinct imprint on parameter inference. In this work, we present a systematic parameter-estimation study exploring the impact of eccentricity on inference using injections simulated with the state-of-the-art eccentric waveform model SEOBNRv5EHM. We find that for systems like GW200105_162426, the measurement precision of eccentricity and correlated parameters improves as eccentricity increases, yielding tighter constraints at larger eccentricities. For the highest eccentricity considered in this study, $e=0.25$, we recover eccentricity with $1\sigma$ uncertainty as low as $4\times10^{-4}$. In addition, the constraints on effective spin $\chi_\mathrm{eff}$ and mass ratio $q$ improve relative to the quasi-circular case by factors of $\sim13$ and $\sim20$, respectively. On the other hand, we find no significant improvement in extrinsic parameters such as luminosity distance and sky localization, suggesting that for systems like GW200105_162426, the additional information provided by eccentricity in this sector is either negligible or degenerate with the information provided by higher-order modes.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Eccentricity as a Magnifying Glass: Precision Population Inference Enabled by Eccentric Neutron Star-Black Hole Mergers

The formation history of compact binary systems remains one of the key open questions in astrophysics. Theoretical studies generally favor isolated binary evolution for neutron star-black hole (NSBH) systems, which tends to produce nearly circular orbits. However, recent analyses of the gravitational-wave event GW200105 indicate that its source has measurable eccentricity, suggesting that alternative formation channels may also contribute. It has been shown that the intrinsic parameters of eccentric NSBH mergers, such as the component masses and spins, are much better measured than circular mergers with LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) observatories. We explore how such eccentricity-enhanced parameter measurements can affect the inference of NSBH formation channels. We find that sharper measurements of the effective spin parameter $\chi_{\rm eff}$ increase the fraction of systems for which negative values can be confidently identified, allowing for the clear measurement of a spin-orbit misaligned event every $\sim 2.5$ eccentric NSBH detections for an isotropically distributed population in the fifth LVK observing run (O5). Improved NS mass measurements provide better constraining power for NS mass distributions, potentially revealing structure and tightening the bounds that can be drawn on their upper and lower masses. Similarly, the recovery of a metallicity-dependent BH mass distribution is improved by eccentricity-enhanced measurements. Finally, we show that the proposed population-level eccentricity distribution for dynamical-formation channels can be tested by the end of O5.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Binary Neutron Star Merger Evolution and r-Process Enrichment in the Milky Way Disk

The origin of half of the rapid neutron-capture nucleosynthesis (r-process) elements in the Universe remains an open question. Binary neutron star (BNS) mergers have been shown to face difficulties in reproducing the observed r-process enrichment in Milky Way disk stars. However, their r-process enrichment efficiency may evolve with redshift beyond the star formation history, potentially due to evolution in the merger rate or the average r-process yield in the early Universe. In this paper, we explore the possibility that BNS mergers with an evolving enrichment efficiency could serve as the sole r-process production channel. By jointly comparing gravitational-wave observations from LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA, short gamma-ray bursts, Galactic neutron star populations, and stellar abundance measurements in Milky Way disk stars, we find that scenarios with additional evolution are strongly preferred over non-evolving scenarios, with Bayes factors exceeding $10^{20}$. We quantify the required evolution in both the merger rate and yield, and directly compare them with observations and theoretical predictions. We find that the evolved scenarios are in tension with short gamma-ray burst observations and predictions from multiple population synthesis models, while remaining consistent with current stochastic gravitational-wave background constraints. Our results provide a quantitative framework for evaluating whether BNS mergers with evolving enrichment efficiency can account for the observed r-process enrichment history of Milky Way disk stars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Identifying the host of compact binary mergers

Finding the host galaxies of stellar-mass compact binary mergers will open a new window for studying their formation histories and measuring key cosmological parameters, such as the Hubble constant. To date, only one merger, GW170817, has had its host galaxy confidently identified through electromagnetic counterpart observations. The large localization volumes from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) network, combined with the lack of electromagnetic emission for most events, make host identification challenging. However, as the sensitivity of the gravitational-wave (GW) detector network improves, events are becoming increasingly well localized. Furthermore, galaxy luminosity traces mass or star formation rate, and thus correlates with the probability of hosting a merger. Focusing on the most luminous galaxies within the localization volumes of the best-localized GW events, we estimate the corresponding Hubble constant for each galaxy by combining its redshift with the luminosity distance inferred from LVK observations. For the well-localized LVK events \texttt{S250207bg}, \texttt{GW190814}, and \texttt{S250830bp}, we find only $1$, $1$, and $4$ galaxies, respectively, when restricting the analysis to the most luminous $1\%$ of galaxies above $L_{\rm th} \sim 10^{11} h^{-2} L_{\odot}$ in each event's localization volume and adopting a broad $H_0$ prior. The probability of these galaxies being random, and not associated with the GW events, is $29$-$36\%$ across the three events. We encourage further follow-up observations of these candidate host galaxies. We expect this approach to become increasingly powerful in future LVK observing runs, enabling constraints on merger formation histories and measurements of the Hubble constant.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Implications of low neutron star merger rates for gamma-ray bursts, r-process production and Galactic double neutron stars

The first multimessenger discovery of a binary neutron star (BNS) merger, GW170817, proved that such mergers can source short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) and produce r-process elements. The initial merger rate from this single event was found to be broadly consistent with the SGRB rate, the Milky Way (MW) r-process mass, and the Galactic population of double neutron star (DNS) systems that will merge in a Hubble time. However, only one additional BNS merger has been detected since, and the BNS merger rate has been consistently revised downwards with recent gravitational wave (GW) catalog updates. Analyzing GWTC-4, we find a total BNS merger rate of $28$--$300\,\mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}\,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ consisting of $53^{+176}_{-49}\,\mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ in GW170817-like $\sim(1.3,1.3)\,M_\odot$ BNSs (90\% credibility). We revisit the consistency of the BNS merger rate with SGRBs, r-process and Galactic DNSs. In all cases, there is an emerging tension with the BNS (and EM-bright neutron star--black hole, NSBH) merger rate. Comparing to a BNS merger rate of $100\,\mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, the cosmological SGRB rate is a factor of 3.6--18 higher (despite kilonova followup of SGRBs implying a significant fraction of SGRBs are of BNS origin), the r-process rate is a factor of 0.9--4.1 higher (even though we consider only r-process elements above the second peak), and the rate inferred from Galactic DNSs is a factor of 2.3--5.1 higher than the BNS rate. We discuss how various uncertainties in the inferred rates either alleviate or exacerbate this tension, which point to the various physical processes that can be constrained by such rate comparisons.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Golden and Silver Dark Sirens for precise H0 measurement with HETDEX

Gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binary coalescences are standard sirens that provide a direct measure of the source's luminosity distance, enabling an independent measurement of the Hubble constant (H0). While a bright siren -- a GW event with an identified electromagnetic (EM) counterpart -- provided the first such constraint, most detections, currently dominated by black hole mergers, lack EM signatures. A measurement of H0 is still possible with these dark sirens by statistically associating GW events with galaxies in existing catalogs based on the sky localization. In this work, we explore the potential of two subsets of sirens: rare golden dark sirens, for which a single galaxy dominates the H0 posterior, and silver dark sirens, which are far more common but have a larger set of plausible host galaxies. Using the fifth internal data release of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), we assess the suitability of the Visible Integral-field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (VIRUS) for spectroscopic follow-up of dark sirens. VIRUS exposures of the standard HETDEX depth provide precise redshifts and exquisite completeness within z = 0.2. After a single year of observations with the upgraded LIGO-A# network, the combined sample of golden and silver dark sirens with z < 0.2 and follow-up VIRUS observations can potentially yield a few-percent constraint on H0. Our predictions suggest that spectroscopic redshift surveys such as HETDEX can play a key role in realizing high-precision cosmology with dark sirens in the near future. Standard-siren distance measurements offer a critical, fully independent path to the local value of H0 to resolve the Hubble tension.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Mergers Fall Short: Non-merger Channels Required for Galactic Heavy Element Production

Since the discovery of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 and its associated kilonova, neutron star mergers have been established as a key production channel for r-process elements in the Universe. However, various lines of evidence, including observations of r-process abundances inferred from stellar spectra of Milky Way disk stars, suggest that additional channels are needed to fully account for r-process element enrichment in the Milky Way. Neutron star-black hole mergers and fast-merging binary neutron star systems are among the leading alternative candidates. In this paper, we combine gravitational-wave observations from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA with data from short gamma-ray bursts, Galactic pulsars, and Galactic Eu/Fe versus Fe/H abundance observations to assess the contribution of these mergers to r-process enrichment in the Galactic disk. Our analysis employs a unified, likelihood-based inference framework that consistently propagates uncertainties in merger rates, delay-time distributions, mass- and spin-dependent ejecta yields, and stellar abundance measurements. We find that neither neutron star-black hole mergers nor fast- merging binary neutron star populations can serve as the dominant additional channel without generating strong tension with existing observations and theoretical expectations. These results constrain the viable sources of Galactic r-process enrichment and underscore the necessity of non- merger production channels.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

A Lazy Resynthesis Approach for Simultaneous T Gate and Two-Qubit Gate Optimization of Quantum Circuits

State-of-the-art quantum circuit optimization (QCO) algorithms for T-count reduction often lead to a substantial increase in two-qubit gate count (2Q-count) -- a drawback that existing 2Q-count optimization techniques struggle to address effectively. In this work, we propose a novel lazy resynthesis approach for modern tableau-based QCO flows that significantly mitigates the 2Q-gate surges commonly introduced during T-count optimization in Clifford+T circuits. Experimental results show that our approach reduces 2Q-count overhead by 54.8%, 15.3%, and 68.0% compared to tableau-based, ZX-calculus-based, and path-sum-based QCO algorithms, respectively. In terms of runtime, our method achieves speedups of 1.81$\times$ and 13.1$\times$ over the tableau-based and ZX-calculus-based methods, while performing comparably to the path-sum-based approach. In summary, the proposed lazy resynthesis technique not only enhances the quality and performance of tableau-based QCO algorithms but also demonstrates superior efficiency and scalability compared to alternative QCO approaches such as ZX-calculus and path-sum-based techniques.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Listening Across the Cosmic Time: Standard Sirens from Ground- and Space-Based Missions in the Next Decade

Precise measurement of the Hubble parameter will enable stringent tests of the standard model for cosmology. Standard sirens, using the luminosity distances measured by gravitational-wave observations of compact binary mergers, are expected to provide such measurements independently in the next decade. With the ground- and space-based gravitational wave observatories, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) network and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), different types of standard sirens altogether will place constraints across a wide redshift range. In this paper, we forecast the precisions of standard siren Hubble parameter measurements and compare various scenarios, accounting for the dominant sources of systematic uncertainty. Specifically, we find a $2\%$ constraint on $H_0$, a $1.5-3\%$ constraint on $H(z)$ at $z=1$, and a $3-5\%$ constraint on $H(z)$ at $z=7$ when combining LVK and LISA standard sirens with precise redshift measurements from electromagnetic counterpart observations. We do not find a significant improvement when including standard sirens with no EM counterpart, but which rely on features in the black hole mass distribution, and the potential systematics introduced by the possible redshift evolution of such features could further degrade the measurement accuracy if not properly accounted for.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Inferring Neutron Star Nuclear Properties from Gravitational-Wave and Gamma-Ray Burst Observations

Recent discoveries of long gamma-ray bursts accompanied by kilonova emission prompted interest in understanding their progenitors. If these long-duration bursts arise from neutron star mergers, similar to short gamma-ray bursts, it raises the question of which physical properties govern burst duration. The mass of the merger stands out as a key factor, strongly influencing the lifetime of the merger remnant, which in turn determines the burst duration: lighter mergers that form long-lived remnants produce short bursts, whereas more massive mergers result in short-lived remnants that collapse into black holes, powering longer bursts. In this paper, we compare merger rates from gravitational-wave observations of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA with the rates of kilonova-associated long and short gamma-ray bursts, to identify a characteristic total neutron star mass that separates the two burst classes at $1.36^{+0.08}_{-0.09}$ times of the neutron star Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) mass (median and 68% confidence interval). This result suggests that massive neutron stars could survive an extended period after merger. Our findings are robust against substantial observational uncertainties and model assumptions. Moreover, we identify a correlation between the characteristic mass and the neutron star TOV mass, allowing constraints on the characteristic mass to be directly mapped to upper limits on the TOV mass. This establishes a novel, independent method for constraining the neutron star TOV mass and their equation of state using gravitational-wave and gamma-ray burst observations.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Multidisciplinary Science in the Multimessenger Era

Astrophysical observations of the cosmos allow us to probe extreme physics and answer foundational questions on our universe. Modern astronomy is increasingly operating under a holistic approach, probing the same question with multiple diagnostics including how sources vary over time, how they appear across the electromagnetic spectrum, and through their other signatures, including gravitational waves, neutrinos, cosmic rays, and dust on Earth. Astrophysical observations are now reaching the point where approximate physics models are insufficient. Key sources of interest are explosive transients, whose understanding requires multidisciplinary studies at the intersection of astrophysics, gravity, nuclear science, plasma physics, fluid dynamics and turbulence, computation, particle physics, atomic, molecular, and optical science, condensed matter and materials science, radiation transport, and high energy density physics. This white paper provides an overview of the major scientific advances that lay at the intersection of physics and astronomy and are best probed through time-domain and multimessenger astrophysics, an exploration of how multidisciplinary science can be fostered, and introductory descriptions of the relevant scientific disciplines and key astrophysical sources of interest.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Mitigating the binary viewing angle bias for standard sirens

The inconsistency between experiments in the measurements of the local Universe expansion rate, the Hubble constant, suggests unknown systematics in the existing experiments or new physics. Gravitational-wave standard sirens, a method to independently provide direct measurements of the Hubble constant, have the potential to address this tension. Before that, it is critical to ensure there is no substantial systematics in the standard siren method. A significant systematic has been identified when the viewing angle of the gravitational-wave sources, the compact binary coalescences, is inferred inaccurately from electromagnetic observations of the sources. Such systematic has led to more than 10% discrepancy in the standard siren Hubble constant measurements with the observations of binary neutron star merger, GW170817. In this Letter, we develop a new formalism to infer and mitigate this systematic. We demonstrate that the systematic uncertainty of the Hubble constant measurements can be reduced to smaller than their statistical uncertainty with 5, 10, and 20 binary neutron star merger observations. We show that our formalism successfully reduces the systematics even if the shape of the biased viewing angle distribution does not follow precisely the model we choose. Our formalism ensures unbiased standard siren Hubble constant measurements when the binary viewing angles are inferred from electromagnetic observations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Qsyn: A Developer-Friendly Quantum Circuit Synthesis Framework for NISQ Era and Beyond

In this paper, we introduce a new quantum circuit synthesis (QCS) framework, Qsyn, for developers to research, develop, test, experiment, and then contribute their QCS algorithms and tools to the framework. Our framework is more developer-friendly than other modern QCS frameworks in three aspects: (1) We design a rich command-line interface so that developers can easily design various testing scenarios and flexibly conduct experiments on their algorithms. (2) We offer detailed access to many data representations on different abstract levels of quantum circuits so that developers can optimize their algorithms to the extreme. (3) We define a rigid developing flow and environment so that developers can ensure their development qualities with the best modern software engineering practices. We illustrate the friendliness of our framework with a showcase of developing a T-Count Optimization algorithm and demonstrate our performance superiority with fair comparisons to other modern QCS frameworks.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Data Format Standardization and DICOM Integration for Hyperpolarized 13C MRI

Hyperpolarized (HP) 13C MRI has shown promise as a valuable modality for in vivo measurements of metabolism and is currently in human trials at 15 research sites worldwide. With this growth it is important to adopt standardized data storage practices as it will allow sites to meaningfully compare data. In this paper we (1) describe data that we believe should be stored and (2) demonstrate pipelines and methods that utilize the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard. This includes proposing a set of minimum set of information that is specific to HP 13C MRI studies. We then show where the majority of these can be fit into existing DICOM Attributes, primarily via the "Contrast/Bolus" module. We also demonstrate pipelines for utilizing DICOM for HP 13C MRI. DICOM is the most common standard for clinical medical image storage and provides the flexibility to accommodate the unique aspects of HP 13C MRI, including the HP agent information but also spectroscopic and metabolite dimensions. The pipelines shown include creating DICOM objects for studies on human and animal imaging systems with various pulse sequences. We also show a python-based method to efficiently modify DICOM objects to incorporate the unique HP 13C MRI information that is not captured by existing pipelines. Moreover, we propose best practices for HP 13C MRI data storage that will support future multi-site trials, research studies and technical developments of this imaging technique.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2024

Identifying the hosts of binary black hole and neutron star-black hole mergers with next-generation gravitational-wave detectors

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration has detected over one hundred compact binary mergers in gravitational waves, but the formation history of these binaries remains an open question. Finding the host galaxies of these mergers will provide critical information that reveals how these binaries were formed. However, without an electromagnetic counterpart, localizing gravitational wave events to their hosts is challenging with the current generation of gravitational wave detectors. Next-generation detectors will localize some compact binary mergers to a small volume that allows for direct association with their hosts. To demonstrate the promise these detectors hold, we simulate a population of binary black hole and neutron star-black hole mergers using a next-generation gravitational wave network comprised of Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope. We find that ~4% of binary black hole events within a redshift of 0.5 and ~3% of neutron star-black hole events within a redshift of 0.3 will be localized to a volume smaller than 100 Mpc^3, the volume in which we expect only one likely host galaxy. With the astrophysical merger rate estimated from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration's third observing run, we expect to precisely localize one binary black hole event every eight days and one neutron star-black hole event every 1.5 months. With three years of gravitational wave observations (O(100) binary black hole mergers with host associations), we will be able to distinguish whether binary black hole host galaxies trace stellar mass or star formation rate, constraining the delay time distribution and shedding light on the formation channels of binary black holes.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

LISA Definition Study Report

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is the first scientific endeavour to detect and study gravitational waves from space. LISA will survey the sky for Gravitational Waves in the 0.1 mHz to 1 Hz frequency band which will enable the study of a vast number of objects ranging from Galactic binaries and stellar mass black holes in the Milky Way, to distant massive black-hole mergers and the expansion of the Universe. This definition study report, or Red Book, presents a summary of the very large body of work that has been undertaken on the LISA mission over the LISA definition phase.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Inference of multi-channel r-process element enrichment in the Milky Way using binary neutron star merger observations

Observations of GW170817 strongly suggest that binary neutron star (BNS) mergers produce rapid neutron-capture nucleosynthesis (r-process) elements. However, it remains an open question whether these mergers can account for all the r-process element enrichment in the Milky Way's history. Here, we constrain the contributions of the BNS channel using astrophysical neutron star observations. The rate and mass distributions are constrained by LIGO/Virgo/Kagra through the latest catalog GWTC-3, the neutron star equation of state by gravitational-wave, radio, and X-ray observations, and the delay time distribution by short gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxy associations. We present a Bayesian framework to consistently combine these lines of observations with abundance data to quantify the contribution and uncertainties of single and multiple astrophysical enrichment sources. Whereas we obtain a distribution of per-event BNS r-process element yields consistent with geophysical and astrophysical abundance constraints, BNS-only enrichment scenarios are inconsistent with the observed r-process abundance trend of disk stars in the Galaxy. Using stellar abundance observations instead of the short GRB constraints, we infer a shorter delay time distribution with power-law index $\alpha\leq -2.0$ and minimum delay time $t_{\rm min}\leq 40$ Myr at 90\% confidence. Such delay times are in tension with those predicted by standard BNS formation models. Alternatively, we confirm that a two-channel scenario, in which the second channel tracks the star formation history without significant delay, can account for both Galactic stellar and short GRB observations. We show that 45--90\% of the r-process abundance in the Milky Way today was produced by a star-formation-tracking channel, rather than BNS mergers with significant delay times.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Cosmography with next-generation gravitational wave detectors

Advancements in cosmology through next-generation ground-based gravitational wave observatories will bring in a paradigm shift. We explore the pivotal role that gravitational-wave standard sirens will play in inferring cosmological parameters with next-generation observatories, not only achieving exquisite precision but also opening up unprecedented redshifts. We examine the merits and the systematic biases involved in gravitational-wave standard sirens utilizing binary black holes, binary neutron stars, and neutron star-black hole mergers. Further, we estimate the precision of bright sirens, golden dark sirens, and spectral sirens for these binary coalescences and compare the abilities of various next-generation observatories (A^sharp, Cosmic Explorer, Einstein Telescope, and their possible networks). When combining different sirens, we find sub-percent precision over more than 10 billion years of cosmic evolution for the Hubble expansion rate $H(z)$. This work presents a broad view of opportunities to precisely measure the cosmic expansion rate, decipher the elusive dark energy and dark matter, and potentially discover new physics in the uncharted Universe with next-generation gravitational-wave detectors.

gr-qc↗