arXiv subjects

Huaizhen Li

Publications and source records attributed to Huaizhen Li.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Joint Multi-Period Fermi-LAT and LHAASO Constraints on Axion-Like Particles from Mrk 421 Using Profile Likelihood with Gaussian Copula Correlation

We propose a joint multi-epoch profile-likelihood analysis of axion-like particles (ALPs) using five sets of simultaneous Fermi-LAT and LHAASO observations of the TeV blazar Mrk 421. Photon-ALP oscillations are calculated self-consistently together with EBL absorption for two representative jet emission models: a two-zone hybrid model and a single-zone hadronic model. To account for weak correlations among different observational epochs, we introduce a Gaussian copula with a conservative correlation coefficient $ρ= 0.03$ and perform a global optimization of nuisance parameters under the no-ALP hypothesis before profiling the ALP parameters. In the low-mass regime relevant to CAST ($m_a \lesssim 1$ neV), we obtain a 95\% CL upper limit of $g_{aγ} = 7.46 \times 10^{-13}\,\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$. Over the full mass range $0.1$--$500$ neV, the most conservative 95\% CL upper limits are $g_{aγ} < 6.50 \times 10^{-12}\,\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$ (two-zone) and $g_{aγ} < 7.34 \times 10^{-12}\,\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$ (single-zone). These constraints benefit from the broadband VHE coverage and long-term monitoring provided by LHAASO. The analysis framework developed here offers a statistically consistent approach for future ALP searches with multi-messenger gamma-ray data.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Revisiting Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Absorption in Cosmic Propagation under the Combined Effects of Axion-Like Particles and Lorentz Invariance Violation

Very-high-energy (VHE; $E \gtrsim 100$ GeV) gamma rays are expected to experience strong attenuation during cosmological propagation due to electron-positron pair production on the extragalactic background light (EBL). Recent observations of GRB 221009A (z = 0.151), including photons up to $\sim 18$ detected by LHAASO and a $\sim 300\ \mathrm{TeV}$ event reported by Carpet-3, suggest a higher-than-expected transparency of the Universe at extreme energies. These observations cannot be explained by standard EBL absorption alone; moreover, neither Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) nor photon-axion-like particle (ALP) oscillations, when considered in isolation, appear sufficient to account for the survival of such photons over cosmological distances. In this work, we propose a joint propagation scenario that incorporates photon-ALP mixing in astrophysical magnetic fields together with subluminal quadratic LIV corrections to the $γγ$ pair-production threshold. Applying this framework to the broadband gamma-ray spectrum of GRB 221009A, we show that ALPs with coupling ($g_{aγ} = 1.685 \times 10^{-10}\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$ ) and mass ($m_a = 9.545 \times 10^{-8}\mathrm{eV}$), combined with a quadratic LIV energy scale ($E_{\rm LIV,2} = 1.30 \times 10^{-7} E_{\rm Pl}$) adopted from the literature, can significantly enhance the photon survival probability in the energy range (10\text{-}300) TeV. The resulting enhancement exceeds that obtained from either ALP mixing or LIV effects alone. These results indicate that a combined ALP-LIV scenario may provide a viable interpretation of the extreme-energy gamma-ray observations of GRB 221009A and highlight the potential of VHE gamma-ray measurements as probes of physics beyond the Standard Model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Constraints on Extragalactic Background Light using TeV Observations of BL Lacertae objects

The extragalactic background light (EBL) in the IR to UV bands partly absorbs very high energy (VHE, $E \geq$ 100GeV) $γ-$ray photons travelling over cosmological distances via pair production. In this paper, to get stronger constraints on EBL, we use the deliberate selection of the EBL model and data of five BL Lacs with better statistics and the harder spectra to limit the EBL density and the radiation mechanism of BL Lacs. We constrain the upper limit of the EBL density by fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of TeV BL Lacs and find that our results are compatible with the published measurement, reaching 50 $\rm{nW m^{-2} sr^{-1}}$. We also obtain that the EBL is not necessarily transparent to high VHE photons. We fix the intrinsic spectral index $Γ_i$ of TeV BL Lacs as 1.0 and 1.5 under observation evidence and model assumption. Comparing the EBL density given by galaxy count and $Spitzer$ observations, we then obtain that 1ES 1101-232 has $Γ_i$ $\leq$ 1.0 and 1ES 0229+200 should have $Γ_i$ not harder than 1.0. We demonstrate that the common radiation assumption of BL Lacs, in which the $Γ_i$ is softer than 1.5, should be revisited. Furthermore, we propose that the upper EBL density could be given by fitting the hardest energy spectra of TeV BL Lacs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Studies of Extragalactic Background Light with TeV BL Lac Objects

Very high energy (VHE; $E \geq$ 100GeV) $γ-$ray from cosmological distances are attenuated by the extragalactic background light (EBL) in the IR to UV band. By contrasting measured versus intrinsic emission, the EBL photon density can be derived. However, neither the intrinsic spectra nor the EBL is separately known~-~except their combined effect. Here we first present a flexible model-dependent optical depth method to study EBL by fitting the emission spectra of TeV BL Lacs objects via a one-zone leptonic synchrotron self-Compton model (SSC). We have little information about electron energy distributions (EEDs) in the jet, which is critically important to build spectral energy distributions (SEDs) in SSC scenario. Based on the current particle acceleration models, we use two types of EEDs, i,e., a power-law log-parabola (PLLP) EED and a broken power-law (BPL) EED to fit the observed spectra. We obtain that the upper limits of EBL density are around about 30 n W m$^{-2}$ sr$^{-1}$, which are similar to the published measurement. Furthermore, we propose an unprecedented method to test radiation mechanisms involved in TeV objects by simply comparing the reduced EBL density with the limit obtained by galaxy counts, and demonstrate that for some BL Lacs, at least, the one-zone SSC model should be reconsidered.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

The gamma-ray and Optical Variability Analysis of the BL Lac Object 3FGL J0449.4-4350

We have assembled the historical light curves of the BL Lac Object 3FGL J0449.4-4350 at optical and gamma-ray bands, the time spanning about 10 years, analyzed the periodic variability of the light curves by using four different methods (Lomb-Scargle periodogram, REDFIT38, Jurkevich and DACF). We detected a marginally possible quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) of ~450 days. Assuming it originates from the helical motion jet in a supermassive binary black hole (SMBBH) system undergoing major merger, we estimate the primary black hole mass M~7.7*10^{9} M_sun. To explore the origin of the gamma-ray, we investigated the optical-gamma-ray correlations using discrete correlation function (DCF) method, and found that the correlation between the two bands is very significant. This strong correlation tends to imply lepton self-synchro-Compton (LSSC) model to produce the gamma-ray.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

The Broad Band Spectral Energy Distributions of SDSS Blazars

We compiled the radio, optical, and X-ray data of blazars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) database, and presented the distribution of luminosities and broad band spectral indices. The distribution of luminosities shows that the averaged luminosity of flat-spectral radio quasars (FSRQs) is larger than that of BL Lacs objects. On the other hand, the broad band spectral energy distribution reveals that FSRQs and low energy peaked BL Lac objects (LBLs) objects have similar spectral properties, but high energy peaked BL Lac objects (HBLs) have a distinct spectral property. This may be due to that different subclasses of blazars have different intrinsic environments and are at different cooling levels. Even so, a unified scheme also is revealed from the color-color diagram, which hints that there are similar physical processes operating in all objects under a range of intrinsic physical conditions or beaming parameter.

astro-ph.HE↗