arXiv subjects

Qiang Yuan

Publications and source records attributed to Qiang Yuan.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Implications of the Tentative Association between GW150914 and a {\it Fermi}-GBM Transient

The merger-driven Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) and their associated gravitational wave (GW) radiation, if both successfully detected, have some far-reaching implications, including for instance: (i) The statistical comparison of the physical properties of the short/long-short GRBs with and without GW detection can test the general origin model; (ii) Revealing the physical processes taking place at the central engine; (iii) Measuring the velocity of the Gravitational wave directly/accurately. In this work we discuss these implications in the case of possible association of GW150914/ GBM transient 150914. We compared GBM transient 150914 with other SGRBs and found that such an event {may be} a distinct outlier in some statistical diagrams, possibly due to its specific binary-black-hole merger origin. However, the presence of a "new" group of SGRBs with "unusual" physical parameters is also possible. If the outflow of GBM transient 150914 was launched by the accretion onto the nascent black hole, the magnetic activity rather than the neutrino process is likely responsible for the energy extraction and the accretion disk mass is estimated to be $\sim 10^{-5}~M_\odot$. The GW150914/GBM transient 150914 association, {if confirmed, would} provide the first opportunity to directly measure the GW velocity and its departure from the speed of the light {should be within} a factor of $\sim 10^{-17}$.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Catching jetted tidal disruption events early in millimetre

Relativistic jets can form from at least some tidal disruption events (TDEs) of (sub-)stellar objects around supermassive black holes. We detect the millimeter (MM) emission of IGR J12580+0134 --- the nearest TDE known in the galaxy NGC 4845 at the distance of only 17 Mpc, based on Planck all-sky survey data. The data show significant flux jumps after the event, followed by substantial declines, in all six high frequency Planck bands from 100 GHz to 857 GHz. We further show that the evolution of the MM flux densities are well consistent with our model prediction from an off-axis jet, as was initially suggested from radio and X-ray observations. This detection represents the second TDE with MM detections; the other is Sw J1644+57, an on-axis jetted TDE at redshift of 0.35. Using the on- and off-axis jet models developed for these two TDEs as templates, we estimate the detection potential of similar events with the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Assuming an exposure of one hour, we find that the LMT (ALMA) can detect jetted TDEs up to redshifts $z\sim1$ (2), for a typical disrupted star mass of $\sim1$ M$_\odot$. The detection rates of on- and off-axis TDEs can be as high as $\sim0.6$ (13) and 10 (220) per year, respectively, for the LMT (ALMA). We briefly discuss how such observations, together with follow-up radio monitoring, may lead to major advances in understanding the jetted TDEs themselves and the ambient environment of the CNM.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

Expectation on Observation of Supernova Remnants with the LHAASO Project

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are believed to be the most important acceleration sites for cosmic rays (CRs) below $\sim10^{15}$ eV in the Galaxy. High energy photons, either directly from the shocks of the SNRs or indirectly from the interaction between SNRs and the nearby clouds, are crucial probes for the CR acceleration. Big progresses on observations of SNRs have been achieved by space- and ground-based $γ$-ray facilities. However, whether $γ$-rays come from accelerated hadrons or not, as well as their connection with the CRs observed at Earth, remains in debate. Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), the next generation experiment, is designed to survey the northern part of the very high energy $γ$-ray sky from $\sim 0.3$ TeV to PeV with the sensitivity of $\lesssim1\%$ of the Crab nebula flux. In this paper, we indicate that LHAASO will be dedicated to enlarging the $γ$-ray SNR samples and improving the spectral and morphological measurements. These measurements, especially at energies above 30 TeV, will be important for us to finally understand the CR acceleration in SNRs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Perspective of monochromatic gamma-ray line detection with the High Energy cosmic-Radiation Detection (HERD) facility onboard China's Space Station

HERD is the High Energy cosmic-Radiation Detection instrument proposed to operate onboard China's space station in the 2020s. It is designed to detect energetic cosmic ray nuclei, leptons and photons with a high energy resolution ($\sim1\%$ for electrons and photons and $20\%$ for nuclei) and a large geometry factor ($>3\,{ m^2\,sr}$ for electrons and diffuse photons and $>2\,{ m^2\,sr}$ for nuclei). In this work we discuss the capability of HERD to detect monochromatic $γ$-ray lines, based on simulations of the detector performance. It is shown that HERD will be one of the most sensitive instruments for monochromatic $γ$-ray searches at energies between $\sim10$ to a few hundred GeV. Above hundreds of GeV, Cherenkov telescopes will be more sensitive due to their large effective area. As a specific example, we show that a good portion of the parameter space of a supersymmetric dark matter model can be probed with HERD.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

A GeV source in the direction of Supernova Remnant CTB 37B

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are the most attractive candidates for the acceleration sites of Galactic cosmic rays. We report the detection of GeV $γ$-ray emission with the Pass 8 events recorded by Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) in the vicinity of the shell type SNR CTB 37B that is likely associated with the TeV $γ-$ray source HESS J1713-381. The photon spectrum of CTB 37B is consistent with a power-law with an index of $1.89\pm0.08$ in the energy range of $0.5-500$ GeV, and the measured flux connects smoothly with that of HESS J1713-381 at a few hundred GeV. No significant spatial extension and time variation are detected. The multi-wavelength data can be well fitted with either a leptonic model or a hadronic one. However, parameters of both models suggest more efficient particle acceleration than typical SNRs. Meanwhile, the X-ray and $γ$-ray spectral properties of CTB 37B show that it is an interesting source bridging young SNRs dominated by non-thermal emission and old SNRs interacting with molecular clouds.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

A Systematic Chandra study of Sgr A$^{\star}$: I. X-ray flare detection

Daily X-ray flaring represents an enigmatic phenomenon of Sgr A$^{\star}$ --- the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy. We report initial results from a systematic X-ray study of this phenomenon, based on extensive {\it Chandra} observations obtained from 1999 to 2012, totaling about 4.5 Ms. We detect flares, using a combination of the maximum likelihood and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, which allow for a direct accounting for the pile-up effect in the modeling of the flare lightcurves and an optimal use of the data, as well as the measurements of flare parameters, including their uncertainties. A total of 82 flares are detected. About one third of them are relatively faint, which were not detected previously. The observation-to-observation variation of the quiescent emission has an average root-mean-square of $6\%-14\%$, including the Poisson statistical fluctuation of faint flares below our detection limits. We find no significant long-term variation in the quiescent emission and the flare rate over the 14 years. In particular, we see no evidence of changing quiescent emission and flare rate around the pericenter passage of the S2 star around 2002. We show clear evidence of a short-term clustering for the ACIS-S/HETG 0th-order flares on time scale of $20-70$ ks. We further conduct detailed simulations to characterize the detection incompleteness and bias, which is critical to a comprehensive follow-up statistical analysis of flare properties. These studies together will help to establish Sgr A$^{\star}$ as a unique laboratory to understand the astrophysics of prevailing low-luminosity black holes in the Universe.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

IGR J12580+0134: The First Tidal Disruption Event with an Off-beam Relativistic Jet

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can capture and tidally disrupt stars or sub-stellar objects orbiting nearby. The detections of Sw J1644+57-like events suggest that at least some TDEs can launch a relativistic jet beaming towards Earth. A natural expectation would be the existence of TDEs with a relativistic jet beaming away from Earth. The nearby TDE candidate IGR J12580+0134 provides new insights into the jet phenomenon. Combining several constraints, we find that the event invokes a $8-40$ Jupiter mass object tidally disrupted by a $3 \times 10^5 - 1.8 \times 10^7 M_\sun$ SMBH. Recently, a bright radio transient was discovered by Irwin et al. in association with IGR J12580+0134. We perform detailed modeling of the event based on a numerical jet model previously developed for the radio emission of Sw J1644+57. We find that the radio data of IGR J12580+0134 can be interpreted within an external forward shock model in the Newtonian regime. Using Sw J1644+57 as a template and properly correcting for its luminosity, we argue that the observed X-ray flux in early times is too faint to allow an on-beam relativistic jet unless the Lorentz factor is very small. Rather, the X-ray emission is likely from the disk or corona near the black hole. From various constraints, we find that the data are consistent with an off-beam relativistic jet with a viewing angle $θ_{\rm obs} \gtrsim 30^{\rm o}$, and an initial Lorentz factor $Γ_j \gtrsim $ a few.This scenario can readily be tested in the upcoming VLBI observations.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Statistics of X-ray flares of Sagittarius A*: evidence for solar-like self-organized criticality phenomenon

X-ray flares have routinely been observed from the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A$^\star$ (Sgr A$^\star$), at our Galactic center. The nature of these flares remains largely unclear, despite of many theoretical models. In this paper, we study the statistical properties of the Sgr A$^\star$ X-ray flares, by fitting the count rate (CR) distribution and the structure function (SF) of the light curve with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. With the 3 million second \textit{Chandra} observations accumulated in the Sgr A$^\star$ X-ray Visionary Project, we construct the theoretical light curves through Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the $2-8$ keV X-ray light curve can be decomposed into a quiescent component with a constant count rate of $\sim6\times10^{-3}~$count s$^{-1}$ and a flare component with a power-law fluence distribution $dN/dE\propto E^{-α_{\rm E}}$ with $α_{\rm E}=1.65\pm0.17$. The duration-fluence correlation can also be modelled as a power-law $T\propto E^{α_{\rm ET}}$ with $α_{\rm ET} < 0.55$ ($95\%$ confidence). These statistical properties are consistent with the theoretical prediction of the self-organized criticality (SOC) system with the spatial dimension $S = 3$. We suggest that the X-ray flares represent plasmoid ejections driven by magnetic reconnection (similar to solar flares) in the accretion flow onto the black hole.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Systematic study of the uncertainties in fitting the cosmic positron data by AMS-02

The operation of AMS-02 opens a new era for the study of cosmic ray physics with unprecedentedly precise data which are comparable with the laboratory measurements. The high precision data allow a quantitative study on the cosmic ray physics and give strict constraints on the nature of cosmic ray sources. However, the intrinsic errors from the theoretical models to interpret the data become dominant over the errors in the data. In the present work we try to give a systematic study on the uncertainties of the models to explain the AMS-02 positron fraction data, which shows the cosmic ray $e^+e^-$ excesses together with the PAMELA and Fermi-LAT measurements. The excesses can be attributed to contributions from the extra $e^+e^-$ sources, such as pulsars or the dark matter annihilation. The possible systematic uncertainties of the theoretical models considered include the cosmic ray propagation, the treatment of the low energy data, the solar modulation, the $pp$ interaction models, the nuclei injection spectrum and so on. We find that in general a spectral hardening of the primary electron injection spectrum above $\sim50-100$ GeV is favored by the data. Furthermore, the present model uncertainties may lead to a factor of $\sim2$ enlargement in the determination of the parameter regions of the extra source, such as the dark matter mass, annihilation rate and so on.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Quantitative study of the AMS-02 electron/positron spectra: implications for the pulsar and dark matter properties

The AMS-02 has just published the unprecedentedly precise measurement of the cosmic electron and positron spectra. In this paper we try to give a quantitative study on the AMS-02 results by a global fitting to the electron and positron spectra, together with the updated positron fraction data. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm is adopted to do the fitting. The primary electron spectrum and the parameters for pulsars or dark matter which contribute extra positrons are determined simultaneously. We find that there is a hardening of the primary electron spectrum at $\sim 60$ GeV. With such a new feature at the background spectrum both the pulsars and dark matter can explain the AMS-02 results very well. The dark matter scenario shows a drop at positron fraction at $\sim 300$ GeV, however, suffers very strong constraints from Fermi $γ$-ray observations. The fitting results also suggest that the propagation model with convection may be more favored by the lepton data than the reacceleration model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Testing the millisecond pulsar scenario of the Galactic center gamma-ray excess with very high energy gamma-rays

The recent analyses of the Fermi Large Area Telescope data show an extended GeV $γ$-ray excess on top of the expected diffuse background in the Galactic center region, which can be explained with annihilating dark matter or a population of millisecond pulsars (MSPs). We propose to observe the very high energy $γ$-rays for distinguishing the MSP scenario from the dark matter scenario. The GeV $γ$-ray MSPs should release most energy to the relativistic $e^{\pm}$ wind, which will diffuse in the Galaxy and radiate TeV $γ$-rays through inverse Compton scattering and bremsstrahlung processes. By calculating the spectrum and spatial distribution, we show that such emission is detectable with the next generation very high energy $γ$-ray observatory, the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), under reasonable model parameters. It is essential to search for the multi-wavelength counterparts to the GeV $γ$-ray excess for solving this mystery in the high energy universe.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Status of Dark Matter Detection

The detection of dark matter has made great progresses in recent years. We give a brief review on the status and progress in dark matter detection, including the progresses in direct detection, collider detection at LHC and focus on the indirect detection. The results from PAMELA, ATIC, Fermi-LAT and relevant studies on these results are introduced. Then we give the progress on indirect detection of gamma rays from Fermi-LAT and ground based Cerenkov telescopes. Finally the detection of neutrinos and constraints on the nature of dark matter are reviewed briefly.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Hybrid model of GeV-TeV gamma ray emission from Galactic Center

The observations of high energy $γ$-ray emission from the Galactic center (GC) by HESS, and recently by Fermi, suggest the cosmic ray acceleration in the GC and possibly around the supermassive black hole. In this work we propose a lepton-hadron hybrid model to explain simultaneously the GeV-TeV $γ$-ray emission. Both electrons and hadronic cosmic rays were accelerated during the past activity of the GC. Then these particles would diffuse outwards and interact with the interstellar gas and background radiation field. The collisions between hadronic cosmic rays with gas is responsible to the TeV $γ$-ray emission detected by HESS. With fast cooling in the strong radiation field, the electrons would cool down and radiate GeV photons through inverse Compton scattering off the soft background photons. This scenario provides a natural explanation of the observed GeV-TeV spectral shape of $γ$-rays.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Millisecond pulsar interpretation of the Galactic center gamma-ray excess

It was found in the Fermi-LAT data that there is an extended $γ$-ray excess in the Galactic center region. The proposed sources to be responsible for the excess include the dark matter annihilation or an astrophysical alternative from a population of millisecond pulsars (MSPs). Whether or not the MSP scenario can explain the data self-consistently has very important implications for the detection of particle dark matter, which is however, subject to debate in the literature. In this work we study the MSP scenario in detail, based on the detected properties of the MSPs by Fermi-LAT. We build a model of the Milky Way MSPs which can reproduce the $γ$-ray properties of the Fermi-LAT MSPs, and derive the intrinsic luminosity function of the MSPs. The model is then applied to a bulge population of MSPs. We find that the extended $γ$-ray excess can be well explained by the bulge MSPs without violating the detectable flux distribution of MSPs by Fermi-LAT. The spatial distribution of the bulge MSPs as implied by the distribution of low mass X-ray binaries follows a $r^{-2.4}$ profile, which is also consistent with the $γ$-ray excess data. We conclude that the MSP model can explain the Galactic center $γ$-ray excess self-consistently, satisfying all the current observational constraints.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Fermi Large Area Telescope Detection of Supernova Remnant RCW 86

Using $5.4$ year Fermi-LAT data, we report the detection of GeV $γ$-ray emission from the shell-type supernova remnant RCW 86 (G315.4-2.3) with a significance of $\sim5.1σ$. The data slightly favors an extended emission of this supernova remnant. The spectral index of RCW 86 is found to be very hard, $Γ\sim1.4$, in the $0.4$ to $300$ GeV range. A one zone leptonic model can well fit the multi-wavelength data from radio to very high energy $γ$-rays. The very hard GeV $γ$-ray spectrum and the inferred low gas density seem to disfavor the hadronic origin of the $γ$-rays. The $γ$-ray behavior of RCW 86 is very similar to several other TeV shell-type supernova remnants, e.g., RX J1713.7-3946, RX J0852.0-4622, SN 1006 and HESS J1731-347.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

An Updated Analysis of Inert Higgs Doublet Model in light of the Recent Results from LUX, PLANCK, AMS-02 and LHC

In light of the recent discovery by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of a Higgs-like particle with a narrow mass range of 125-126 GeV, we perform an updated analysis on one of the popular scalar dark matter models, the Inert Higgs Doublet Model (IHDM). We take into account in our likelihood analysis of various experimental constraints, including recent relic density measurement, dark matter direct and indirect detection constraints as well as the latest collider constraints on the invisible decay width of the Higgs boson and monojet search at the LHC. It is shown that if the invisible decay of the standard model Higgs boson is open, LHC as well as direct detection experiments like LUX and XENON100 could put stringent limits on the Higgs boson couplings to dark matter. We find that the most favoured parameter space for IHDM corresponds to dark matter with a mass less than 100 GeV or so. In particular, the best-fit points are at the dark matter mass around 70 GeV where the invisible Higgs decay to dark matter is closed. Scalar dark matter in the higher mass range of 0.5-4 TeV is also explored in our study. Projected sensitivities for the future experiments of monojet at LHC-14, XENON1T and AMS-02 one year antiproton flux are shown to put further constraints on the existing parameter space of IHDM.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Fermi Large Area Telescope observations of the supernova remnant HESS J1731-347

Context: HESS J1731-347 has been identified as one of the few TeV-bright shell-type supernova remnants (SNRs). These remnants are dominated by nonthermal emission, and the nature of TeV emission has been continuously debated for nearly a decade. Aims: We carry out the detailed modeling of the radio to gamma-ray spectrum of HESS J1731-347 to constrain the magnetic field and energetic particles sources, which we compare with those of the other TeV-bright shell-type SNRs explored before. Methods: Four years of data from Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations for regions around this remnant are analyzed, leading to no detection correlated with the source discovered in the TeV band. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo method is used to constrain parameters of one-zone models for the overall emission spectrum. Results: Based on the 99.9% upper limits of fluxes in the GeV range, one-zone hadronic models with an energetic proton spectral slope greater than 1.8 can be ruled out, which favors a leptonic origin for the gamma-ray emission, making this remnant a sibling of the brightest TeV SNR RX J1713.7-3946, the Vela Junior SNR RX J0852.0-4622, and RCW 86. The best-fit leptonic model has an electron spectral slope of 1.8 and a magnetic field of about 30 muG, which is at least a factor of 2 higher than those of RX J1713.7-3946 and RX J0852.0-4622, posing a challenge to the distance estimate and/or the energy equipartition between energetic electrons and the magnetic field of this source. A measurement of the shock speed will address this challenge and has implications on the magnetic field evolution and electron acceleration driven by shocks of SNRs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Implications of the AMS-02 positron fraction in cosmic rays

The AMS-02 collaboration has just released its first result of the cosmic positron fraction $e^+/(e^-+e^+)$ with high precision up to $\sim 350$ GeV. The AMS-02 result shows the same trend with the previous PAMELA result, which requires extra electron/positron sources on top of the conventional cosmic ray background, either from astrophysical sources or from dark matter annihilation/decay. In this paper we try to figure out the nature of the extra sources by fitting to the AMS-02 $e^+/(e^-+e^+)$ data, as well as the electron and proton spectra by PAMELA and the $(e^-+e^+)$ spectrum by Fermi and HESS. We adopt the GALPROP package to calculate the propagation of the Galactic cosmic rays and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampler to do the fit. We find that the AMS-02 data have implied essential difference from the PAMELA data. There is {\rm tension} between the AMS-02 $e^+/(e^-+e^+)$ data and the Fermi/HESS $(e^-+e^+)$ spectrum, that the AMS-02 data requires less contribution from the extra sources than Fermi/HESS. Then we redo the fit without including the Fermi/HESS data. In this case both the pulsars and dark matter annihilation/decay can explain the AMS-02 data. The pulsar scenario has a soft inject spectrum with the power-law index $\sim 2$, while the dark matter scenario needs $τ^+τ^-$ final state with mass $\sim 600$ GeV and a boost factor $\sim 200$.

astro-ph.HE↗