arXiv subjects

Qing-Guo Huang

Publications and source records attributed to Qing-Guo Huang.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Search for the Gravitational-wave Background from Cosmic Strings with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Second Data Release

We perform a direct search for an isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) produced by cosmic strings in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array second data release. We find no evidence for such an SGWB, and therefore place $95\%$ confidence level upper limits on the cosmic string tension, $Gμ$, as a function of the reconnection probability, $p$, which can be less than 1 in the string-theory-inspired models. The upper bound on the cosmic string tension is $Gμ\lesssim 5.1 \times 10^{-10}$ for $p = 1$, which is about five orders of magnitude tighter than the bound derived from the null search of individual gravitational wave burst from cosmic string cusps in the PPTA DR2.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Constraining the Gravitational-Wave Spectrum from Cosmological First-Order Phase Transitions Using Data from LIGO-Virgo First Three Observing Runs

We search for a first-order phase transition (PT) gravitational wave (GW) signal from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's first three observing runs. Due to the large theoretical uncertainties, four GW energy spectral shapes from bubble and sound wave collisions widely adopted in literature are investigated, separately. Our results indicate that there is no evidence for the existence of such GW signals, and therefore we give the upper limits on the amplitude of GW energy spectrum $Ω_\text{pt}(f_*)$ in the peak frequency range of $f_*\in [5,500]$ Hz for these four theoretical models, separately. We find that $Ω_\text{pt}(f_*\simeq 40\ \text{Hz})<1.3\times10^{-8}$ at $95\%$ credible level, and roughly $H_*/β\lesssim 0.1$ and $α\lesssim 1$ at $68\%$ credible level in the peak frequency range of $20\lesssim f_*\lesssim 100$ Hz corresponding to the most sensitive frequency band of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's first three observing runs, where $H_*$ is the Hubble parameter when PT happens, $β$ is the bubble nucleation rate and $α$ is the ratio of vacuum and relativistic energy density.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Confronting the primordial black hole scenario with the gravitational-wave events detected by LIGO-Virgo

Adopting a binned method, we model-independently reconstruct the mass function of primordial black holes (PBHs) from GWTC-3 and find that such a PBH mass function can be explained by a broad red-tilted power spectrum of curvature perturbations. Even though GW190521 with component masses in upper mass gap $(m>65M_\odot)$ can be naturally interpreted in the PBH scenario, the events (including GW190814, GW190425, GW200105, and GW200115) with component masses in the light mass range $(m<3M_\odot)$ are quite unlikely to be explained by binary PBHs although there are no electromagnetic counterparts because the corresponding PBH merger rates are much smaller than those given by LIGO-Virgo. Furthermore, we predict that both the gravitational-wave (GW) background generated by the binary PBHs and the scalar-induced GWs accompanying the formation of PBHs should be detected by the ground-based and space-borne GW detectors and pulsar timing arrays in the future.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Constraining the Polarization of Gravitational Waves with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Second Data Release

We search for the isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background, including the nontensorial polarizations that are allowed in general metric theories of gravity, in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) second data release (DR2). We find no statistically significant evidence that the common-spectrum process reported by the PPTA collaboration has the tensor transverse, scalar transverse, vector longitudinal, or scalar longitudinal correlations in PPTA DR2. Therefore, we place a $95\%$ upper limit on the amplitude of each polarization mode, as $\mathcal{A}_{\mathrm{TT}} \lesssim 3.2\times 10^{-15}$, $\mathcal{A}_{\mathrm{ST}} \lesssim 1.8\times 10^{-15}$, $\mathcal{A}_{\mathrm{VL}}\lesssim 3.5\times 10^{-16}$ and $\mathcal{A}_{\mathrm{SL}}\lesssim 4.2\times 10^{-17}$; or, equivalently, a $95\%$ upper limit on the energy density parameter per logarithm frequency, as $Ω_{\mathrm{GW}}^{\mathrm{TT}} \lesssim 1.4\times 10^{-8}$, $Ω_{\mathrm{GW}}^{\mathrm{ST}} \lesssim 4.5\times 10^{-9}$, $Ω_{\mathrm{GW}}^{\mathrm{VL}} \lesssim 1.7\times 10^{-10}$ and $Ω_{\mathrm{GW}}^{\mathrm{SL}} \lesssim 2.4\times 10^{-12}$, at a frequency of 1/yr.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Oscillons during Dirac-Born-Infeld Preheating

Oscillons are long-lived, localized, oscillating nonlinear excitations of a real scalar field which can be abundantly produced during preheating after inflation. We give the first $(3+1)$-dimensional simulation for the oscillon formation during preheating with noncanonical kinetic terms, e.g. the Dirac-Born-Infeld form, and find that the formation of oscillons is significantly influenced by the noncanonical effect.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Non-tensorial Gravitational Wave Background in NANOGrav 12.5-Year Data Set

We perform the first search for an isotropic non-tensorial gravitational-wave background (GWB) allowed in general metric theories of gravity in the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) 12.5-year data set. By modeling the GWB as a power-law spectrum, we find strong Bayesian indication for a spatially correlated process with scalar transverse (ST) correlations whose Bayes factor versus the spatially uncorrelated common-spectrum process is $107\pm 7$, but no statistically significant evidence for the tensor transverse, vector longitudinal and scalar longitudinal polarization modes. The median and the $90\%$ equal-tail amplitudes of ST mode are $\mathcal{A}_{\mathrm{ST}}= 1.06^{+0.35}_{-0.28} \times 10^{-15}$, or equivalently the energy density parameter per logarithm frequency is $Ω_{\mathrm{GW}}^{\mathrm{ST}} = 1.54^{+1.21}_{-0.71} \times 10^{-9}$, at frequency of 1/year.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Tests for the existence of horizon through gravitational waves from a small binary in the vicinity of a massive object

In this letter we calculate the gravitational waves (GWs) emitted from a small binary (SB) by solving the Teukolsky equation in the background of a massive exotic compact object (ECO) which is phenomenologically described by a Schwarzschild geometry with a reflective boundary condition at its "would-be" horizon. The "continuous echo" waves propagating to infinity due to reflectivity of ECO at its "would-be" horizon provide an exquisite probe to the nature of the ECO's horizon.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Near-horizon microstructure and superradiant instability of black holes

Ultralight bosons, as important candidates of dark matter, can condense around spinning black holes (BHs) to form long-lived ``boson clouds'' due to superradiance instability. The boson-BH system can be observed through gravitational wave detection and may become a new window to find traces of ultralight bosons. In this letter we explore the effects on the superradiant instability of BHs from the near-horizon microstructure. By introducing the reflection parameter near a BH horizon, we derived analytical results on the corrections to both energy levels of bosonic cloud and its characteristic frequencies of superradiance instability. Our results imply that the evolution of a boson-BH system and gravitational waves it emits would be influenced by the near-horizon physics of a BH.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Searching for Isotropic Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background in the International Pulsar Timing Array Second Data Release

We search for isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) in the International Pulsar Timing Array second data release. By modeling the SGWB as a power-law, we find very strong Bayesian evidence for a common-spectrum process, and further this process has scalar transverse (ST) correlations allowed in general metric theory of gravity as the Bayes factor in favor of the ST-correlated process versus the spatially uncorrelated common-spectrum process is $30\pm 2$. The median and the $90\%$ equal-tail amplitudes of ST mode are $\mathcal{A}_{\mathrm{ST}}= 1.29^{+0.51}_{-0.44} \times 10^{-15}$, or equivalently the energy density parameter per logarithm frequency is $Ω_{\mathrm{GW}}^{\mathrm{ST}} = 2.31^{+2.19}_{-1.30} \times 10^{-9}$, at frequency of 1/year. However, we do not find any statistically significant evidence for the tensor transverse (TT) mode and then place the $95\%$ upper limits as $\mathcal{A}_{\mathrm{TT}}< 3.95 \times 10^{-15}$, or equivalently $Ω_{\mathrm{GW}}^{\mathrm{TT}}< 2.16 \times 10^{-9}$, at frequency of 1/year.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

A topic review on probing primordial black hole dark matter with scalar induced gravitational waves

Primordial black holes (PBHs) are supposed to form from the collapse of over-densed regions generated by large scalar curvature perturbations in the radiation dominated era. Despite decades of various independent observations, the nature of dark matter (DM) remains highly puzzling. Recently, PBH DM have aroused interest since they provide an attracting explanation to the merger events of binary black holes discovered by LIGO/VIRGO and may play an important role on DM. During the formation of PBH, gravitational waves will be sourced by linear scalar perturbations at second-order, known as the scalar-induced gravitational waves (SIGWs), which provides a new way to hunt for PBH DM. This topic review mainly focus on the physics about SIGWs accompanying the formation of PBH DM.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Gravitational waves induced by the local-type non-Gaussian curvature perturbations

The current observational constraints still leave a substantial mass window $\sim [10^{-16},10^{-14}] \cup [10^{-13},10^{-12}] M_\odot$ for primordial black holes (PBHs) representing all of dark matter (DM) in our Universe. The gravitational waves (GWs) induced by the curvature perturbations are inevitably generated during the formation of these PBHs, and fall in the frequency band of LISA. Such scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs) are supposed to be definitely detected by LISA even when the second-order local-type non-Gaussianity characterized by the parameter $F_{\rm NL}$ is taken into account. In this letter, we give a comprehensive analysis of the GWs induced by the local-type non-Gaussian curvature perturbations up to the third-order denoted by the non-linear parameter $G_{\rm NL}$, and find that a log-dependent slope of SIGWs in the infrared region is generically predicted and the amplitude of SIGWs can be further suppressed by several orders of magnitude. Therefore, the null-detection of SIGWs by LISA cannot rule out the possibility of PBHs making up all of DM.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Parameterized second post-Newtonian framework with conservation Laws

We parameterize the second post-Newtonian (2PN) metric for a gravitating system of fluids in the generalized harmonic gauge, and find that there are only three independent 2PN parameters (i.e. $ω$, $δ$ and $δ_2$) for satisfying some conservation laws including the conservations of energy, momentum, angular-momentum and the uniform motion of the center-of-mass.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Gravitational Waves from Preheating with Modified Gravitational-wave Propagation

We investigate how the production of gravitational waves (GWs) is affected by the GW velocity $(c_T)$ during preheating after inflation. For instance, we simulate the production of GWs after $λϕ^4$ chaotic inflation, and find that GW spectrum is enhanced for $c_T<1$, but distorted (suppressed at low frequency, but enhanced at high frequency) for $c_T>1$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Hubble constant and sound horizon from the late-time Universe

We measure the expansion rate of the recent Universe and the calibration scale of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) from low-redshift data. BAO relies on the calibration scale, i.e., the sound horizon at the end of drag epoch $r_d$, which often imposes a prior of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurement from the Planck satellite. In order to make really independent measurements of $H_0$, we leave $r_d$ completely free and use the BAO data sets combined with the 31 observational $H(z)$ data, GW170817 and Pantheon sample of Type Ia supernovae. In $Λ$CDM model, we get $H_0=68.63^{+1.75}_{-1.77}$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, $r_d=146.85^{+3.29}_{-3.77}$ Mpc. For the two model-independent reconstructions of $H(z)$, we obtain $H_0=68.02\pm1.82$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, $r_d=148.18^{+3.36}_{-3.78}$ Mpc in the cubic expansion, and $H_0=68.58\pm1.76$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, $r_d=148.02^{+3.63}_{-3.60}$ Mpc in the polynomial expansion. The values of Hubble constant $H_0$ and sound horizon $r_d$ are consistent with the estimate derived from the Planck CMB data assuming a flat $Λ$CDM model, but $H_0$ is in $2.4\sim2.6$ $σ$ tension with SH0ES 2019, respectively.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

The three body first post-Newtonian effects on the secular dynamics of a compact binary near a spinning supermassive black hole

The binary black holes (BBHs) formed near the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the galactic nuclei would undergo eccentricity excitation due to the gravitational perturbations from the SMBH and therefore merger more efficiently. In this paper, we study the coupling of the three body 1st post-Newtonian (PN) effects with the spin effects from the SMBH in the hierarchical triple system. We extend previous work by including the coupling between the de Sitter precession and the Lense-Thirring precession from the SMBH spin. This coupling includes both the precessions of the inner orbit angular momentum and the Runge-Lenz vector around the outer orbit angular momentum in a general reference frame. We find the change of the (maximal) eccentricity in the neighboring Kozai-Lidov cycles due to spin effects is detectable by LISA in the future. Our general argument on the coupling of the three body 1PN effects in three body systems could be extended to any other situation as long as the outer orbital plane evolves.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Distinguishing Primordial Black Holes from Astrophysical Black Holes by Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer

We investigate how the next generation gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, such as Einstein Telescope (ET) and Cosmic Explorer (CE), can be used to distinguish primordial black holes (PBHs) from astrophysical black holes (ABHs). Since a direct detection of sub-solar mass black holes can be taken as the smoking gun for PBHs, we figure out the detectable limits of the abundance of sub-solar mass PBHs in cold dark matter by the targeted search for sub-solar mass PBH binaries and binaries containing a sub-solar mass PBH and a super-solar mass PBH, respectively. On the other hand, according to the different redshift evolutions of merger rate for PBH binaries and ABH binaries, we forecast the detectable event rate distributions for the PBH binaries and ABH binaries by ET and CE respectively, which can serve as a method to distinguish super-solar mass PBHs from ABHs.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Implications for cosmology from Ground-based Cosmic Microwave Background observations

Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy encodes a lot of information about our Universe. In this paper we take the ground-based CMB observations (GCMB), including the South Pole Telescope (SPT), SPTpol and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol), as a new probe to the CMB anisotropy independent of two satellite observations, i.e. Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and Planck. The combination of current GCMB data is consistent with WMAP and Planck. In the spatially flat $Λ$CDM model, the Hubble constant is $H_0=69.72\pm 1.63$ km/s/Mpc at $68\%$ confidence level (CL). Combining with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and the Pantheon sample of Type Ia supernovae (SN), we find that $H_0=68.40\pm 0.58$ km/s/Mpc ($68\%$ CL) in the spatially flat $Λ$CDM cosmology which has a tension with local measurement given by Riess et al. in 2019 at $3.7σ$ level, and $Ω_k=-0.0013\pm 0.0039$ and $N_{\rm{eff}}=2.90\pm 0.41$ ($68\%$ CL) in the extended cosmological models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Pulsar Timing Array Constraints on Primordial Black Holes with NANOGrav 11-Year Data Set

The detection of binary black hole coalescences by LIGO/Virgo has aroused the interest in primordial black holes (PBHs), because they could be both the progenitors of these black holes and a compelling candidate of dark matter (DM). PBHs are formed soon after the enhanced scalar perturbations re-enter horizon during radiation dominated era, which would inevitably induce gravitational waves as well. Searching for such scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs) provides an elegant way to probe PBHs. We perform the first direct search for the signals of SIGWs accompanying the formation of PBHs in North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational waves (NANOGrav) 11-year data set. No statistically significant detection has been made, and hence we place a stringent upper limit on the abundance of PBHs at $95\%$ confidence level. In particular, less than one part in a million of the total DM mass could come from PBHs in the mass range of $[2 \times 10^{-3}, 7\times 10^{-1}] \Msun$.

astro-ph.CO↗