arXiv subjects

Lingqi Meng

Publications and source records attributed to Lingqi Meng.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A statistical theory of graph regularization for RNA velocity near developmental bifurcations

Graph-based regularization is widely used to stabilize noisy RNA-velocity estimates by encouraging transcriptionally similar cells to share similar velocity vectors. Near developmental bifurcations, however, proximity-based graphs may connect cells from distinct daughter lineages, reducing estimation variance at the cost of attenuating biologically meaningful lineage-specific dynamics. We formulate graph-regularized RNA velocity as a statistical estimation problem on a potentially misspecified cell-state graph and develop a theoretical framework for analyzing this trade-off. We derive an exact graph-spectral bias--variance decomposition that characterizes how Laplacian regularization suppresses estimation noise while introducing systematic smoothing bias. To quantify lineage preservation, we introduce a branch-sensitive risk that separates within-lineage denoising from cross-lineage information leakage. We further show that persistent cross-branch connectivity can induce nonvanishing branch bias, implying that standard proximity-graph regularization may remain asymptotically inconsistent near developmental bifurcations. These results provide a mathematical foundation for understanding both the statistical benefits and the geometric limitations of graph regularization for RNA-velocity estimation.

math.ST↗

arXiv2026

Decoding gene regulatory networks from single-cell RNA velocity

We formulate gene regulatory network reconstruction from RNA velocity as a sparse dynamical inverse problem. We show that control-only data can be structurally nonidentifying and characterize excitation conditions under which controlled perturbations restore identifiability by generating complementary regulator trajectories. To enable stable reconstruction from noisy data, we develop an integral sparse estimator that avoids numerical differentiation and derive recovery bounds separating stochastic error from systematic contributions due to latent-time uncertainty, kinetic-parameter error, numerical quadrature, and model misspecification. Synthetic experiments illustrate perturbation-assisted identifiability, improved conditioning, and the robustness of integral reconstruction. Applied to perturbation-resolved RPE1 RNA-velocity data, the framework yields an empirically full-rank design whose conditioning improves with perturbational diversity and a reconstructed network core stable under perturbation subsampling. Held-out evaluation further shows that identifiability and reconstruction stability do not imply uniform predictive improvement. These results connect perturbational excitation, identifiability, and stable sparse recovery in regulatory dynamical systems.

math.DS↗

arXiv2026

Probing Variations in Earth's Ionosphere Using Pulsars

We present high cadence 10-minute rotation measure (RM) monitoring of PSR~J0814+7429 using the LOw-Frequency ARray, aiming to probe ionospheric variability along the pulsar line of sight (LoS). By separating the ionospheric contribution from the observed RM, we quantitatively reconstruct the diurnal variation of the ionospheric electron density along the pulsar LoS based on the World Magnetic Model. The derived variations exhibit clear solar-driven modulation, including the ionospheric noontime bite-out phenomenon, and show good agreement with the LoS total electron content reconstructed from independent global vertical total electron content maps. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using pulsars as probes of temporal variations in the electron density of the Earth's ionosphere.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Improved proper motion and gravity tests with PSR J1913+1102

PSR J1913+1102 is a highly asymmetric double neutron star system and an excellent laboratory for testing scalar-tensor gravity theories, as well as a potential progenitor analogue of GW170817 that will merge in 470 Myr. We present an updated timing analysis combining 13 years of historical Arecibo observations and new FAST measurements, using two approaches to model dispersion-measure variations. The new timing solution provides precise measurements of four post-Keplerian parameters and improves the system mass estimates. Assuming general relativity and modelling the DM variation with a Gaussian process, we obtain a three-fold improvement in the total mass, m_{tot}=2.88948(20) M_\odot, and nearly four-fold improvements in the pulsar and companion masses, m_p=1.599(8) M_\odot and m_c=1.290(8) M_\odot, giving the mass ratio, q=0.807(8). We also measure an improved proper motion, \mu=7.71(25) mas yr^{-1}, enabling a more accurate correction of the observed orbital-period derivative. Combined with the improved orbital-decay measurement, this yields an intrinsic orbital-period derivative \dot{P}_b^{intr}=-4.60(6)\times10^{-13} s s^{-1}, five times more precise than the previous value and fully consistent with the general-relativistic prediction for gravitational-wave damping. The improved masses and precise \dot{P}*b^{intr} place stringent constraints on dipolar gravitational-wave emission and the spontaneous-scalarisation window around 1.6 M*\odot. The refined proper motion and mass measurements also provide tighter constraints on the final helium-star mass immediately prior to its core collapse and formation of the second NS in a supernova, as well as on the magnitude and direction of the associated natal kick of the DNS system.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

To understand the radiative processes of pulsars and fast radio bursts with the FAST

The radiative mechanism of coherent radio emission has remained an enigma since the discovery of pulsars, even the emergence of fast radio bursts (FRBs), which exhibit similarities to the single-pulse behavior of pulsars and have opened a new view for deciphering the long-standing mystery. Besides tremendous efforts in modelling, advanced facilities matter for solving the problem. The authors review the observational breakthroughs from the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), which are providing pivotal insights to unravel the underlying physics of pulsars and FRBs. This study offers a novel perspective in the era when pulsars meet FRBs, and further investigations are encouraged to utilize the highly sensitive telescope, the FAST.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Pulsar scintillation studies with LOFAR III. Annual variations in PSR~J0814$+$7429

The interstellar scintillation observed in radio pulsars arises from interference between electromagnetic waves scattered by electron density fluctuations in the turbulent interstellar plasma, providing a critical tool for probing the small-scale structure of the ionized interstellar medium and the pulsar system itself. The primary aim of this work is to study long-term scintillation variations for a bright and nearby pulsar, PSR J0814$+$7429, carried out from 2013 September to 2023 September with the LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) High Band Antennae in the frequency range of 120 - 170 MHz. We derive the basic scintillation parameters, scintillation bandwidth ($\Delta\nu_{\rm d}$) and scintillation timescale ($\Delta\tau_{\rm d}$), from the two-dimensional (2D) auto-covariance function of the dynamic spectra that are a 2D matrix of pulse intensity as a function of time and frequency. We present the long-term monitoring of $\Delta\nu_{\rm d}$ and $\Delta\tau_{\rm d}$ for PSR J0814$+7429$, which shows a strong annual variation in the time series of the $\Delta\tau_{\rm d}$. From our modeling of the annual variations of scintillation velocities, the scattering screen is anisotropic and located at $0.23\pm0.02$ kpc from the Earth, likely corresponding to the boundary of the Local Bubble.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Improving pulsar search efficiency in next-generation pulsar surveys with artificial intelligence

Pulsar searching with next-generation radio telescopes requires efficiently sifting through millions of candidates generated by search pipelines to identify the most promising ones. This challenge has motivated the utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools. In this work, we explore an optimized pulsar search pipeline that utilizes deep learning to sift ``snapshot'' candidates generated by folding de-dispersed time series data. This approach significantly accelerates the search process by reducing the time spent on the folding step. We also developed a script to generate simulated pulsars for benchmarking and model fine-tuning. The benchmark analysis used the NGC 5904 globular cluster data and simulated pulsar data, showing that our pipeline reduces candidate folding time by a factor of $\sim$10 and achieves 100% recall by recovering all known detectable pulsars in the restricted parameter space. We also tested the speed-up using data of known pulsars from a single observation in the Southern-sky MWA Rapid Two-metre (SMART) survey, achieving a conservatively estimated speed-up factor of 60 in the folding step over a large parameter space. We tested the model's ability to classify pulsar candidates using real data collected from the FAST, GBT, MWA, Arecibo, and Parkes, demonstrating that our method can be generalized to different telescopes. The results show that the optimized pipeline identifies pulsars with an accuracy of 0.983 and a recall of 0.9844 on the real dataset. This approach can be used to improve the processing efficiency for the SMART and is also relevant for future SKA pulsar surveys.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Detecting FRB by DANCE: a method based on DEnsity ANalysis and Cluster Extraction

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are transient signals exhibiting diverse strengths and emission bandwidths. Traditional single-pulse search techniques are widely employed for FRB detection; yet weak, narrow-band bursts often remain undetectable due to low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) in integrated profiles. We developed DANCE, a detection tool based on cluster analysis of the original spectrum. It is specifically designed to detect and isolate weak, narrow-band FRBs, providing direct visual identification of their emission properties. This method performs density clustering on reconstructed, RFI-cleaned observational data, enabling the extraction of targeted clusters in time-frequency domain that correspond to the genuine FRB emission range. Our simulations show that DANCE successfully extracts all true signals with SNR~>5 and achieves a detection precision exceeding 93%. Furthermore, through the practical detection of FRB 20201124A, DANCE has demonstrated a significant advantage in finding previously undetectable weak bursts, particularly those with distinct narrow-band features or occurring in proximity to stronger bursts.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

The double neutron star PSR J1946+2052 I. Masses and tests of general relativity

We conducted high-precision timing of PSR J1946+2052 to determine the masses of the two neutron stars in the system, test general relativity (GR) and assessed the system's potential for future measurement of the moment of inertia of the pulsar. We analysed seven years of timing data from the Arecibo 305-m radio telescope, the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), and the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The data processing accounted for dispersion measure variations and relativistic spin precession-induced profile evolution. We employed both DDFWHE and DDGR binary models to measure the spin parameters, kinematic parameters and orbital parameters. The timing campaign has resulted in the precise measurement of five post-Keplerian parameters, which yield very precise masses for the system and three tests of general relativity. One of these is the second most precise test of the radiative properties of gravity to date: the intrinsic orbital decay, $\dot{P}_{\rm b,int}=-1.8288(16)\times10^{-12}\rm\,s\,s^{-1}$, represents $1.00005(91)$ of the GR prediction, indicating that the theory has passed this stringent test. The other two tests, of the Shapiro delay parameters, have precisions of 6\% and 5\% respectively; this is caused by the moderate orbital inclination of the system, $\sim 74^{\circ}$; the measurements of the Shapiro delay parameters also agree with the GR predictions. Additionally, we analysed the higher-order contributions of $\dot{\omega}$, including the Lense-Thirring contribution. Both the second post-Newtonian and the Lense-Thirring contributions are larger than the current uncertainty of $\dot{\omega}$ ($\delta\dot{\omega}=4\times10^{-4}\,\rm deg\,yr^{-1}$), leading to the higher-order correction for the total mass.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Polarization Calibration of the FAST L-band 19-beam Receiver: I. On-axis Mueller Matrix Parameters

We present the polarization calibration of the 19-beam receiver at 1420 MHz within the full illumination of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope from October 2018 to March 2023. We perform spider observations to characterize the on-axis Mueller matrix of the central beam. The calibrated polarization percentage and polarization angle of a source with strong linear polarization emission are about 0.2\% and 0.5$^{\circ}$. Several parameters of the central-beam Mueller matrix show time variability from months to years, suggesting relatively frequent polarization calibrations are needed. We obtain the Mueller matrix parameters of the 18 off-center beams with the combination of on-the-fly observations and spider observations. The polarization calibration provides consistent fractional Stokes parameters of the 19 beams, although the Mueller matrix parameters of the off-center beams are not as accurate as those of the central beam. The Mueller matrix parameters of the central beam do not show a strong dependence on the reflector surface. However, we notice different off-center Mueller matrix parameters between the eastern and western sides of the reflector surface. We provide average parameters of the 19-beam Mueller matrices which should be applicable to observations from 2020 to 2022 with several caveats. After applying the average parameters, on-axis fractional linear polarization measurements $\gtrsim$ 10\% and on-axis fractional circular polarization measurements $\gtrsim$ 1.5\% can be considered high-confidence detections. For sources with weak polarization, timely polarization calibrations using spider observations are required.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2024

A 44-minute periodic radio transient in a supernova remnant

Long-period radio transients (LPTs) are a newly discovered class of radio emitters with periods ranging from minutes to hours. The astrophysical nature remains undetermined, particularly of LPTs with no detectable companions. We report the first evidence for a plausible supernova remnant (SNR) association with an LPT (DART J1832-0911, 2656.23+-0.15 s period), which supports a neutron star origin of such objects. The dispersion measure of this LPT, SNR's CO emission and HI absorption, and low probability of chance of alignment with field pulsars are all consistent with such an association. The source displays either phase-locked circular or nearly 100\% linear polarization, indicating its strong and geometrically stable magnetic field. No detectable optical counterpart was found, even with a 10m-class telescope. The SNR association and the stable polarization suggest that DART J1832-0911 most likely originates from a young neutron star, whose spin could have been braked by supernova's fallback materials. This discovery provides critical insights into the nature of ultra-long period transients and their link to stellar remnants.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

The Relativistic Spin Precession in the Compact Double Neutron Star System PSR~J1946+2052

We observe systematic profile changes in the visible pulsar of the compact double neutron star system PSR~J1946+2052 using observations with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The interpulse of PSR~J1946+2052 changed from single-peak to double-peak shape from 2018 to 2021. We attribute this evolution as the result of the relativistic spin precession of the pulsar. With the high sensitivity of FAST, we also measure significant polarization for the first time, allowing us to model this with the precessional rotating vector model. Assuming, to the first order, a circular hollow-cone-like emission beam pattern and taking the validity of general relativity, we derive the binary's orbital inclination angle (${63^\circ}^{+5^\circ}_{-3^\circ}$) and pulsar's spin geometry. Pulsar's spin vector and the orbital angular momentum vector are found to be only slightly misaligned (${0.21^\circ}^{+0.28^\circ}_{-0.10^\circ}$).The quoted uncertainties do not reflect the systematic uncertainties introduced by our model assumptions. By simulating future observations of profile and polarization evolution, we estimate that we could constrain the precession rate within a $43\%$ uncertainty in 9 years. Hence, we suggest that the system's profile evolution could be combined with precise pulsar timing to test general relativity in the future.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

A radio pulsar phase from SGR J1935+2154 provides clues to the magnetar FRB mechanism

The megajansky radio burst, FRB 20200428, and other bright radio bursts detected from the Galactic source SGR J1935+2154 suggest that magnetars can make fast radio bursts (FRBs), but the emission site and mechanism of FRB-like bursts are still unidentified. Here we report the emergence of a radio pulsar phase of the magnetar five months after FRB 20200428. 795 pulses were detected in 16.5 hours over 13 days by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio telescope, with luminosities about eight decades fainter than FRB 20200428. The pulses were emitted in a narrow phase window anti-aligned with the X-ray pulsation profile observed by the X-ray telescopes. The bursts, conversely, appear in random phases. This dichotomy suggests that radio pulses originate from a fixed region within the magnetosphere, but bursts occur in random locations and are possibly associated with explosive events in a dynamically evolving magnetosphere. This picture reconciles the lack of periodicity in cosmological repeating FRBs within the magnetar engine model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

High-altitude Magnetospheric Emissions from Two Pulsars

We discover three new weak pulse components in two known pulsars, one in PSR J0304+1932 and two in PSR J1518+4904. These components are emitted about half way between the main emission beam and the interpulse beam (beam from the opposite pole). They are separated from their main pulse peak by $99^{\circ}\pm{3}^{\circ}$ for J0304+1932, $123^{\circ}.6\pm{0^{\circ}.7}$ (leading) and $93^{^{\circ}}\pm 0^{\circ}.4$ (trailing) for J1518+4904, respectively. Their peak-intensity ratios to main pulses are: $\sim$ 0.06% for J0304+1932, $\sim$ 0.17% and $\sim$ 0.83% for J1518+4904. We also analyzed flux fluctuation and profile variation of the emissions for two pulsars. The results show correlations between the weak pulses and their main pulses, indicating that these emissions come from the same pole. We estimated the emission altitude of these weak pulses and derived a height of about half of the pulsar's light-cylinder radius. These pulse components are a unique sample of high-altitude emissions from pulsars, and challenge the current pulsar emission models.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Perturbation theory for evolution of cooperation on networks

Network structure is a mechanism for promoting cooperation in social dilemma games. In the present study, we explore graph surgery, i.e., to slightly perturb the given network, towards a network that better fosters cooperation. To this end, we develop a perturbation theory to assess the change in the propensity of cooperation when we add or remove a single edge to/from the given network. Our perturbation theory is for a previously proposed random-walk-based theory that provides the threshold benefit-to-cost ratio, $(b/c)^*$, which is the value of the benefit-to-cost ratio in the donation game above which the cooperator is more likely to fixate than in a control case, for any finite networks. We find that $(b/c)^*$ decreases when we remove a single edge in a majority of cases and that our perturbation theory captures at a reasonable accuracy which edge removal makes $(b/c)^*$ small to facilitate cooperation. In contrast, $(b/c)^*$ tends to increase when we add an edge, and the perturbation theory is not good at predicting the edge addition that changes $(b/c)^*$ by a large amount. Our perturbation theory significantly reduces the computational complexity for calculating the outcome of graph surgery.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2023

Categorize Radio Interference using component and temporal analysis

Radio frequency interference (RFI) is a significant challenge faced by today's radio astronomers. While most past efforts were devoted to cleaning the RFI from the data, we develop a novel method for categorizing and cataloguing RFI for forensic purpose. We present a classifier that categorizes RFI into different types based on features extracted using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Fourier analysis. The classifier can identify narrowband non-periodic RFI above 2 sigma, narrowband periodic RFI above 3 sigma, and wideband impulsive RFI above 5 sigma with F1 scores between 0.87 and 0.91 in simulation. This classifier could be used to identify the sources of RFI as well as to clean RFI contamination (particularly in pulsar search). In the long-term analysis of the categorized RFI, we found a special type of drifting periodic RFI that is detrimental to pulsar search. We also found evidences of an increased rate of impulsive RFI when the telescope is pointing toward the cities. These results demonstrate this classifier's potential as a forensic tool for RFI environment monitoring of radio telescopes.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

An extremely active repeating fast radio burst source in a likely non-magneto-ionic environment

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright radio bursts originating at cosmological distances. Only three repeating FRBs FRB 20121102A, FRB 20190520B and FRB 20201124A among $\sim$ 60 known repeating FRBs have circular polarization. We observed the FRB 20220912A with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at L-band on 24 October 2022 and detected 128 bursts in 1.4 hours, corresponding to a burst rate of about 90 hr$^{-1}$, which is the highest yet for FRBs observed by the GBT. The average rotation measure (RM) was $-$0.4$\pm$0.3$\,$rad$\,$m$^{-2}$ with negligible intraday RM change, indicating a likely non-magneto-ionic environment. 61% bursts have linear polarization fraction greater than 90%. Approximately 56% of the bright bursts have circular polarization. A downward drift in frequency and polarization angle swings were found in our sample. The characterization of FRB 20220912A indicates that the circular polarization is unlikely to be caused by the magneto-ionic environment for at least some of the repeating FRB population.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Cooperation and the social brain hypothesis in primate social networks

The social brain hypothesis states that the relative size of the neocortex is larger for species with higher social complexity as a result of evolution. Various lines of empirical evidence have supported the social brain hypothesis, including evidence from the structure of social networks. Social complexity may itself positively impact cooperation among individuals, which occurs across different animal taxa and is a key behavior for successful group living. Theoretical research has shown that particular structures of social networks foster cooperation more easily than others. Therefore, we hypothesized that species with a relatively large neocortex tend to form social networks that better enable cooperation. In the present study, we combine data on brain and body mass, data on social networks, and theory on the evolution of cooperation on networks to test this hypothesis in primates. We have found a positive effect of brain size on cooperation in social networks even after controlling for the effect of other structural properties of networks that are known to promote cooperation.

physics.soc-ph↗