arXiv subjects

Xi-Jing Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Xi-Jing Wang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Evidence for Intermediate-Mass Black Holes From Microlensing Signatures in CHIME/FRB catalog 2

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are the missing link in the cosmic hierarchy of black holes, bridging the gap between stellar-mass black holes and supermassive ones. They also serve as unique laboratories for testing strong-field gravity and are prime targets for future multi-messenger observations. However, IMBHs are a population that has remained notoriously difficult to detect. The microlensing effect of fast radio bursts (FRBs) can serve as a clean and powerful method to probe IMBHs. In this work, we develop a pipeline to search for microlensed FRBs based on their dynamic spectra and apply it to the CHIME/FRB Catalog 2. Two microlensing signatures have been identified in two separate sources, i.e. FRB~20190131D and FRB~20211115A. The inferred lens masses for these two signatures are $\sim[280-467]~M_{\odot}$ and $\sim[539-609]~M_{\odot}$, respectively. Here we interpret them as evidence for IMBHs. If there are no intervening structures-such as galaxies or clusters-along the line of sights for these two sources, the two identified IMBHs might be isolated and of primordial origins. In that case, we obtain primordial black holes (PBHs) within these two mass ranges would constitute $\sim4\%$ of dark matter. Moreover, if these two candidates are not genuine lensing signatures, the abundance of intermediate-mass PBHs with masses $>300,M_{\odot}$ is constrained to be $\sim13\%$ at $95\%$ confidence level. Therefore, more comprehensive observational information for FRBs, together with a deeper understanding of whether the intrinsic emission mechanisms of FRBs can produce lensing-like signals, will be crucial for establishing this effect as a powerful tool for probing (primordial) IMBHs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Gravitational waveforms from periodic orbits around a novel regular black hole

We explore potential quantum gravity signatures by studying periodic orbits and their GW emissions around a novel regular black hole (BH) featuring a Minkowski core. Using a rational number $q$, periodic orbits are classified, revealing that the deviation parameter $α_0$ reshapes the bound-orbit region while preserving characteristic ``zoom-whirl" structures. Numerical kludge waveforms reveal detectable phase shifts and amplitude modulations induced by quantum gravity effects with radiation reaction breaking orbital periodicity. Faithfulness analysis demonstrates that larger $α_{0}$ and $q$ enhance distinguishability from the Schwarzschild case, and a comparison with Hayward and quantum Oppenheimer-Snyder BHs shows their similar large-scale behaviors yield macroscopically indistinguishable orbits and waveforms.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

Testing supermassive primordial black holes with lensing signals of binary black hole merges

Next-generation ground-based gravitational wave (GW) detectors are expected to observe millions of binary black hole mergers, a fraction of which will be strongly lensed by intervening galaxies or clusters, producing multiple images with characteristic distribution of time delay. Importantly, the predicted rate and properties of such events are sensitive to the abundance and distribution of strong lensing objects which directly depends on cosmological models. One such scenario posits the existence of supermassive primordial black holes (SMPBHs) in the early universe, which would enhance the formation of dark matter halos. This mechanism has been proposed to explain the abundance of high-redshift galaxies observed by James Webb Space Telescope. Crucially, the same cosmological model with SMPBHs would also leave a distinct imprint on the population of strongly lensed GWs. It predicts both an increased event rate and a modified distribution of time delays between the multiple images. Therefore, we propose statistical measurements of the rate and time delay distribution of strong lensing GW events as a powerful probe to directly constrain the abundance of SMPBHs. Considering $Λ$CDM cosmology with (non-)clustered SMPBHs, we find that the abundance of SMPBHs $f_{\rm PBH}$ with masses above $10^8~M_{\odot}$ is constrained to be $\sim10^{-4}$ at $95\%$ confidence level. It will be comparable and complementary to the currently available constraint from large scale structure observations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Exploring black holes with multiple photon spheres by interferometric signatures

In this paper, we investigate the interferometric signatures of hairy Schwarzschild black holes (hSBHs) that have either single or double photon spheres. Our interest mainly stems from two considerations: (i) the photon ring structure in black hole images produces strong and universal interferometric signatures on long baselines, enabling precision measurements of black hole parameters and testing gravitational theory; (ii) the hSBH describes the deformation of standard Schwarzschild black hole (SBH) induced by additional sources, and they can feature double photon spheres within certain parameter regimes. Using both analytical and numerical methods, we find that for a hSBH with a single photon sphere, the complex visibility amplitude of the image exhibits damped oscillations. A similar behavior appears in the double photon sphere case when the inner photon sphere has lower effective potential than the outer one, as the photons near the inner photon sphere remain trapped by gravity. However, when the inner potential is higher, a beat pattern rises. Our findings reveal that the complex visibility amplitude can encode the signature of the photon sphere structure of the central black hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Constraints on Compact Dark Matter Population from Micro-lensing Effect of Gravitational Wave for the third-generation gravitational Wave Detector

Since the pioneering detection of gravitational wave (GW) from a binary black hole merger by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration, GW has become a powerful probe for astrophysics and cosmology. If compact dark matter (DM) candidates, e.g. primordial black holes, contribute a substantial fraction of the DM component across a broad mass range, they would yield distinctive micro-lensing signatures on GW signals. In this paper, based on the third-generation ground-based GW detector, i.e. Einstein Telescope, we propose to constrain population information of compact DM by simulating micro-lensing GWs and analyzing with the hierarchical Bayesian inference framework. For a population with a power-law mass function, we demonstrate that detections of several micro-lensing GW signals in $10^4$ binary black holes coalescence events would constrain the abundance of compact DM to $\sim10^{-3}$. It suggests that searching for and identifying micro-lensing signatures in future detections could be complementary and helpful in constraining compact DM scenarios.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Effects of hair on the image of a rotating black hole illuminated by a thin accretion disk

In this paper, we investigate the shadow and optical appearance of the hairy Kerr black hole illuminated by a thin accretion disk, the materials of which outside the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) move on the equatorial circular orbit, while inside the ISCO they quickly plunge into the black hole. The deformation parameter $α$ and hair parameter $l_o$ are found to influence the motions of accretion as well as the redshift effect of the photon, such that they significantly affect the shadow and image of the hairy Kerr black hole. Especially, these two parameters have competing effects on the size of the black hole's shadow, and significantly increase the width of photon ring. This study provides a preliminary theoretical prediction that the image of the hairy Kerr black hole, especially the photon ring structure, may be used to constrain the hair parameters with future high-precision astronomical observation.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Observational appearances of an inner extremal regular black hole illuminated by various accretion flows

This paper investigates the observational appearances of an inner extremal regular black hole(IERBH) illuminated by various types of accretion models. The study reveals that when the BH is illuminated by specific accretion flows, the effects of quantum gravity become more pronounced,significantly impacting key observational features such as the shadow radius, photon ring, and total observed intensity. Specifically, the introduction of a more realistic radially infalling spherical accretion flow further accentuates these differences. This dynamic flow results in a darker central region in the BH image due to the Doppler effect, which modulates the observed intensity based on the relative motion of the infalling matter. The shadow radius and total observed intensity are notably affected by the quantum correction parameters, providing additional signatures that distinguish regular BHs from their classical counterparts.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Distinguishing black holes with and without spontaneous scalarization in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theories via optical features

Spontaneous scalarization in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory admits both vacuum-general relativity (GR) and scalarized hairy black holes as valid solutions, which provides a distinctive signature of new physics in strong gravity regime. In this paper, we shall examine the optical features of Gauss-Bonnet black holes with spontaneous scalarization, which is governed by the coupling parameter $λ$. We find that the photon sphere, critical impact parameter and innermost stable circular orbit all decrease as the increasing of $λ$. Using observable data from Event Horizon Telescope, we establish the upper limit for $λ$. Then we construct the optical appearances of the scalarized black holes illuminated by various thin accretions. Our findings reveal that the scalarized black holes consistently exhibit smaller shadow sizes and reduced brightness compared to Schwarzschild black holes. Notably, in the case of thin spherical accretion, the shadow of the scalarized black hole is smaller, but the surrounding bright ring is more pronounced. Our results highlight the observable features of the scalarized black holes, providing a distinguishable probe from their counterpart in GR in strong gravity regime.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Using the shadow of a black hole to examine the energy exchange between axion matter and a rotating black hole

We find that a \textit{slowly} rotating axion-modified black hole resulting from the backreaction of an axion field on a rotating Kerr black hole can have a \textit{D-shaped} shadow as that for a \textit{highly} counter-rotating Kerr black hole. This attributes to the fact that the energy exchange between the axion matter and the black hole influences the rotation of the black hole, so the black hole angular momentum first decreases to zero and then the black hole starts to rotate to the opposite direction. Further increasing the coupling leads to \textit{``human-face-like" shaped} shadows and new lensing due to the chaotic scattering, which are novel and drastically different from Kerr black hole. Our analysis provides the first counterexample to that slowly rotating black hole has nearly circular shadow.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Images of hairy Reissner-Nordström black hole illuminated by static accretions

We investigate the shadow and optical appearance of the hairy Reissner-Nordström (RN) black hole illuminated by two toy models of static accretion. The hairy RN black hole was constructed in the gravitation decoupling approach to describe the deformation of a Schwarzschild black hole due to the inclusion of additional arbitrary source (scalar field, tensor field, fluidlike dark matter, etc). So it is characterized by the parameters: mass ($M$), deformation factor ($α$), electric charge ($Q$) and the additional hairy charge ($l_o$), differentiating from the case in RN black hole. Though the specific background theory that results in this hairy RN black hole is still tricky, here we shall focus on the novel observable features introduced by the hair of this black hole. First, we find that for the hairy RN black hole, the event horizon, radius of photon sphere and critical impact parameter all increase as the increasings of $Q$ and $l_o$, but decrease as $α$ grows. The three characterized parameters are found to have significant effects on the photon trajectories, shadows and images of hairy RN black hole surrounded by the static accretion disk and spherical accretion, respectively. Particularly, both $Q$ and $l_o$ have mutually reinforcing effects on the optical appearance and shadows of the hairy RN black hole, which implies that we may not distinguish the electric charge and hairy charge from the shadow and image of black hole in this scenario. Additionally, because of the competing effects of the charge parameters ($Q, l_o$) and the deviation parameter $α$ on the observed intensities of brightness, the optical appearance between the hairy RN black hole and RN black hole could have degeneracies, indicating the indistinguishability. Our current results contribute more to the phenomenal aspects which could be helpful to build the background theory of hairy RN black hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Black holes with scalar hair: Extending from and beyond the Schwarzschild solution

We construct novel scalarized black hole (BH) solutions beyond the general relativity (GR) framework. These scalarized BH solutions are extended from the Schwarzschild one and the non-Schwarzschild one in the pure Einstein-Weyl gravity. By studying the BH entropy and free energy, we demonstrate that the scalarized BH extending from the Schwarzschild one exhibits thermodynamically preferred. We obtain these novel solutions by directly solving the full fourth-order equations of motion. This narrows the problematic solution space obtained by commonly adopted second-order reduction to physically valid spaces. Our findings also unveil the evasion of the no-hair theorem within the realm of higher-derivative gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Holographic superfluid with gauge-axion coupling

We have constructed a holographic superfluid with gauge-axion coupling. Depending on whether the coupling is positive or negative, the system displays metallic or insulating behavior in its normal state. A significant feature of the system is the appearance of a mid-IR peak in the alternating current (AC) conductivity in a certain range of parameters. This peak arises due to competition between explicit symmetry breaking (ESB) and spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB), which results in the presence of a pseudo-Goldstone mode. Moreover, a dip in low-frequency AC conductivity is observed, stemming from the excitation of the SSB Goldstone mode. In the superfluid phase, the effect of gauge-axion coupling on the condensation or superfluid energy gap is only amplified in the presence of strong momentum dissipation. Notably, for the case with negative gauge-axion coupling, a hard-gap-like behavior at low frequency and a pronounced peak at intermediate frequency are observed, indicating that the evolution of the superfluid component is distinct from that of positive coupling.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Images from disk and spherical accretions of hairy Schwarzschild black holes

A hairy Schwarzschild black hole describes the deformation of Schwarzschild black hole due to including additional sources. It is found that depending on the hairy parameters, the photons' configurations around this black hole can be classified into two cases, corresponding to the hairy Schwarzschild black hole with single photon sphere and double photon spheres, respectively. We focus on the shadows and images of the hairy Schwarzschild black hole under two types of static thin illuminations conditions: disk accretion and spherical accretion, respectively. Under both illuminations, the two hairy parameters ($α$ and $l_o$) have competitive effects on the shadow and optical appearance image of the hairy Schwarzschild black hole with single photon sphere. This means that even though the parameters have significant influences on the rings and shadows, its images with certain groups of $α$ and $l_o$ could be indistinguishable to that of Schwarzschild black hole, namely, the degeneracies of images raise between the hairy Schwarzschild black hole and Schwarzschild black hole. Moreover, the optical appearance image of the hairy Schwarzschild black hole with double photon spheres will exhibit new additional rings and accretion features, which {are not} present in the images of (hairy) Schwarzschild black hole with single photon sphere. Our theoretical studies on the rings and shadows provide a potential tool to differentiate the hairy Schwarzschild black hole with double photon spheres from Schwarzschild black hole, but they are not always helpful for the cases with single photon sphere due to the degeneracies.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Rings and images of Horndeski hairy black hole illuminated by various thin accretions

We analyze the light rays around a static hairy black hole in Horndeski gravity with the use of ray-tracing procedure. We find that a stronger Horndeski hairy parameter corresponds to larger photon sphere as well as critical impact parameter, and wider ranges of photon ring and lensed ring emissions. These influences can be robustly interpreted from the shape of the effective potential of the photon's radial motion. Based on the distribution of the light rays, we then investigate the optical appearances of the Horndeski hairy black hole surrounded by various thin accretions. Firstly, we consider that the Horndeski hairy black hole is illuminated by the optically and geometrically thin accretion disk. We carefully clarify the contributions from the direct, lensed ring and photon ring intensities to the total observed intensity via the transfer function, which is rarely discussed in this scenario. We find that the Horndeski hair has significant influences on both shadow size and distributions of direct, lensed ring and photon ring brightness in three standard emission profiles. As a result, the rings and images of Horndeski hairy black hole and the origination of their brightness differentiate from those of Schwarzschild black hole (SBH). Then, when the Horndeski hairy black hole is illuminated by thin spherical accretions, the hairy black hole's shadow surrounded by a bright ring is larger than that of SBH, but the brightness of ring is fainter. Similar to that of SBH, the size of hairy black hole shadow does not change as the radial moving of the spherical accretion, and the brightness for the infalling accretion is fainter than that for the static accretion due to the Doppler effect. Therefore, we argue that the black hole image consisting of the shadow and accretion construction could, in theory, reflect the observational differences between the Horndeski hairy black hole and SBH.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Transport properties in the Horndeski holographic two-currents model

The transport features of the holographic two-currents model are investigated in the Horndeski gravity framework. This system displays metallic or insulating characteristics depending on whether the Horndeski coupling parameter $γ$ is negative or positive, but is unaffected by other system parameters such as the strength of the momentum dissipation $\hat{k}$, the doping $χ$ and the coupling between two gauge fields $θ$. Secondly, we demonstrate that the thermal conductivities are affected not only by the inherent properties of the black hole, but also by the model parameters. Furthermore, we are particularly interested in the Lorentz ratios' properties. As expected, the Wiedemann-Franz (WF) law is violated, as it is in the majority of holographic systems. Particularly intriguing is the fact that several Lorentz ratio bounds reported in the typical axions model still remain true in our current theories. We would like to highlight out, however, that the lower bound for $\hat{\bar{L}}_A$ is affected by the system parameters $χ$, $θ$ and $γ$, which differs from the case of the typical axions model.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Shadow revisiting and weak gravitational lensing with Chern-Simons modification

Dynamical Chern-Simons (dCS) gravity has been attracting plenty of attentions due to the fact that it is a parity-violating modified theory of gravity that corresponds to a well-posed effective field theory in weak coupling approximation. In particular, a rotating black hole in dCS gravity is in contrast to the general relativistic counterparts. In this paper, we revisit the shadow of analytical rotating black hole spacetime in dCS modified gravity, based on which we study the shadow observables, discuss the constraint on the model parameters from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations, and analyze the real part of quasi-normal modes (QNMs) in the eikonal limit. In addition, we explore the deflection angle in weak gravitational field limit with the use of Gauss-Bonnet theorem. We find that the shadow related physics and the weak gravitational lensing effect are significantly influenced by the CS coupling, which could provide theoretical predictions for a future test of the dCS theory with EHT observations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

A novel holographic quantum phase transition and butterfly velocity

In this paper, we make a systematical and in-depth exploration on the phase structure and the behaviors of butterfly velocity in an Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton-axions (EMDA) model. Depending on the model parameter, there are two kinds of mechanisms driving quantum phase transition (QPT) in this model. One is the infrared (IR) geometry to be renormalization group (RG) unstable, and the other is the strength of lattice deformation leading to some kind of bifurcating solution. We also find a novel QPT in the metal phases. The study on the behavior of the butterfly velocity crossing QPT indicates that the butterfly velocity or its first derivative exhibiting local extreme depends on the QPT mechanism. Further, the scaling behaviors of the butterfly velocity in the zero-temperature limit confirm that different phases are controlled by different IR geometries. Therefore, the butterfly velocity is a good probe to QPT and it also provides a possible way to study QPT beyond holography.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Transport properties of a $3$-dimensional holographic effective theory with gauge-axion coupling

In this paper, we implement a $3$-dimensional holographic effective theory with gauge-axion coupling. The analytical black hole solution is worked out. We investigate the Direct current (DC) thermoelectric conductivities. A novel property is that DC electric conductivity for vanishing gauge-axion coupling is temperature dependent. It is different from that of $4$-dimensional axion model whose DC electric conductivity is temperature independent. In addition, the gauge-axion coupling induces a metal insulator transition (MIT) at zero temperature. The properties of other DC thermoelectric conductivities are also discussed. Moreover we find that the Wiedemann-Franz (WF) law is violated in our model.

hep-th↗