arXiv subjects

Xian Hou

Publications and source records attributed to Xian Hou.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Search for $γ$-ray emission from dark matter particle interactions from Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

The Andromeda (M31) and Triangulum (M33) galaxies are the closest Local Group galaxies to the Milky Way, being only 785 and 870 kpc away. These two galaxies provide an independent view of high-energy processes that are often obscured in our own Galaxy, including possible signals of dark matter (DM) particle interactions. The Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) preliminary eight year list of sources includes both M31, which is detected as extended with a size of about 0.4$^\circ$, and M33, which is detected as a point-like source. The spatial morphology of M31 $γ$-ray emission could trace a population of unresolved sources and energetic particles originating in sources not related to massive star formation. Alternatively, the $γ$-ray emission could also be an indication of annihilation or decay of DM particles. We investigate these two possibilities using almost 10 years of data from the Fermi LAT. An interpretation that involves only a DM $γ$-ray emission is in tension with the current limits from other searches, such as those targeting Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies. When we include a template of astrophysical emission, tuned on $γ$-ray data or from observations of these galaxies in other wavelengths, we do not find any significant evidence for a DM contribution and we set limits for the annihilation cross section that probe the thermal cross section for DM masses up to a few tens of GeV in the $b\bar{b}$ and $τ^+τ^-$ channels. For models where the DM substructures have masses above $10^{-6}$ solar masses our limits probe the DM interpretation of the Fermi LAT Galactic center excess. We provide also the lower limit for the DM decay time assuming the same spatial models of the DM distribution in M31 and M33.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

A scenario on the power-law total mass-density profile of the inner regions of early-type-galaxies

We naturally obtain a power-law total mass-density profile for the inner regions (within several effective radius) of early-type galaxies(ETGs) from space-time structures, which are described by the static spherically-symmetric solutions of Einstein equations with the perfect fluid matters. We point out that, in the inner region of an early type galaxy, the average value of the equation of state $ω$ determines the power-law index $γ$ of the total mass-density profile given by \cite{2006ApJ...649..599K}. We then use 119 galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lensing systems from SLACS, BELLS, BELLS GALLERY and SL2S, to constrain the equation of state $ω$ for the inner regions of ETGs. We find that the average value of $ω$ for totally 119 ETGs is $ω=-0.315\pm0.073$ (68\% CL), which is very close to $-1/3$. If $ω=-1/3$ is the best value to describe the equation of state of the inner regions of the dark matter in galaxies, the deviation from $-1/3$ could represent the mixture of baryonic matter and dark matter in galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Rotating Black Hole Shadow in Perfect Fluid Dark Matter

We study analytically the shadow cast by the rotating black hole in the perfect fluid dark matter. The apparent shape of the shadow depends upon the black hole spin $a$ and the perfect fluid dark matter intensity parameter $k$ ($k>0$). In general, the shadow is a perfect circle in the non-rotating case ($a=0$) and a deformed one in the rotating case ($a\neq 0$). The deformation gets more and more significant with the increasing $a$, similar to the Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes. In addition, there exists a reflection point $k_0$. When $k k_0$, the size of the shadow increases with the increasing $k$ and the distortion decreases with the increasing $k$. Furthermore, the energy emission rate of the black hole in the perfect fluid dark matter increases with the increasing $k$ and the peak of the emission shifts to higher frequencies. Finally, we propose that to observe the effect of the black hole spin $a$ and the perfect fluid dark matter intensity $k$ on the shadow of the black hole Sgr A$^{*}$ at the center of the Milky Way, highly improved techniques would be necessary for the development of future astronomical instruments.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Multi-wavelength observations of a new redback millisecond pulsar candidate: 3FGL J0954.8-3948

We present a multi-wavelength study of the unassociated Fermi-LAT source, 3FGL J0954.8-3948, which is likely the gamma-ray counterpart of a 9.3-hour binary in the field. With more than 9 years of Pass 8 LAT data, we updated the gamma-ray spectral properties and the LAT localization of the gamma-ray source. While the binary lies outside the cataloged 95% error ellipse, the optimized LAT ellipse is 0.1 degrees closer and encloses the binary. The system is likely spectrally hard in X-rays (photon index ~ 1.4) with orbital modulations detected in optical, UV, and possibly X-rays. A steep spectrum radio counterpart (spectral index ~ -1.6) is also found in the TIFR GMRT Sky Survey (TGSS), implying that it is a pulsar system. We obtained a series of SOAR and Gemini spectroscopic observations in 2017/2018, which show a low-mass secondary orbiting in a close circular orbit with K2 = 272 km/s under strong irradiation by the primary compact object. All the observations as well as the modelling of the X/gamma-ray high-energy emission suggest that 3FGL J0954.8-3948 is a redback millisecond pulsar in a rotation-powered state.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Black Hole Shadow of Sgr A$^{*}$ in Dark Matter Halo

We study, for the first time, the shadow of the supermassive black hole Sgr A$^{*}$ at the center of the Milky Way in dark matter halos. For the Cold Dark Matter and Scalar Field Dark Matter models considered in this work, the apparent shape of the shadow depends upon the black hole spin $a$ and the dark matter parameter $k$. We find that both dark matter models influence the shadow in a similar way. The shadow is a perfect circle in the non-rotating case ($a=0$) and a deformed one in the rotating case ($a\neq0$). The size of the shadow increases with increasing $k$ in both non-rotating and rotating cases, while the shadow gets more and more distorted with increasing $a$ in the rotating case. We further investigate the black hole emission rate in both dark matter halos. We find that the emission rate decreases with increasing $k$ and the peak of the emission shifts to lower frequency. Finally, by calculating the angular radius of the shadow, we estimate that the dark matter halo could influence the shadow of Sgr A$^{*}$ at a level of order of magnitude of $10^{-3}$ $μ$as and $10^{-5}$ $μ$as, for CDM and SFDM, respectively. Future astronomical instruments with high angular resolution would be able to observe this effect and shed light on the nature of Sgr A$^{*}$. More interestingly, it may be possible to distinguish between CDM and SFDM models given the resolutions required differing by two orders of magnitude from each other.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Possibility of Identifying Matter around Rotating Black Hole with Black Hole Shadow

Shadows cast by the rotating black hole in perfect fluid matter are studied using analytical method. We consider three kinds of matter with standard equation of state in Cosmology: $-1/3$ (dark matter), 0 (dust) and $1/3$ (radiation). The apparent shape of the shadow depends on the black hole spin $a$ and the perfect fluid matter intensity $k$. We find that the shadow is a perfect circle in the non-rotating case ($a=0$) and a distorted one in the rotating case ($a\neq0$), similar to what is found for other black holes. Interestingly, different kinds of matter have different influence on the black hole shadow. Dark matter has the strongest effect, dust is the next and radiation is the weakest. By applying our result to the black hole Sgr A$^{*}$ at the center of the Milky Way, we find that the angular resolution required to distinguish among different kinds of matter around the black hole is not much higher than the resolution of current astronomical instruments would be able to achieve in the near future. We propose that observing the black hole shadow provides a possibility of identifying the dominant matter near the black hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Perfect fluid dark matter influence on thermodynamics and phase transition for a Reissner-Nordstrom-anti-de Sitter black hole

Based on Reissner-Nordstrom-anti-de Sitter(RN-AdS) black hole surrounded by perfect fluid dark matter, we study the thermodynamics and phase transition by extending the phase space defined by the charge square $Q^{2}$ and the conjugate quantity $ψ$, where $ψ$ is a function of horizon radius. The first law of thermodynamics and the equation of state are derived in the form $Q^{2}=Q^{2}(T,ψ)$. By investigating the critical behaviour of perfect fluid dark matter around Reissner-Nordstrom-anti-de Sitter black hole, we find that these thermodynamics system are similar to Van der Waals system, and can be explained by mean field theory. We also explore the Ruppeiner thermodynamic geometry feature and their connection with microscopic structure. We find that in extended phase space there existence singularity points of Ruppeiner curvature and it's could explained as phase transitions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Millisecond pulsar origin of the Galactic center excess and extended gamma-ray emission from Andromeda - a closer look

A new measurement of a spatially extended gamma-ray signal from the center of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) has been recently published by the Fermi-LAT collaboration, reporting that the emission broadly resembles the so-called Galactic center excess (GCE) of the Milky Way (MW). At the same time, evidence is accumulating on a millisecond pulsar (MSPs) origin for the GCE. These elements prompt us to compare the mentioned observations with what is, perhaps, the simplest model for an MSP population, solely obtained by rescaling of the MSP luminosity function determined in the local MW disk via the respective stellar mass of the systems. It is remarkable that without free fitting parameters, this model can account for both the energetics and the morphology of the GCE within uncertainties. For M31, the estimated luminosity due to primordial MSPs is expected to contribute only about a quarter of the detected emission, although a dominant contribution cannot be excluded given the large uncertainties. If correct, the model predicts that the M31 disk emission due to MSP is not far below the present upper bound. We also discuss a few refinements of this simple model. In particular, we use the correlation between globular cluster gamma-ray luminosity and stellar encounter rate to gauge the dynamical MSP formation in the bulge. This component is expected to contribute to the GCE only at a level $\lesssim 5\%$, but it may be of some importance in explaining the signal's morphology in the inner region of the Galaxy. We also comment on some effects which may lead to violations of the simple scaling used, on alternative models, and on future perspectives for improved diagnostics.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Black Hole Space-time In Dark Matter Halo

For the first time, we obtain the analytical form of black hole space-time metric in dark matter halo for the stationary situation. Using the relation between the rotation velocity (in the equatorial plane) and the spherical symmetric space-time metric coefficient, we obtain the space-time metric for pure dark matter. By considering the dark matter halo in spherical symmetric space-time as part of the energy-momentum tensors in the Einstein field equation, we then obtain the spherical symmetric black hole solutions in dark matter halo. Utilizing Newman-Jains method, we further generalize spherical symmetric black holes to rotational black holes. As examples, we obtain the space-time metric of black holes surrounded by Cold Dark Matter and Scalar Field Dark Matter halos, respectively. Our main results regarding the interaction between black hole and dark matter halo are as follows: (i) For both dark matter models, the density profile always produces "cusp" phenomenon in small scale in the relativity situation; (ii) Dark matter halo makes the black hole horizon to increase but the ergosphere to decrease, while the magnitude is small; (iii) Dark matter does not change the singularity of black holes. These results are useful to study the interaction of black hole and dark matter halo in stationary situation. Particularly, the "cusp" produced in the $0\sim 1$ kpc scale would be observable in the Milky Way. Perspectives on future work regarding the applications of our results in astrophysics are also briefly discussed.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Kerr-Anti-De-Sitter/De-Sitter Black Hole In Perfect Fluid Dark Matter Background

We obtain the Kerr-anti-de-sitter (Kerr-AdS) and Kerr-de-sitter (Kerr-dS) black hole (BH) solutions to the Einstein field equation in the perfect fluid dark matter background using the Newman-Janis method and Mathematica package. We discuss in detail the black hole properties and obtain the following main results: (i) From the horizon equation $g_{rr}=0$, we derive the relation between the perfect fluid dark matter parameter $α$ and the cosmological constant $Λ$ when the cosmological horizon $r_Λ$ exists. For $Λ=0$, we find that $α$ is in the range $0<α<2M$ for $α>0$ and $-7.18M<α<0$ for $α<0$. For positive cosmological constant $Λ$ (Kerr-AdS BH), $α_{max}$ decreases if $α>0$, and $α_{min}$ increases if $α<0$. For negative cosmological constant $-Λ$ (Kerr-dS BH), $α_{max}$ increases if $α>0$ and $α_{min}$ decreases if $α<0$; (ii) An ergosphere exists between the event horizon and the outer static limit surface. The size of the ergosphere evolves oppositely for $α>0$ and $α<0$, while decreasing with the increasing $\midα\mid$. When there is sufficient dark matter around the black hole, the black hole spacetime changes remarkably; (iii) The singularity of these black holes is the same as that of rotational black holes. In addition, we study the geodesic motion using the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism and find that when $α$ is in the above ranges for $Λ=0$, stable orbits exist. Furthermore, the rotational velocity of the black hole in the equatorial plane has different behaviour for different $α$ and the black hole spin $a$. It is asymptotically flat and independent of $α$ if $α>0$ while is asymptotically flat only when $α$ is close to zero if $α<0$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

GeV detection of HESS J0632+057

HESS J0632+057 is the only gamma-ray binary that has been detected at TeV energies, but not at GeV energies yet. Based on nearly nine years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) Pass 8 data, we report here on a deep search for the gamma-ray emission from HESS J0632+057 in the 0.1-300 GeV energy range. We find a previously unknown gamma-ray source, Fermi J0632.6+0548, spatially coincident with HESS J0632+057. The measured flux of Fermi J0632.6+0548 is consistent with the previous flux upper limit on HESS J0632+057 and shows variability that can be related to the HESS J0632+057 orbital phase. We propose that Fermi J0632.6+0548 is the GeV counterpart of HESS J0632+057. Considering the Very High Energy (VHE) spectrum of HESS J0632+057, a possible spectral turnover above 10 GeV may exist in Fermi J0632.6+0548, as appears to be common in other established gamma-ray binaries.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Discovery of a Redback Millisecond Pulsar Candidate: 3FGL J0212.1+5320

We present a multi-wavelength study of the unidentified Fermi object, 3FGL J0212.1+5320. Within the 95% error ellipse, Chandra detects a bright X-ray source (i.e., F(0.5-7keV) = 1.4e-12 erg/cm^2/s), which has a low-mass optical counterpart (M < 0.4 Msun and T ~ 6000 K). A clear ellipsoidal modulation is shown in optical/infrared at 20.87 hours. The gamma-ray properties of 3FGL J0212.1+5320 are all consistent with that of a millisecond pulsar, suggesting that it is a gamma-ray redback millisecond pulsar binary with a low-mass companion filling > 64% of the Roche-lobe. If confirmed, it will be a redback binary with one of the longest orbital periods known. Spectroscopic data taken in 2015 from the Lijiang observatory show no evidence of strong emission lines, revealing that the accretion is currently inactive (the rotation-powered pulsar state). This is consistent with the low X-ray luminosities (Lx ~ 10^32 erg/s) and the possible X-ray modulation seen by Chandra and Swift. Considering that the X-ray luminosity and the high X-ray-to-gamma-ray flux ratio (8%) are both comparable to that of the two known gamma-ray transitional millisecond pulsars, we suspect that 3FGL J0212.1+5320 could be a potential target to search for future transition to the accretion active state.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Search for gamma-ray emission from AE Aquarii with seven years of FERMI-LAT observations

AE Aquarii (AE Aqr) is a cataclysmic binary hosting one of the fastest rotating (P$_{\rm spin}$ = 33.08 s) white dwarfs known. Based on seven years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) Pass 8 data, we report on a deep search for gamma-ray emission from AE Aqr. Using X-ray observations from ASCA, XMM-Newton, Chandra, Swift, Suzaku, and NuSTAR, spanning 20 years, we substantially extend and improve the spin ephemeris of AE Aqr. Using this ephemeris, we searched for gamma-ray pulsations at the spin period of the white dwarf. No gamma-ray pulsations were detected above 3 $σ$ significance. Neither phase-averaged gamma-ray emission nor gamma-ray variability of AE Aquarii is detected by Fermi-LAT. We impose the most restrictive upper limit to the gamma-ray flux from AE Aqr to date: $1.3\times 10^{-12}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ in the 100 MeV-300 GeV energy range, providing constraints on models.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Beyond the 2nd Fermi Pulsar Catalog

Over thirteen times more gamma-ray pulsars have now been studied with the Large Area Telescope on NASA's Fermi satellite than the ten seen with the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory in the nineteen-nineties. The large sample is diverse, allowing better understanding both of the pulsars themselves and of their roles in various cosmic processes. Here we explore the prospects for even more gamma-ray pulsars as Fermi enters the 2nd half of its nominal ten-year mission. New pulsars will naturally tend to be fainter than the first ones discovered. Some of them will have unusual characteristics compared to the current population, which may help discriminate between models. We illustrate a vision of the future with a sample of six pulsars discovered after the 2nd Fermi Pulsar Catalog was written.

astro-ph.HE↗