arXiv subjects

Sixiang Wen

Publications and source records attributed to Sixiang Wen.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

A fast powerful X-ray transient from possible tidal disruption of a white dwarf

Stars captured by black holes (BHs) can be torn apart by strong tidal forces, producing electromagnetic flares. To date, more than 100 tidal disruption events (TDEs) have been observed, each involving invariably normal gaseous stars whose debris falls onto the BH, sustaining the flares over years. White dwarfs (WDs), which are the most prevalent compact stars and a million times denser--and therefore tougher--than gaseous stars, can only be disrupted by intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) of 10^2--10^5 solar masses. WD-TDEs are considered to generate more powerful and short-lived flares, but their evidence has been lacking. Here we report observations of a fast and luminous X-ray transient EP250702a detected by Einstein Probe. Its one-day-long X-ray peak as luminous as 10^(47-49) erg/s showed strong recurrent flares with hard spectra extending to several tens of MeV gamma-rays, as detected by Fermi/GBM and Konus-Wind, indicating relativistic jet emission. The jet's X-ray dropped sharply from 3 x 10^49 erg/s to around 10^44 erg/s within 20 days (10 days in the source rest frame). These characteristics are inconsistent with any known transient phenomena other than a jetted-TDE evolving over an unprecedentedly short timescale, indicating the disruption of a WD by an IMBH. At late times, a new soft component progressively dominates the X-ray spectrum, exhibiting an extreme super-Eddington luminosity, which possibly originates from an accretion disc. WD-TDEs open a new window for investigating the elusive IMBHs and their surrounding stellar environments, and they are prime sources of gravitational waves in the band of space-based interferometers.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

A pseudo-Newtonian stationary circumbinary slim disk model

We present a pseudo-Newtonian stationary circumbinary slim disk model. We extend the slim disk formalism by including the binary tidal torque and solve the resulting steady-state equations to determine the circumbinary disk structure. We compare the binary slim disk solutions with corresponding binary thin disk solutions, calculate the disk spectrum, explore the impact of different parameters on the system, and estimate the binary shrinkage timescale. We find that; (1) due to the different disk density profiles, the integrated tidal torque exerted on the disk is significantly smaller for the slim disk than for the thin disk; as a result thin disks onto binary black holes can be radiatively significantly more efficient than slim disks; (2) The presence of the secondary alters the emission of the circumbinary disk, making it different from the spectrum of a single black hole Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN); (3) The tidal torque boosts the viscous torque in the outer part of the disk (radii greater than the binary separation), which is strongly dependent on the disk parameters, including the binary mass ratio $q$, the orbital separation $a$, the viscous parameter $α$ and the accretion rate $\dot M$; (4) The vertical component of the potential of the secondary slightly decreases the integrated tidal torque. However, both the vertical and radial components of the potential of the secondary have small impact on the disk radiative flux; (5) Using the integrated disk tidal torque backreacting on the secondary at different orbital separations, we find that the disk provides an efficient way to shrink the binary orbital separation.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Science objectives of the Einstein Probe mission

The Einstein Probe (EP) is an interdisciplinary mission of time-domain and X-ray astronomy. Equipped with a wide-field lobster-eye X-ray focusing imager, EP will discover cosmic X-ray transients and monitor the X-ray variability of known sources in 0.5-4 keV, at a combination of detecting sensitivity and cadence that is not accessible to the previous and current wide-field monitoring missions. EP can perform quick characterisation of transients or outbursts with a Wolter-I X-ray telescope onboard. In this paper, the science objectives of the Einstein Probe mission are presented. EP is expected to enlarge the sample of previously known or predicted but rare types of transients with a wide range of timescales. Among them, fast extragalactic transients will be surveyed systematically in soft X-rays, which include γ-ray bursts and their variants, supernova shock breakouts, and the predicted X-ray transients associated with binary neutron star mergers. EP will detect X-ray tidal disruption events and outbursts from active galactic nuclei, possibly at an early phase of the flares for some. EP will monitor the variability and outbursts of X-rays from white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes in our and neighbouring galaxies at flux levels fainter than those detectable by the current instruments, and is expected to discover new objects. A large sample of stellar X-ray flares will also be detected and characterised. In the era of multi-messenger astronomy, EP has the potential of detecting the possible X-ray counterparts of gravitational wave events, neutrino sources, and ultra-high energy γ-ray and cosmic ray sources. EP is expected to help advance the studies of extreme objects/phenomena and their underlying physical processes revealed in the dynamic X-ray universe, as well as studies in other areas of X-ray astronomy.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Optical/UV Emission in the Tidal Disruption Event ASASSN-14li: Implications of Disc Modeling

We predict late-time optical/UV emission from tidal disruption events (TDEs) from our slim accretion disc model \citep{Wen20} and explore the impact of the black hole mass $M_\bullet$, black hole spin $a_\bullet$, and accretion disc size. We use these synthetic spectra to successfully fit the multi-band \emph{Swift} observations of ASASSN-14li at >350 days, setting only the host galaxy extinction and outer disc radius as free parameters and employing the $M_\bullet$, $a_\bullet$, disc inclination, and disc accretion rates derived from fitting 10 epochs of ASASSN-14li's X-ray spectra with the slim disc. To address the nature of the \emph{early}-time optical/UV emission, we consider two models: shock dissipation and reprocessing. We find that (1) the predicted late-time optical/UV colour (e.g., $u-w2$) is insensitive to black hole and disc parameters unless the disc spreads quickly; (2) a starburst galaxy extinction model is required to fit the data, consistent with ASASSN-14li's post-starburst host; (3) surprisingly, the outer disc radius is $\approx$2$\times$ the tidal radius and $\sim$constant at late times, showing that viscous spreading is slow or non-existent; (4) the shock model can be self-consistent if $M_\bullet \lesssim 10^{6.75}$M$_\odot$, i.e., on the low end of ASASSN-14li's $M_\bullet$ range ($10^{6.5-7.1}$M$_\odot$; 1$σ$ CL); larger black hole masses require disruption of an unrealistically massive progenitor star; (5) the gas mass needed for reprocessing, whether by a quasi-static or an outflowing layer, can be $<0.5$M$_\odot$, consistent with a (plausible) disruption of a solar-mass star.

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arXiv2022

A Library of Synthetic X-ray Spectra for Fitting Tidal Disruption Events

We present a tabulated version of our slim disk model for fitting tidal disruption events (TDEs). We create a synthetic X-ray spectral library by ray-tracing stationary general relativistic slim disks and including gravitational redshift, Doppler, and lensing effects self-consistently. We introduce the library to reduce computational expense and increase access for fitting future events. Fitting requires interpolation between the library spectra; the interpolation error in the synthetic flux is generally $<10\%$ (it can rise to $40\%$ when the disk is nearly edge-on). We fit the X-ray spectra of the TDEs ASASSN-14li and ASASSN-15oi, successfully reproducing our earlier constraints on black hole mass $M_\bullet$ and spin $a_\bullet$ from full on-the-fly ray-tracing. We use the library to fit mock observational data to explore the degeneracies among parameters, finding that 1) hotter thermal disk and edge-on inclination angle spectra offer tighter constraints on $M_\bullet$ and $a_\bullet$; 2) the constraining power of spectra on $M_\bullet$ and $a_\bullet$ increases as a power-law with the number of X-ray counts, and the index of the power law is higher for hotter thermal disk spectra; 3) multi-epoch X-ray spectra partially break the degeneracy between $M_\bullet$ and $a_\bullet$; 4) the time-dependent level of X-ray absorption can be constrained from spectral fitting. The tabulated model and slim disk model are {\href{https://doi.org/10.25739/hfhz-xn60}{here.}

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Mass, Spin, and Ultralight Boson Constraints from the Intermediate Mass Black Hole in the Tidal Disruption Event 3XMM J215022.4-055108

We simultaneously and successfully fit the multi-epoch X-ray spectra of the tidal disruption event (TDE) 3XMM J215022.4-055108 using a modified version of our relativistic slim disk model that now accounts for angular momentum losses from radiation. We explore the effects of different disk properties and of uncertainties in the spectral hardening factor fc and redshift z on the estimation of the black hole mass M and spin a. Across all choices of theoretical priors, we constrain M to less than 2.2e4 Ms at 1 sigma confidence. Assuming that the TDE host is a star cluster associated with the adjacent, brighter, barred lenticular galaxy at z=0.055, we constrain M and a to be (1.75+0.45-0.05)e4 Ms and 0.8+0.12-0.02, respectively, at 1 sigma confidence. The high, but sub-extremal, spin suggests that, if this intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) has grown significantly since formation, it has acquired its last e-fold in mass in a way incompatible with both the standard and chaotic limits of gas accretion. Ours is the first clear IMBH with a spin measurement. As such, this object represents a novel laboratory for astro-particle physics; its M and a place tight limits on the existence of ultralight bosons, ruling out those with masses 1.0e-15 to 1.0e-16 eV.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Continuum-Fitting the X-ray Spectra of Tidal Disruption Events

We develop a new model for X-ray emission from tidal disruption events (TDEs), applying stationary general relativistic ``slim disk'' accretion solutions to supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and then ray-tracing the photon trajectories from the image plane to the disk surface, including gravitational redshift, Doppler, and lensing effects self-consistently. We simultaneously and successfully fit the multi-epoch XMM-Newton X-ray spectra for two TDEs: ASASSN-14li and ASASSN-15oi. We test explanations for the observed, unexpectedly slow X-ray brightening of ASASSN-15oi, including delayed disk formation and variable obscuration by a reprocessing layer. We propose a new mechanism that better fits the data: a ``Slimming Disk'' scenario in which accretion onto an edge-on disk slows, reducing the disk height and exposing more X-rays from the inner disk to the sightline over time.For ASASSN-15oi, we constrain the SMBH mass to $4.0^{+2.5}_{-3.1} \times 10^6M_\odot$. For ASASSN-14li, the SMBH mass is $10^{+1}_{-7}\times 10^6M_\odot$ and the spin is $>0.3$. For both TDEs, our fitted masses are consistent with independent estimates; for ASASSN-14li, application of the external mass constraint narrows our spin constraint to $>0.85$. The mass accretion rate of ASASSN-14li decays slowly, as $\propto t^{-1.1}$, perhaps due to inefficient debris circularization. Over $\approx$1100 days, its SMBH has accreted $ΔM \approx 0.17 M_\odot$, implying a progenitor star mass of $> 0.34 M_\odot$, i.e., no ``missing energy problem.'' For both TDEs, the hydrogen column density declines to the host galaxy plus Milky Way value after a few hundred days, suggesting a characteristic timescale for the depletion or removal of obscuring gas.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Probing Cosmic Acceleration by Using Model-Independent Parametrizations and Three Kinds of Supernova Statistics Techniques

In this work, we explore the evolution of the dark energy equation of state ω by using Chevalliear-PolarskiLinder (CPL) parametrization and the binned parametrizations. For binned parametrizations, we adopt three methods to choose the redshift interval: I. Ensure that "Δz = const", where Δz is the width of each bin; II.Ensure that "nΔz = const", where n is the number of SNIa in each bin; III. Treat redshift discontinuity points as models parameters, i.e. "free Δz". For observational data, we adopt JLA type Ia supernova (SNIa) samples, SDSS DR12 data, and Planck 2015 distance priors. In particular, for JLA SNIa samples, we consider three statistic techniques: I. Magnitude statistics, which is the traditional method; II. Flux statistics, which reduces the systematic uncertainties of SNIa; III. Improve flux statistics, which can reduce the systematic uncertainties and give tighter constrains at the same time. The results are as follows: (1) For all the cases, ω = -1 is always satisfied at 1σ confidence regions; It means that ΛCDM is still favored by current observations. (2) For magnitude statistics, "free Δz" model will give the smallest error bars; this conclusion does not hold true for flux statistics and improved flux statistic. (3) The improved flux statistic yields a largest present fractional density of matter Ωm; in addition, this technique will give a largest current deceleration parameter q0 , which reveals a universe with a slowest cosmic acceleration.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Comparing dark energy models with current observational data

We make a comparison for thirteen dark energy (DE) models by using current cosmological observations, including type Ia supernova, baryon acoustic oscillations, and cosmic microwave background. To perform a systematic and comprehensive analysis, we consider three statistics methods of SNIa, including magnitude statistic (MS), flux statistic (FS), and improved flux statistic (IFS), as well as two kinds of BAO data. In addition, Akaike information criteria (AIC) and Bayesian information criteria (BIC) are used to assess the worth of each model. We find that: (1) The thirteen models can be divided into four grades by performing cosmology-fits. The cosmological constant model, which is most favored by current observations, belongs to grade one; $α$DE, constant $w$ and generalized Chaplygin gas models belong to grade two; Chevalliear-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parametrization, Wang parametrization, doubly coupled massive gravity, new generalized Chaplygin gas and holographic DE models belong to grade three; agegraphic DE, Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati, Vacuum metamorphosis and Ricci DE models, which are excluded by current observations, belong to grade four. (2) For parameter estimation, adopting IFS yields the biggest $Ω_m$ and the smallest $h$ for all the models. In contrast, using different BAO data does not cause significant effects. (3) IFS has the strongest constraint ability on various DE models. For examples, adopting IFS yields the smallest value of $Δ$AIC for all the models; in addition, making use of this technique yields the biggest figure of merit for CPL and Wang parametrizations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Exploring the cosmological consequences of JLA supernova data with improved flux-averaging technique

In this work, we explore the cosmological consequences of the "Joint Light-curve Analysis" (JLA) supernova (SN) data by using an improved flux-averaging (FA) technique, in which only the type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at high redshift are flux-averaged. Adopting the criterion of figure of Merit (FoM) and considering six dark energy (DE) parameterizations, we search the best FA recipe that gives the tightest DE constraints in the $(z_{cut}, Δz)$ plane, where $z_{cut}$ and $Δz$ are redshift cut-off and redshift interval of FA, respectively. Then, based on the best FA recipe obtained, we discuss the impacts of varying $z_{cut}$ and varying $Δz$, revisit the evolution of SN color luminosity parameter $β$, and study the effects of adopting different FA recipe on parameter estimation. We find that: (1) The best FA recipe is $(z_{cut} = 0.6, Δz=0.06)$, which is insensitive to a specific DE parameterization. (2) Flux-averaging JLA samples at $z_{cut} \geq 0.4$ will yield tighter DE constraints than the case without using FA. (3) Using FA can significantly reduce the redshift-evolution of $β$. (4) The best FA recipe favors a larger fractional matter density $Ω_{m}$. In summary, we present an alternative method of dealing with JLA data, which can reduce the systematic uncertainties of SNe Ia and give the tighter DE constraints at the same time. Our method will be useful in the use of SNe Ia data for precision cosmology.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

A closer look at the cosmological implications of the $Λ$HDE model

In a previous paper, we proposed a heterotic dark energy model, called $Λ$HDE, in which dark energy is composed of two components: cosmological constant (CC) and holographic dark energy (HDE). The aim of this work is to give a more comprehensive and systematic investigation on the cosmological implications of the $Λ$HDE model. Firstly, we make use of the current observations to constrain the $Λ$HDE model, and compare its cosmology-fit results with the results of the $Λ$CDM and the HDE model. Then, by combining a qualitative theoretical analysis with a quantitative numerical study, we discuss the impact of considering curvature on the cosmic evolutions of fractional HDE density $Ω_{hde}$ and fractional CC density $Ω_Λ$, as well as on the ultimate cosmic fate. Finally, we explore the effects of adopting different types of observational data. We find that: (1) the current observational data cannot distinguish the $Λ$HDE model from the $Λ$CDM and the HDE model; this indicates that DE may contain multiple components. (2) the asymptotic solution of $Ω_{hde}$ and the corresponding cosmic fate in a flat universe can be extended to the case of a non-flat universe; moreover, compared with the case of a flat universe, considering curvature will make HDE closer to a phantom dark energy. (3) compared with JLA dataset, SNLS3 data more favor a phantom type HDE; in contrast, using other types of observational data have no significant impact on the cosmic evolutions of the $Λ$HDE model.

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