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Wei-Liang Qian

Publications and source records attributed to Wei-Liang Qian.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Sensitivity of black hole spectral instability to ultraviolet perturbations

Black hole quasinormal modes are known to exhibit spectral instability under ultraviolet perturbations of the effective potential. In the present work, we investigate the sensitivity of the fundamental mode to different types of localized perturbations through a combination of analytic and numerical analyzes. We show that the instability is governed primarily by the effective size of the perturbation rather than by its specific shape. In particular, the instability may persist even in the limit where the width of the perturbation vanishes, provided that the integrated strength of the perturbation is not zero. While a delta-function perturbation destabilizes the fundamental mode through an outward spiral, its interplay with a jump-discontinuity-type perturbation gives rise to competing inward and outward spiral motions. We further show that the stability of the fundamental mode depends sensitively on how the magnitude of the perturbation decreases as it moves away from the compact object, leading to qualitatively distinct outward spirals, inward spirals, and rotational trajectories. Finally, we investigate the motion of the fundamental mode in perturbed Regge-Wheeler potentials containing a jump discontinuity associated with a thin matter shell surrounding the black hole. The resulting behavior qualitatively resembles the spiral structure observed in double-sided Pöschl-Teller potentials, suggesting that the mechanisms identified in analytically tractable models persist in more realistic black hole effective potentials. The present results indicate that the spectral instability of low-lying black hole modes is considerably richer than previously anticipated and may have important implications for black hole spectroscopy in realistic astrophysical environments.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Accelerating Stochastic Gravitational Wave Backgrounds Parameter Estimation in Pulsar Timing Arrays with Flow Matching

\Acp{PTA} are essential tools for detecting the \ac{SGWB}, but their analysis faces significant computational challenges. Traditional methods like \ac{MCMC} struggle with high-dimensional parameter spaces where noise parameters often dominate, % while existing deep learning approaches fail to model the \ac{HD} correlation or are validated only on synthetic datasets. while existing deep learning approaches have so far been validated on synthetic datasets or require training on the full pulsar set, incurring substantial computational and memory costs. We propose a flow-matching-based \ac{CNF} for efficient \ac{PTA} parameter estimation. Using ten pulsars selected according to published NANOGrav 12.5-year dropout factors and applied to the NANOGrav 15-year residuals, our method produces \ac{SGWB} posteriors consistent with a reference \ac{MCMC} analysis, with Jensen-Shannon divergences below \(10^{-2}\) nat. After amortized training, posterior generation is reduced from approximately 50 hours for the reference \ac{MCMC} pipeline to approximately 4 minutes for \ac{CNF} sampling. The present study demonstrates that flow-matching-based \acp{CNF} can serve as an efficient posterior-sampling accelerator for reduced \ac{PTA} datasets. Rather than providing new astrophysical constraints, the method is intended to complement conventional \ac{MCMC} analyses and to provide a scalable route toward faster inference in future \ac{PTA} applications.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2026

Toward Efficient and Accurate EMRI Parameter Estimation: A Machine Learning-Enhanced MCMC Framework

The detection of gravitational waves from extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) in space-based antennas like Taiji and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna promises deep insights into strong-field gravity and black hole physics. However, the complex, highly degenerate, and nonconvex likelihood landscapes characteristic of EMRI parameter spaces pose severe challenges for conventional Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. Under realistic instrumental noise and broad priors, these methods demand impractical computational costs but are prone to becoming trapped in local maxima, leading to biased and unreliable parameter estimates. To address these challenges, we introduce flow-matching MCMC (FM-MCMC), a novel Bayesian framework that integrates continuous normalizing flows (CNFs) with parallel tempering MCMC (PTMCMC). By generating high-likelihood regions via CNFs and refining them through PTMCMC, FM-MCMC enables robust exploration of the nontrivial parameter spaces, achieves orders-of-magnitude improvement in computational efficiency, and, more importantly, ensures statistically unbiased inference. By enabling real-time, unbiased parameter inference, FM-MCMC could unlock the full scientific potential of EMRI observations, and would serve as a scalable pipeline for precision gravitational-wave astronomy.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

A metric solution for rotating black holes embedded in dark matter halos with central spikes

We propose an analytic metric describing rotating black holes surrounded by generic dark matter halos. This metric is an exact solution of the field equations that incorporates a dark matter halo with a central density spike in the vicinity of the black hole. Following the construction of the corresponding spherically symmetric solution proposed by Cardoso {\it et al.}, the rotating geometry is seeded by a mass function characterizing the dark matter distribution surrounding the black hole. The dark matter profile is truncated at a radius close to the horizon, in accordance with analyses based on adiabatic invariants, so that the energy density as well as the radial and tangential pressures vanish identically beyond this point. The presence of the spike and the associated metric discontinuity implies that the dark matter is locally anisotropic. The resulting geometry is asymptotically flat and reduces to several well-known cases under suitable limits. In particular, it generalizes the corresponding spherically symmetric solution to the case of rotating black holes. We discuss the physical interpretation of the model parameters and illustrate the metric by applying it to several specific gravitational systems.

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arXiv2026

Clock-noise subtraction in geometric time-delay interferometry for space-based gravitational-wave parameter estimation

Millihertz gravitational-wave observations with space-based interferometers require time-delay interferometry (TDI) observables whose residual instrumental noise is sufficiently controlled for both detection and parameter inference. Although TDI suppresses laser phase noise in unequal and time-dependent arms, clock jitter from onboard ultra-stable oscillators can remain above the secondary-noise floor and bias the effective noise weighting used in data analysis. We formulate a clock-noise subtraction scheme directly in the geometric-TDI framework. The construction introduces generalized clock-noise observables for the four space-time link structures that arise when both delay and time-advance operators are allowed. This makes the clock-noise residual algebraically parallel to the laser-noise residual and yields explicit subtraction terms for arbitrary two-path geometric TDI observables. We illustrate the method with representative first- and second-generation geometric TDI combinations, and test it with time-domain simulations using LISA-like orbits and noise levels. For a modified second-generation U-type observable, the subtraction suppresses the clock-noise residual below the signal region, restores the expected sensitivity to a monochromatic source, and improves the Fisher and Markov-chain Monte Carlo parameter constraints on the source amplitude, frequency and phase. These results show that clock-noise calibration is a necessary component of precision data analysis for future space-based gravitational-wave detectors.

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arXiv2026

Estimating Orbital Parameters of Direct Imaging Exoplanet Using Neural Network

In this work, we propose a flow-matching Markov chain Monte Carlo (FM-MCMC) algorithm for estimating the orbital parameters of exoplanetary systems, especially for those only one exoplanet is involved. Compared to traditional methods that rely on random sampling within the Bayesian framework, our approach first leverages flow matching posterior estimation (FMPE) to efficiently constrain the prior range of physical parameters, and then employs MCMC to accurately infer the posterior distribution. For example, in the orbital parameter inference of beta Pictoris b, our model achieved a substantial speed-up while maintaining comparable accuracy-running 77.8 times faster than Parallel Tempered MCMC (PTMCMC) and 365.4 times faster than nested sampling. Moreover, our FM-MCMC method also attained the highest average log-likelihood among all approaches, demonstrating its superior sampling efficiency and accuracy. This highlights the scalability and efficiency of our approach, making it well-suited for processing the massive datasets expected from future exoplanet surveys. Beyond astrophysics, our methodology establishes a versatile paradigm for synergizing deep generative models with traditional sampling, which can be adopted to tackle complex inference problems in other fields, such as cosmology, biomedical imaging, and particle physics.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2026

Ringdown Signatures of Dehnen Dark Matter Halos: Fluid Modes and Detectability with Space-Based Detectors

In this work, we investigate the feasibility of using ringdown waveforms from supermassive black holes immersed in dark-matter halos to extract both the intrinsic black-hole parameters and those characterizing the surrounding matter distribution with future space-based gravitational-wave detectors. Building on the fully relativistic framework developed by Cardoso {\it et al.}, in which the dark-matter degrees of freedom are explicitly accounted for by minimal coupling to the gravitational sector, we construct numerical waveforms for a variety of Dehnen-type dark-matter profiles. We then convert these simulated waveforms into realistic data streams for future space-based gravitational-wave observatories, consistently implementing the second-generation Time-Delay Interferometry scheme in the analysis. We calculate the signal-to-noise ratios and perform a Bayesian parameter estimation to infer the model parameters, quantifying their measurability through the resulting posterior distributions. Our results indicate that the presence of dark matter can induce sizable modifications to the waveforms through the appearance of fluid modes at late times. Furthermore, dark-matter profiles with more pronounced spikes leave stronger imprints on the gravitational-wave signal, thereby enhancing the prospects for parameter inference with future space-based detectors such as LISA, Taiji, and TianQin.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Effectiveness of nonflow suppression using multi-particle correlators

As flow estimators, multi-particle correlators, particularly the higher-order ones, are generally regarded as effective tools for suppressing non-flow contributions. In this work, however, using two well-known toy models that simulate non-flow effects, we demonstrate that multi-particle correlators can, especially in small systems, yield estimates that deviate even further from the underlying flow harmonics than those obtained from other conventional approaches. The two toy models considered here are designed to mimic non-flow effects arising from particle decay and global momentum conservation, such that the {\it apparent} harmonic coefficients become significantly different from the {\it input} values. We provide an analytic explanation for the observed behavior of flow estimates based on multi-particle correlators. Specifically, in the toy model mimicking particle decay, we elucidate the oscillations observed in $v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$. For the other toy model simulating momentum conservation, we show that multi-particle cumulants introduce a deformation in the collective flow that is unique to multi-particle correlators. Additionally, we compare these results with those obtained using the maximum-likelihood estimation method, a recently proposed flow estimator that serves as a viable alternative to traditional techniques.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2026

Reflectionless and echo modes in asymmetric Damour-Solodukhin wormholes

It is understood that the echo waveforms in ultracompact objects can be regarded as composed mainly of the asymptotic high-overtone quasinormal modes, dubbed echo modes, which predominantly lie parallel to the real frequency axis. Alternatively, Rosato {\it et al.} recently suggested that high-frequency quasi-reflectionless scattering modes are primarily responsible for the echo phenomenon. In this work, by extending the definition of quasi-reflectionless modes to reflectionless ones and generalizing symmetric Damour-Solodukhin wormholes to asymmetric cases, we examine the underlying similarity between the reflectionless and echo mode spectra in the complex frequency plane. Through a primarily analytical treatment, we demonstrate that the asymptotic properties of these two spectra exhibit a strong resemblance, featuring an approximately uniform distribution parallel to the real frequency axis with the same spacing between successive modes. Specifically, the real parts of echo modes coincide with those of reflectionless modes at the limit $|\mathrm{Re}ω| \gg |\mathrm{Im}ω|$. While echo modes typically possess non-vanishing imaginary parts, the reflectionless modes of symmetric Damour-Solodukhin wormholes lie precisely on the real frequency axis, with any deviation serving as a measure of the degree of asymmetry of the wormhole. For a given identical source, the waveforms are calculated numerically using the Green's functions. The amplitudes of the waveforms associated with reflectionless modes are found to be more pronounced than those of the echo modes, because reflectionless modes typically lie closer to the real frequency axis than the latter. It is argued that both perspectives provide effective tools for describing the echo phenomenon.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

FluxMC: Rapid and High-Fidelity Inference for Space-Based Gravitational-Wave Observations

Bayesian inference in the physical sciences faces a fundamental challenge: the imperative for high-fidelity physical modeling often clashes with the intrinsic limitations of stochastic sampling algorithms. Complex, high-dimensional parameter spaces expose the universal vulnerability of conventional methods, e.g., Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), which struggle with the prohibitive costs of likelihood evaluations and the risk of entrapment in local optima. To resolve this impasse, we introduce FluxMC (Flow-guided Unbiased eXploration Monte Carlo), a machine learning-enhanced framework designed to shift the inference paradigm from blind local search to globally guided transport. It integrates Flow Matching with Parallel Tempering MCMC, effectively combining the global foresight of generative AI with the rigorous asymptotic convergence and local robustness of temperature-based sampling. We showcase the efficacy of this framework through the lens of space-based gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy -- a field representing the frontier of challenging parameter inversion. In the analysis of massive black hole binaries using high-fidelity waveforms (IMRPhenomHM), FluxMC achieves robust convergence in under five hours, whereas traditional Parallel Tempering MCMC fails to converge even after hundreds of hours, yielding high Jensen-Shannon divergences (JSD) of $O(10^{-1})$. Our method reduces the distributional error by two to three orders of magnitude. Furthermore, for computationally efficient models (IMRPhenomD), it eliminates systematic biases caused by local-optima entrapment. Ultimately, FluxMC removes the necessity to compromise between model accuracy and analysis speed, establishing a new computational foundation where scientific discovery is limited only by observational data quality, not by algorithmic capacity.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2026

On the mapping between bound states and black hole quasinormal modes via analytic continuation: a spectral instability perspective

In this work, we investigate the relation between bound states and quasinormal modes within black hole perturbation theory in the context of spectral instability. Our analysis indicates that the reliability of such spectral mapping stretches beyond the domain of validity of the analytic continuation employed to connect the perturbative bound-state problem to the corresponding open-system dynamics. However, for the numerical scheme proposed by Völkel to work, the transformations of the metric parameters must be carried out in a region where the underlying Taylor expansion is convergent. As analytically accessible explicit examples, we explore the perturbed delta-function and Pöschl-Teller potential barriers. For the latter, we construct two distinct perturbative setups for which the convergence of the series expansion involved in the perturbation theory can be rigorously controlled. When the deformation is placed near the potential's extremum, the resulting corrections to the bound-state energies can be analytically continued to yield perturbed quasinormal frequencies, in agreement with known semi-analytic results. In contrast, when the perturbation is localized asymptotically far from the compact object, the bound states are only mildly modified and are accurately described by a perturbative expansion to the first order. However, the associated analytic continuation yields a strongly deformed spectrum that shows no clear connection to the quasinormal modes. These findings contribute to the effort to scrutinize the conditions under which bound states faithfully encode quasinormal spectra and to shed light on the underlying physics of black hole spectral instability.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Nonflow suppression in flow analysis with a maximum likelihood estimator

We show that the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is an effective tool for mitigating non-flow effects in flow analysis. To this end, one constructs two toy models that simulate non-flow contributions corresponding to particle decay and momentum conservation, respectively. The performance of MLE is analyzed by comparing it against standard approaches such as particle correlation and event plane methods. For both cases, MLE is observed to provide a reasonable estimate of the underlying flow harmonics, and in particular, its performance can be further improved when the specific form of the likelihood in the presence of non-flow can be assessed. The dependencies of extracted flow harmonics on the multiplicity of individual events and the total number of events are analyzed. Additionally, it is shown that the proposed approach performs efficiently in addressing deficiencies in detector acceptance. These findings suggest MLE as a compelling alternative to standard methods for flow analysis.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2026

QNM families: classification and competition

The perturbation spectra of black holes beyond standard vacuum black hole solutions within generalrelativity (GR) may exhibit complex structures with long-lived modes. This usually generates echolikemodulations on the ringdown signal, which typically originate from modified boundary conditionsassociated with exotic compact objects. Recent studies also reveal that they can instead arise from themultipeaked structure of the perturbation potential. However, while some case-by-case studies have beencarried out, a framework for understanding the internal structure of such spectra, the physical nature ofdifferent mode families, and their dynamical excitation remains to be fully systematized. In this paper,we address this issue by proposing a potential methodology that combines frequency-domainclassification with time-domain analysis, using a hairy Schwarzschild black hole that admits adouble-peak perturbative potential as a theoretical platform. Our analysis of the quasinormal modespectrum identifies two distinct families of modes: the photon sphere (PS) family, arising fromdelocalized scattering resonances, and the echo family, corresponding to highly localized quasiboundstates. We then develop a windowed energy analysis framework in the time domain, which discloses adynamic competition for dominance between these families. In particular, our results explicitly showthat this competition is sensitive to the properties of the initial perturbation source, and that higher-overtone echo modes can dominate in the observed signal, which are in contrast to the standard PS modein GR. This study establishes the dynamic evolution of this energy competition as a new observationalsignature for probing new physics and further motivates a supplemental framework for analyzing long-lived ringdown signals.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Continued fraction method for high overtone quasinormal modes in effective potentials with discontinuity

In this study, we extend Leaver's continued fraction method to evaluate black hole quasinormal modes (QNMs) in systems where the effective potential exhibits a discontinuity. Besides the low-lying modes, we particularly focus on high overtones, which are physically pertinent due to the substantial deformation of the QNM spectrum triggered by spectral instability. In our algorithm, we expand the wavefunction at the point of discontinuity, instead of the black hole horizon, and incorporate the Israel-Lanczos-Sen junction conditions. %As the wavefunction convergence condition becomes irrelevant, our proposed algorithm generalizes the original method by expanding the wavefunctions at the point of discontinuity, and the associated difficulty is mitigated by rectifying the recurrence relations between the expansion coefficients to incorporate the Israel-Lanczos-Sen junction conditions. We apply this algorithm to compute the QNMs of the modified Regge-Wheeler potential up to $2000$ modes with high precision. For the low-lying modes, the numerical results show excellent agreement with those obtained using the matrix and Prony methods. The high overtones are significantly deformed, owing to the presence of echoes due to the discontinuity. This deformation in the asymptotic QNM spectrum reveals universal features that are largely independent of the specific form of the discontinuity in the potential, seemingly coinciding with those observed in the modified Pöschl-Teller effective potential. We speculate on whether the collective effect of the high overtones has an observational impact on gravitational wave signals.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Bayesian inference for tidal heating with extreme mass ratio inspirals

Extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs) provide unique probes of near-horizon dissipation through the tidal heating. We present a full Bayesian analysis of tidal heating in equatorial eccentric EMRIs by performing injection-recovery studies and inferring posterior constraints on the reflectivity parameter $|\mathcal{R}|^2$ while sampling in the full EMRI parameter space. We find that in the strong-field regime the posterior uncertainties are smaller, indicating a stronger constraining capability on the tidal heating. Using two-year signals with an optimal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of $ρ=50$, EMRIs can put bounds on $|\mathcal{R}|^2$ at the level of $10^{-3}$--$ 10^{-4}$ for a rapidly spinning central object. Moreover, we show that neglecting the tidal heating can induce clear systematic biases in the intrinsic parameters of the EMRI system. These results establish EMRIs as promising precision probes for detecting and constraining black hole event horizons.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

On the instability of the fundamental mode of the Regge-Wheeler effective potential

It was recently pointed out that the fundamental mode of the Regge-Wheeler effective potential is unstable against an insignificant Gaussian metric perturbation, which, in turn, might substantially challenge the black hole spectroscopy. This intriguing result has been interpreted by some authors as arising from essentially replacing the black hole's effective potential and its perturbation with two disjoint potential barriers. We argue that such an analysis may have oversimplified the real physical scenario. To be more precise, a metric perturbation planted farther away from the black hole horizon might not always be appropriately approximated by a disjoint minor barrier. Particularly, for the perturbed Pöschl-Teller potential, joint and disjoint metric perturbations might lead to drastically different stability properties for the low-lying modes. Following this line of thought, this study conducts a refined analysis of the stability of the fundamental mode of the Regge-Wheeler effective potential by closely examining a few physically relevant ingredients. While our analysis qualitatively confirms the main findings of previous studies, as the stability of the fundamental mode is primarily determined by the imaginary part of the quasinormal frequency, we show that specific features of both the effective potential at spatial infinity and the metric perturbation can have a sizable impact on the instability. In contrast, the spiral period, governed by the real part of the quasinormal frequency, appears largely insensitive to the details of the black hole metric or its perturbations. The analytic estimates are in reasonable agreement with the numerical results.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Asymptotic quasinormal modes, echoes, and black hole spectral instability: a brief review

We present a short review of the analytical aspects of recent progress in the study of black hole spectral instability and its potential observational consequences. This topic, inspired by earlier foundational works, has attracted considerable attention in the recent literature. It has been demonstrated that both the low-lying modes and high overtones of black hole quasinormal spectra can be substantially influenced by small deformations in the effective potential of the wave equation that describes black hole perturbations. The temporal evolution of gravitational wave signals is primarily governed by the first few low-lying quasinormal modes. In contrast, the asymptotic behavior of high overtones is closely associated with the phenomenon of black hole echoes. We review relevant studies on spectral instability in both regimes, highlighting their potential to produce substantial observational signatures in gravitational wave data. Additionally, recent proposals of Regge poles and reflectionless modes as alternative stable observables for probing black hole spacetimes are summarized.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

On Hyperboloidal Foliations in the Study of Black Hole Quasinormal Modes

In this work, we demonstrate that the hyperboloidal foliation technique, applied to the study of black hole quasinormal modes, where the spatial boundary is shifted from spacelike infinity to the future event horizon and null infinity, is effectively equivalent to the continued fraction approach, in which the asymptotic wave function typically diverges at both ends of spatial infinity. Specifically, a given hyperboloidal slicing, corresponding to a particular choice of coordinates, always uniquely determines a scheme for extracting the asymptotic form of the wave function at the spatial boundary. Owing to the mathematical equivalence, it follows that the efficiency and precision observed using the hyperboloidal approach should be attributed, not to avoiding the pathological behavior at the spatial boundaries, but primarily to other factors, such as the use of Chebyshev grids.

gr-qc↗