arXiv subjects

Sai Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Sai Wang.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

On the Gauge Invariance of Scalar Induced Gravitational Waves: Gauge Fixings Considered

The energy density spectrum is an observable of gravitational waves. Divergence has appeared in the energy density spectra of the scalar induced gravitational waves for different gauge fixings. To resolve the discrepancy, we investigate the gauge invariance of the scalar induced gravitational waves. It is shown that the gauge invariant induced gravitational waves can be obtained by subtracting the fictitious tensor perturbations via introducing the counter term composed of the first order scalar perturbations. The kernel function uniquely determines the energy density spectrum of the scalar induced gravitational waves. We explicitly calculate the gauge invariant kernel functions in the Newtonian gauge and the uniform density gauge, respectively. The discrepancy between the energy density spectra upon the Newtonian gauge and the uniform density gauge is shown to be eliminated in the gauge invariant framework. In fact, the gauge invariant approach is also available to other kinds of gauge fixings.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Gauge Invariant Second Order Gravitational Waves

We investigate the gauge invariance of the second order gravitational waves induced by the first order scalar perturbations by following the Lie derivative method. It is shown explicitly that the second order gravitational waves are gauge invariant in the synchronous frame. In the gauge invariant framework, we derive the equation of motion of the second order gravitational waves and show that the second order gravitational waves are sourced from the first order scalar perturbations described well in the gauge invariant Newtonian frame. Since the observables of gravitational waves are measured in the synchronous frame, we define the energy density spectrum of the second order gravitational waves in terms of the gauge invariant synchronous variables. This way guarantees no fictitious tensor perturbations. It is shown that the gauge invariant energy density spectrum of the second order gravitational waves coincides with the one in the Newtonian gauge.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Exploring the CPT violation and birefringence of gravitational waves with ground- and space-based gravitational-wave interferometers

In the gravitational sector, we study the CPT violation and birefringence of gravitational waves. In presence of the CPT violation, a relative dephasing is generated between two circular polarization states of gravitational waves. This effect induces the birefringence of gravitational waves. We predict the gravitational waveform corrected by it and estimate the expected constraints on it from Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, Einstein Telescope and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Prospective constraints on the primordial black hole abundance from the stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds produced by coalescing events and curvature perturbations

For a variety of on-going and planned gravitational-wave (GW) experiments, we study expected constraints on the fraction ($f_{\rm PBH}$) of primordial black holes (PBHs) in dark matter by evaluating the energy-density spectra of two kinds of stochastic GW backgrounds. The first one is produced from an incoherent superposition of GWs emitted from coalescences of all the binary PBHs. The second one is induced through non-linear mode couplings of large primordial curvature perturbations inevitably associated with the generation of PBHs in the early Universe. In this paper, we focus on the PBHs with their masses of $10^{-8}M_{\odot}\leq M_{\mathrm{PBH}} < 1M_{\odot}$, since they are not expected to be of a stellar origin. In almost all ranges of the masses, we show that the experiments are sensitive to constrain the fraction for $10^{-5} \lesssim f_{\rm PBH} \lesssim 1$ by considering the GWs from coalescing events and $10^{-13} \lesssim f_{\rm PBH} \lesssim 1$ by considering the GWs from curvature perturbations. Exceptionally, only in a narrow range of masses for $M_{\mathrm{PBH}} \simeq 10^{-7} M_{\odot}$, the fraction cannot be constrained for $f_{\rm PBH} \lesssim 10^{-13}$ by those two GW backgrounds.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Optimistic estimation on probing primordial gravitational waves with CMB B-mode polarization

In the measurements of cosmic microwave background polarizations, three frequency channels are necessary for discriminating the primordial B-modes from the polarized dust and the synchrotron emission. We carry out an optimistic estimate on the sensitivity to the detection of primordial gravitational waves using the cosmic microwave background B-modes only, and explore how to reach the thresholds for the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ in the theoretically well-motivated inflation models. For example, Lyth bound implies $r \simeq 2\times10^{-3}$, a corrected Lyth bound shows $r \simeq 7\times10^{-4}$, and some typical inflation models gives $r\simeq4\times10^{-5}$. Taking into account the up-to-date constraints on $r$, i.e. $r_{0.05}<0.07$ at $95\%$ confidence, we find that the consistency relation $n_t=-r/8$ in the canonical single-field slow-roll inflation cannot be distinguished from the scale invariance, due to the cosmic variance in the power spectrum of cosmic microwave background B-modes. The cosmic variance places an inevitable limit on the measurements of the tensor spectral index, i.e. $σ_{n_t}\simeq0.01$ for $2\leqslant\ell\leqslant \ell_\text{max}=300$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Constraints on the Primordial Black Hole Abundance from the First Advanced LIGO Observation Run Using the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

Advanced LIGO's discovery of gravitational-wave events is stimulating extensive studies on the origin of binary black holes. Assuming that the gravitational-wave events can be explained by binary primordial black hole mergers, we utilize the upper limits on the stochastic gravitational-wave background given by Advanced LIGO as a new observational window to independently constrain the abundance of primordial black holes in dark matter. We show that Advanced LIGO's first observation run gives the best constraint on the primordial black hole abundance in the mass range $1 M_\odot \lesssim M_\text{PBH}\lesssim 100 M_\odot$, pushing the previous microlensing and dwarf galaxy dynamics constraints tighter by 1 order of magnitude. Moreover, we discuss the possibility to detect the stochastic gravitational-wave background from primordial black holes, in particular from subsolar mass primordial black holes, by Advanced LIGO in the near future.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

A tomographic test of cosmological principle using the JLA compilation of type Ia supernovae

We test the cosmological principle by fitting a dipolar modulation of distance modulus and searching for an evolution of this modulation with respect to cosmological redshift. Based on a redshift tomographic method, we divide the Joint Light-curve Analysis compilation of supernovae of type Ia into different redshift bins, and employ a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo method to infer the anisotropic amplitude and direction in each redshift bin. However, we do not find any significant deviations from the cosmological principle, and the anisotropic amplitude is stringently constrained to be less than a few thousandths at $95\%$ confidence level.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Constraints on the sum of neutrino masses using cosmological data including the latest extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR14 quasar sample

We investigate the constraints on the sum of neutrino masses ($Σm_ν$) using the most recent cosmological data, which combines the distance measurement from baryonic acoustic oscillation in the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR14 quasar sample with the power spectra of temperature and polarization anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background from the Planck 2015 data release. We also use other low-redshift observations including the baryonic acoustic oscillation at relatively low redshifts, the supernovae of type Ia and the local measurement of Hubble constant. In the standard cosmological constant $Λ$ cold dark matter plus massive neutrino model, we obtain the $95\%$ \acl{CL} upper limit to be $Σm_ν<0.129~\mathrm{eV}$ for the degenerate mass hierarchy, $Σm_ν<0.159~\mathrm{eV}$ for the normal mass hierarchy, and $Σm_ν<0.189~\mathrm{eV}$ for the inverted mass hierarchy. Based on Bayesian evidence, we find that the degenerate hierarchy is positively supported, and the current data combination can not distinguish normal and inverted hierarchies. Assuming the degenerate mass hierarchy, we extend our study to non-standard cosmological models including the generic dark energy, the spatial curvature, and the extra relativistic degrees of freedom, respectively, but find these models not favored by the data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Impacts of dark energy on weighing neutrinos: mass hierarchies considered

Taking into account the mass splittings between three active neutrinos, we investigate impacts of dark energy on constraining the total neutrino mass $\sum m_ν$ by using recent cosmological observations. We consider two typical dark energy models, namely, the $w$CDM model and the holographic dark energy (HDE) model, which both have an additional free parameter compared with the $Λ$CDM model. We employ the Planck 2015 data of CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies, combined with low-redshift measurements on BAO distance scales, type Ia supernovae, Hubble constant, and Planck lensing. Compared to the $Λ$CDM model, our study shows that the upper limit on $\sum m_ν$ becomes much looser in the $w$CDM model while much tighter in the HDE model. In the HDE model, we obtain the $95\%$ CL upper limit $\sum m_ν<0.105~\textrm{eV}$ for three degenerate neutrinos. This might be the most stringent constraint on $\sum m_ν$ by far and is almost on the verge of diagnosing the neutrino mass hierachies in the HDE model. However, the difference of $χ^2$ is still not significant enough to distinguish the neutrino mass hierarchies, even though the minimal $χ^2$ of the normal hierarchy is slightly smaller than that of the inverted hierarchy.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Constraining interacting dark energy models with latest cosmological observations

The local measurement of $H_0$ is in tension with the prediction of $Λ$CDM model based on the Planck data. This tension may imply that dark energy is strengthened in the late-time Universe. We employ the latest cosmological observations on CMB, BAO, LSS, SNe, $H(z)$ and $H_0$ to constrain several interacting dark energy models. Our results show no significant indications for the interaction between dark energy and dark matter. The $H_0$ tension can be moderately alleviated, but not totally released.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Inflation model constraints from data released in 2015

We provide the latest constraints on the power spectra of both scalar and tensor perturbations from the CMB data (including \textit{Planck}~2015, BICEP2 \& \textit{Keck Array} experiments) and the new BAO scales from SDSS-III BOSS observation. We find that the inflation model with a convex potential is not favored and both the inflation model with a monomial potential and the natural inflation model are marginally disfavored at around $95\%$ confidence level. But both the Brane inflation model and the Starobinsky inflation model fit the data quite well.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Constraints on the neutrino mass and mass hierarchy from cosmological observations

Considering the mass splitting between three active neutrinos, we represent the new constraints on the sum of neutrino mass $\sum m_ν$ by updating the anisotropic analysis of Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) scale in the CMASS and LOWZ galaxy samples from Data Release 12 of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS DR12). Combining the BAO data of 6dFGS, MGS, LOWZ and CMASS with $\textit{Planck}$~2015 data of temperature anisotropy and polarizations of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), we find that the $95\%$ C.L. upper bounds on $\sum m_ν$ refer to $\sum m_{ν,\rm NH}<0.18$ eV for normal hierarchy (NH), $\sum m_{ν,\rm IH}<0.20$ eV for inverted hierarchy (IH) and $\sum m_{ν,\rm DH}<0.15$ eV for degenerate hierarchy (DH) respectively, and the normal hierarchy is slightly preferred than the inverted one ($Δχ^2\equiv χ^2_{\rm NH}-χ^2_{\rm IH} \simeq -3.4$). In addition, the additional relativistic degrees of freedom and massive sterile neutrinos are neither favored at present.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Distance Priors from \emph{Planck} 2015 data

We update the distance priors by adopting $Planck~ \textrm{TT,TE,EE}+\textrm{lowP}$ data released in 2015, and our results impose at least $30\%$ tighter constraints than those from $Planck~ \textrm{TT}+\textrm{lowP}$. Combining the distance priors with the combination of supernova Union~2.1 compilation of 580 SNe (Union~2.1) and low redshift Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) data, we constrain the cosmological parameters in the freely binned dark energy (FBDE) and FBDE$+Ω_k$ models respectively, and find that the equations of state of dark energy in both models are consistent with $w=-1$. Furthermore, we show that the tension with the BAO data at $z=2.34$ from Ly$α$ forest (Ly$α$F) auto-correlation and Combined Ly$α$F cannot be relaxed in the FBDE and FBDE$+Ω_k$ models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Testing the isotropy of the Universe by using the JLA compilation of type-Ia supernovae

We probe the possible anisotropy of the Universe by using the JLA compilation of type-Ia supernovae. We apply the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method to constrain the amplitude and direction of anisotropy in three cosmological models. For the dipole-modulated $Λ$CDM model, the anisotropic amplitude is consistent with zero at $68\%$ C.L., and has an upper bound $A_D<1.98\times10^{-3}$ at $95\%$ C.L. Regardless of much larger uncertainty, we find the dipole direction of JLA is amazingly opposite to that of Union2. Similar results are found for the dipole-modulated $w$CDM and CPL models. Thus, the Universe is still well consistent with the isotropy according to the JLA compilation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Constraining the Lorentz invariance violation from the continuous spectra of short gamma-ray bursts

In quantum gravity, a foamy structure of space-time leads to Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). As the most energetic astrophysical processes in the Universe, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide an effective way to probe quantum gravity effects. We use continuous spectra of 20 short GRBs detected by the Swift satellite to give a conservative lower limit of quantum gravity energy scale $M_\textrm{QG} $. Due to the LIV effect, photons with different energy have different velocities. This will lead to the delayed arrival of high energy photons relative to the low energy ones. Based on the fact that the LIV-induced time delay can't be longer than the duration of a GRB, we present the most conservative estimation of the quantum gravity energy scales from 20 short GRBs. The most strict constraint, $M_\textrm{QG}>5.05\times10^{14}$ GeV, is from GRB 140622A.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Forecasting sensitivity on tilt of power spectrum of primordial gravitational waves after Planck satellite

By taking into account the contamination of foreground radiations, we employ the Fisher matrix to forecast the future sensitivity on the tilt of power spectrum of primordial tensor perturbations for several ground-based (AdvACT, CLASS, Keck/BICEP3, Simons Array, SPT-3G), balloon-borne (EBEX, Spider) and satellite (CMBPol, COrE, LiteBIRD) experiments of B-mode polarizations. For the fiducial model $n_t=0$, our results show that the satellite experiments give good sensitivity on the tensor tilt $n_t$ to the level $σ_{n_t}\lesssim0.1$ for $r\gtrsim2\times10^{-3}$, while the ground-based and balloon-borne experiments give worse sensitivity. By considering the BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck (BKP) constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$, we see that it is impossible for these experiments to test the consistency relation $n_t=-r/8$ in the canonical single-field slow-roll inflation models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Signal photon flux generated by high-frequency relic gravitational waves

The power spectrum of primordial tensor perturbations $\mathcal{P}_t$ increases rapidly in high frequency region if the spectral index $n_t>0$. It is shown that the amplitude of relic gravitational wave $h_t$($5\times10^9$Hz) varies from $10^{-36}$ to $10^{-25}$ while $n_t$ varies from $-6.25\times 10^{-3}$ to $0.87$. High frequency gravitational waves detector that is proposed by F.-Y. Li detects gravitational waves through observing the perturbed photon flux that is generated by interaction between the relic gravitational waves and electromagnetic system. It is shown that the perturbative photon flux $N_x^1$($5\times10^9$Hz) varies from $1.40\times10^{-4}\rm s^{-1}$ to $2.85\times10^{7}\rm s^{-1}$ while $n_t$ varies from $-6.25\times 10^{-3}$ to $0.87$. Correspondingly, the ratio of the transverse perturbative photon flux $N_x^1$ to the background photon flux varies from $10^{-28}$ to $10^{-16}$.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2015

Are long gamma-ray bursts standard candles?

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are widely proposed as an effective probe to trace the Hubble diagram of the Universe in high redshift range. However, the calibration of GRBs is not as easy as that of type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). Most calibrating methods at present make use one or some of the empirical luminosity correlations, e.g., Amati relation. One of the underlying assumptions of these calibrating methods is that the empirical correlation is universal over all redshifts. In this paper, we check to what extent this assumption holds. Assuming that SNe Ia exactly trace the Hubble diagram of the Universe, we re-investigate the Amati relation for low redshift ($z<1.4$) and high redshift ($z>1.4$) GRBs, respectively. It is found that the Amati relation of low-$z$ GRBs differs from that of high-$z$ GRBs at more than $3σ$ confidence level. This result is insensitive to cosmological models. We should be cautious when using Amati relation to reconstruct the Hubble diagram of the Universe.

astro-ph.HE↗