arXiv subjects

W. C. Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to W. C. Zhang.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Constraining the transient high-energy activity of FRB180916.J0158+65 with Insight-HXMT followup observations

A link between magnetars and fast radio burst (FRB) sources has finally been established. In this context, one of the open issues is whether/which sources of extra galactic FRBs exhibit X/gamma-ray outbursts and whether it is correlated with radio activity. We aim to constrain possible X/gamma-ray burst activity from one of the nearest extragalactic FRB sources currently known over a broad energy range, by looking for bursts over a range of timescales and energies that are compatible with being powerful flares from extragalactic magnetars. We followed up the as-yet nearest extragalactic FRB source at a mere 149 Mpc distance, the periodic repeater FRB180916.J0158+65, during the active phase on February 4-7, 2020, with the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT). Taking advantage of the combination of broad band, large effective area, and several independent detectors available, we searched for bursts over a set of timescales from 1 ms to 1.024 s with a sensitive algorithm, that had previously been characterised and optimised. Moreover, through simulations we studied the sensitivity of our technique in the released energy-duration phase space for a set of synthetic flares and assuming different energy spectra. We constrain the possible occurrence of flares in the 1-100 keV energy band to E<10^46 erg for durations <0.1 s over several tens of ks exposure. We can rule out the occurrence of giant flares similar to the ones that were observed in the few cases of Galactic magnetars. The absence of reported radio activity during our observations does not allow us to make any statements on the possible simultaneous high-energy emission.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Nuclear modification factor in Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions using Boltzmann transport equation

We investigate the nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) of identified particles as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV, as well as p-Pb collision at 5.02 TeV in the framework of Boltzmann transport equation with relaxation time approximation. In this framework, the initial distribution of particles is chosen as the Tsallis distribution and the local equilibrium distribution as the Boltzmann-Gibbs blast-wave distribution. The non-extensive parameter $q_{pp}$, the Tsallis temperature $T_{pp}$ and the equilibrium temperature $T_{eq}$ are set to be in common for all particles, while the ratio of kinetic freeze-out time to relaxation time $t_{f}/τ$ is different for different particles when we performed a combined fit to the $R_{AA}$ spectra of different particles at a given centrality. We observe that the fitted curves describe the spectra well up to $p_{\rm T}\approx$ 3 GeV/c. $q_{pp}$ and $T_{eq}$ ($t_{f}/τ$) decrease (increases) with centrality nonlinearly, while $T_{pp}$ is almost independent of centrality. The dependence of the rate at which $q_{pp}$, $T_{eq}$ or $t_{f}/τ$ changes with centrality on the energy and the size of the colliding system is discussed.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

Diagnostic of the spectral properties of Aquila X-1 by Insight-HXMT snapshots during the early propeller phase

We study the 2018 outburst of Aql X-1 via the monitor of all sky X-ray image (MAXI) data. We show that the outburst starting in February 2018 is a member of short-low class in the frame of outburst duration and the peak count rate although the outburst morphology is slightly different from the other fast-rise-exponential-decay (FRED) type outbursts with a milder rising stage. We study the partial accretion in the weak propeller stage of Aql X-1 via the MAXI data of the 2018 outburst. We report on the spectral analysis of 3 observations of Aquila X-1 obtained by Insight - hard X-ray modulation telescope (Insight-HXMT) during the late decay stage of the 2018 outburst. We discuss that the data taken by Insight-HXMT is just after the transition to the weak propeller stage. Our analysis shows the necessity of a comptonization component to take into account the existence of an electron cloud resulting photons partly up-scattered.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Insight-HXMT observation on 4U~1608--52: evolving spectral properties of a bright type-I X-ray burst

The evidences for the influence of thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts upon the surrounding environments in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) were detected previously via spectral and timing analyses. Benefitting from a broad energy coverage of Insight-HXMT, we analyze one photospheric radius expansion (PRE) burst, and find an emission excess at soft X-rays. Our spectral analysis shows that, such an excess is not likely relevant to the disk reflection induced by the burst emission and can be attributed to an enhanced pre-burst/persistent emission. We find that the burst and enhanced persistent emissions sum up to exceed Eddington luminosity by $\sim$ 40 percentages. We speculate that the enhanced emission is from a region beyond the PRE radius, or through the Comptonization of the corona.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

$Insight$-HXMT study of the timing properties of Sco X-1

We present a detailed timing study of the brightest persistent X-ray source Sco X-1 using the data collected by the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope ($Insight$-HXMT) from July 2017 to August 2018. A complete $Z$-track hardness-intensity diagram (HID) is obtained. The normal branch oscillations (NBOs) at $\sim$ 6 Hz in the lower part of the normal branch (NB) and the flare branch oscillations (FBOs) at $\sim$ 16 Hz in the beginning part of the flaring branch (FB) are found in observations with the Low Energy X-ray Telescope (LE) and the Medium Energy X-ray Telescope (ME) of $Insight$-HXMT, while the horizontal branch oscillations (HBOs) at $\sim$ 40 Hz and the kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations (kHz QPOs) at $\sim$ 800 Hz are found simultaneously up to 60 keV for the first time on the horizontal branch (HB) by the High Energy X-ray Telescope (HE) and ME. We find that for all types of the observed QPOs, the centroid frequencies are independent of energy, while the root mean square (rms) increases with energy; the centroid frequencies of both the HBOs and kHz QPOs increase along the $Z$-track from the top to the bottom of the HB; and the NBOs show soft phase lags increasing with energy. A continuous QPO transition from the FB to NB in $\sim$ 200 s are also detected. Our results indicate that the non-thermal emission is the origin of all types of QPOs, the innermost region of the accretion disk is non-thermal in nature, and the corona is nonhomogeneous geometrically.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Insight-HXMT observations of 4U~1636-536: Corona cooling revealed with single short type-I X-ray burst

Corona cooling was detected previously from stacking a series of short type-I bursts occurred during the low/had state of atoll outburst. Type-I bursts are hence regarded as sharp probe to our better understanding on the basic property of the corona. The launch of the first Chinese X-ray satellite Insight-HXMT has large detection area at hard X-rays which provide almost unique chance to move further in this research field. We report the first detection of the corona cooling by Insight-HXMT from single short type-I burst showing up during {\bf flare} of 4U 1636-536. This type-I X-ray burst has a duration of $\sim$13 seconds and hard X-ray shortage is detected with significance 6.2~$σ$ in 40-70 keV. A cross-correlation analysis between the lightcurves of soft and hard X-ray band, shows that the corona shortage lag the burst emission by 1.6 $\pm$1.2~s. These results are consistent with those derived previously from stacking a large amount of bursts detected by RXTE/PCA within a series of {\bf flares} of 4U 1636-536. Moreover, the broad bandwidth of Insight-HXMT allows as well for the first time to infer the burst influence upon the continuum spectrum via performing the spectral fitting of the burst, which ends up with the finding that hard X-ray shortage appears at around 40 keV in the continuum spectrum. These results suggest that the evolution of the corona along with the outburst{\bf /flare} of NS XRB may be traced via looking into a series of embedded type-I bursts by using Insight-HXMT.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Constant cyclotron line energy in Hercules X-1 -- Joint Insight-HXMT and NuSTAR observations

The long-term evolution of the centroid energy of the CRSF in Her X-1 is still a mystery. We report a new measurement from a campaign between {\sl Insight}-HXMT and {\sl NuSTAR} performed in February 2018. Generally, the two satellites show well consistent results of timing and spectral properties. The joint spectral analysis confirms that the previously observed long decay phase has ended, and that the line energy instead keeps constant around 37.5 keV after flux correction.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Universal scaling of meson and baryon spectra in p-Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV

We systematically investigate the scaling property of mesons (pions and kaons) and baryons (protons, ${\rm Λ}$, ${\rm Ξ}$ and ${\rm Ω}$) transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra at different centrality classes (0-5$\%$, 5-10$\%$, 10-20$\%$, 20-40$\%$, 40-60$\%$, 60-80$\%$ and 80-100$\%$) in proton-lead collisions with center of mass energy per nucleon pair 5.02 TeV. In the low $p_{\rm T}$ region with $p_{\rm{T}}\leq $ 3.9 (3.1, 2.5, 2.7, 2.4 and 2.8) GeV/c, a universal scaling independent of the centrality is observed in the pion (kaon, proton, ${\rm Λ}$, ${\rm Ξ}$ and ${\rm Ω}$) spectra when a dilatation, $p_{\rm T}\rightarrow p_{\rm T}/K$, is applied. Here $K$ is a scaling parameter depending on the centrality class. We find that the rates at which ln$K$ changes with the logarithmic value of the average value of the number of participating nucleons, ln$\langle N_{\rm{part}}\rangle$, are stronger for baryons than those for mesons. In the high $p_{\rm T}$ region, there is a deviation from the scaling. The more peripheral the collisions are, the more obvious the violation of the scaling is. In the framework of the colour string percolation (CSP) model, we show that mesons and baryons are generated from the decay of clusters formed by strings overlapping in the transverse plane with the same size dispersion but with different mean size. The mean size of clusters for baryons is smaller than that of mesons. For the same hadrons at different centrality classes, the mean size of clusters decreases with the increase of centrality. The fragmentation functions for cluster decay are different for different hadrons, while they are universal for the same hadrons at different centrality classes. The universal scaling of the meson and baryon spectra in the low $p_{\rm T}$ region can be quantitatively understood with the CSP model at the same time.

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arXiv2019

Physics case for an LHCb Upgrade II - Opportunities in flavour physics, and beyond, in the HL-LHC era

The LHCb Upgrade II will fully exploit the flavour-physics opportunities of the HL-LHC, and study additional physics topics that take advantage of the forward acceptance of the LHCb spectrometer. The LHCb Upgrade I will begin operation in 2020. Consolidation will occur, and modest enhancements of the Upgrade I detector will be installed, in Long Shutdown 3 of the LHC (2025) and these are discussed here. The main Upgrade II detector will be installed in long shutdown 4 of the LHC (2030) and will build on the strengths of the current LHCb experiment and the Upgrade I. It will operate at a luminosity up to $ 2 \times 10^{34} \rm cm^{-2}s^{-1}$, ten times that of the Upgrade I detector. New detector components will improve the intrinsic performance of the experiment in certain key areas. An Expression Of Interest proposing Upgrade II was submitted in February 2017. The physics case for the Upgrade II is presented here in more depth. $CP$-violating phases will be measured with precisions unattainable at any other envisaged facility. The experiment will probe $b\to s \ell^+\ell^-$ and $b\to d \ell^+\ell^-$ transitions in both muon and electron decays in modes not accessible at Upgrade I. Minimal flavour violation will be tested with a precision measurement of the ratio of $B(B^0\toμ^+μ^-)/B(B_s^0\to μ^+μ^-)$. Probing charm $CP$ violation at the $10^{-5}$ level may result in its long sought discovery. Major advances in hadron spectroscopy will be possible, which will be powerful probes of low energy QCD. Upgrade II potentially will have the highest sensitivity of all the LHC experiments on the Higgs to charm-quark couplings. Generically, the new physics mass scale probed, for fixed couplings, will almost double compared with the pre-HL-LHC era; this extended reach for flavour physics is similar to that which would be achieved by the HE-LHC proposal for the energy frontier.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Universal scaling of the pion, kaon and proton $p_{\rm{T}}$ spectra in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

With the experimental data collected by the ALICE collaboration in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair 2.76 TeV for six different centralities (0-5$\%$, 5-10$\%$, 10-20$\%$, 20-40$\%$, 40-60$\%$ and 60-80$\%$), we investigate the scaling property of the pion, kaon and proton transverse momentum ($p_{\rm{T}}$) spectra at these centralities. We show that in the low $p_{\rm{T}}$ region with $p_{\rm T} \leq$ 2.75 (3.10 and 2.35) GeV/c the pion (kaon and proton) spectra exhibit a scaling behaviour independent of the centrality of the collisions. This scaling behaviour arises when these spectra are presented in terms of a suitable variable, $z=p_{\rm{T}}/K$. The scaling parameter $K$ is determined by the quality factor method and is parameterized by $a \langle N_{\rm{part}}\rangle^{b}$, where $\langle N_{\rm{part}}\rangle$ is the average value of the number of participating nucleons, $a$ and $b$ are free parameters, $b$ characterizes the rate at which $\textrm{ln} K$ changes with $\textrm{ln} \langle N_{\rm{part}}\rangle$. The values of $b$ for pions and kaons are consistent within uncertainties, while they are smaller than that for protons. In the high $p_{\rm{T}}$ region, due to the suppression of the spectra, a violation of the proposed scaling is observed going from central to peripheral collisions. The more peripheral the collisions are, the more clearly violated the proposed scaling becomes. In the framework of the colour string percolation model, we argue that the pions, kaons and protons originate from the fragmentation of clusters which are formed by strings overlapping and the cluster's fragmentation functions are different for different hadrons. The scaling behaviour of the pion, kaon and proton spectra in the low $p_{\rm T}$ region can be simultaneously explained by the colour string percolation model in a qualitative way.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2016

Geometrical scaling of inclusive charged hadron $p_{\rm T}$ spectra in Pb-Pb collsions at 2.76 TeV

In Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV, we report on a geometrical scaling in the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra of inclusive charged hadrons at 0-5$\%$, 5-10$\%$, 10-20$\%$, 20-30$\%$, 30-40$\%$, 40-50$\%$, 50-60$\%$, 60-70$\%$ and 70-80$\%$ centralities. This geometrical scaling is exhibited when these spectra are expressed in terms of a new scaling variable, $p_{\rm T}^{\prime}=p_{\rm T}(191.5/N_{A})^{1/(3λ+6)}$, where $N_{A}$ is the number of participating nucleon pairs, $λ$ is the scaling parameter. With the method of ratios, this scaling parameter is determined to be 1.68. We then use a single Tsallis distribution to parameterize the spectra at different centralities, and find that the Tsallis temperature $T$ is proportional to $N_{A}^{1/(3λ+6)}$, which is exactly the prediction of the geometrical scaling. The geometrical scaling also predicts that the charged-particle density per participating nucleon pair ($(dN_{\rm ch}/dη)/N_{A}$) grows as a power of $N_{A}$, $N_{A}^{2/(3λ+6)}$, which is confirmed by the data collected by the ALICE collaboration.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2015

Scaling behaviours of the $p_{T}$ spectra for identified hadrons in $pp$ collisions

We extend the scaling behaviour observed in the inclusive charged hadron transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) distributions to the $p_{T}$ spectra of pions, kaons and protons produced in proton-proton ($pp$) collisions with center of mass energies ($\sqrt{s}$ ) at 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV. This scaling behaviour arises when a linear transformation, $p_{T} \rightarrow p_{T}/K$, is applied on the pion, kaon or proton $p_{T}$ spectra. The scaling parameter $K$ depends on $\sqrt{s}$ and is determined by a new method, the quality factor method, which does not rely on the shape of the scaling function. We argue that the pions, kaons and protons originate from different distributions of clusters which are formed by strings overlapping, and the scaling behaviours of these identified particles $p_{T}$ spectra could be understood with the colour string percolation model in a quantitative way simultaneously.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Scaling behavior of charged hadron $p_{T}$ distributions in $pp$ and $p\bar{p}$ collisions

We report on a scaling behaviour in the transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) distributions for charged hadrons produced in proton-proton ($pp$) collisions with different center of mass energies ($\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV) at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector. This scaling behaviour appears when the $p_{T}$ is replaced by $p_{T}/K$, where $K$ is a parameter and depends on $\sqrt{s}$. A similar scaling behaviour is observed in the $p_{T}$ distributions of charged hadrons produced in proton-antiproton ($p\bar{p}$) collisions with $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.63, 1.8 and 1.96 TeV at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). The particle production mechanism behind the scaling behaviour in the $pp$ or $p\bar{p}$ collisions could be explained by the model of percolation of strings.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Scaling p_T distributions for p and \bar{p} produced in Au+Au collisions at RHIC

With the experimental data from STAR and PHENIX on the centrality dependence of the $p_T$ spectra of protons and anti-protons produced at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV, we show that for protons and anti-protons there exists a scaling distribution independent of the colliding centrality. The scaling functions can also describe data from BRAHMS for both proton and anti-proton spectra at $y=2.2$ and 3.2. The scaling behaviors are shown to be incompatible with the usual string fragmentation scenario for particle production.

nucl-th↗