arXiv subjects

Xiao-Feng Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Xiao-Feng Wang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Minutes-long soft X-ray prompt emission from a compact object merger

Compact object mergers are multi-messenger sources and known progenitors of some gamma-ray bursts, bright flashes of high-energy radiation powered by a central engine, either an accreting black hole or a neutron star. Our understanding of these events has so far been shaped primarily by observations in the gamma-ray band, leaving their prompt phase poorly constrained at lower energies. A long-lasting ($\approx$100 s) engine-driven X-ray emission was discussed to explain rapidly fading X-ray afterglows following several ($\approx$30%) bursts of short ($\lesssim$2 s) duration. However, this prompt X-ray component was not directly observed and past candidates were not confirmed. Here we report the discovery of EP250704a containing a minutes-long ($\sim$560 s) flash of soft (0.5--4 keV) X-rays immediately following the short ($\sim$0.4 s) GRB 250704B. The variability and spectral shape of this emission are inconsistent with the canonical picture of a hard, accretion-powered spike followed by a standard external-shock afterglow. Instead, the long-soft bump points to a distinct phase of prompt emission in X-rays, which would not have been detected without the soft X-ray coverage of Einstein Probe. The detection of a prompt soft X-ray counterpart in an otherwise ordinary short GRB shows that long-lasting X-ray emission is likely a common feature of merger-driven bursts and a promising electromagnetic counterpart to gravitational wave sources.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Planar master integrals for two-loop NLO electroweak light-fermion contributions to $g g \rightarrow Z H$

For the two-loop next-to-leading-order electroweak (NLO EW) corrections to $gg \rightarrow ZH$, the light-fermion contributions can be classified into eight distinct topologies. Using the canonical differential-equations method, we perform an analytic computation of the master integrals (MIs) associated with the four planar topologies. Canonical bases are constructed using the Magnus-expansion method, and the resulting alphabets consist of algebraic symbol letters involving nontrivial radicals. We develop a systematic framework for identifying the radical structures of the canonical MIs, enabling their organization into suitable subsystems and, whenever possible, their representation in terms of Goncharov polylogarithms (GPLs) up to $\mathcal{O}(ε^4)$. Only a few MIs at $\mathcal{O}(ε^3)$ and $\mathcal{O}(ε^4)$ are instead represented as one-fold integrals over GPLs, due to the presence of nested square roots that obstruct the simultaneous rationalization of all radicals.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Multi-wavelength study of EP250416a / GRB 250416C: An Optically Dark Long GRB with a Late Jet Break

We present multi-wavelength study of the $γ$/X-ray transient EP250416a (also designated GRB 250416C), triggered by the Einstein Probe (EP) Wide-field X-ray Telescope and also by SVOM and Konus-Wind. Observations spanning the gamma-ray, X-ray, and optical bands facilitated detailed analysis of the burst's prompt emission, afterglow evolution, and physical origin. EP250416a exhibits a burst duration of 30 s in X-ray and 17.7 s in gamma-rays, with joint spectral fitting of 0.5-5000 keV data gives $E\rm_{peak}=342_{-232}^{+90}$ keV. Optical spectroscopy of the afterglow, acquired with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South, yielded a redshift of $z=0.963$. Accounting for the measured redshift, the isotropic energies are $E\rm_{X,iso}=2.7_{-0.5}^{+0.9}\times10^{50}$ erg and $E\rm_{γ,iso}=7.34_{-2.1}^{+5.1}\times10^{51}$ erg, aligning with the Amati relation for long GRBs. The fluence ratio $\rm S(25-50~keV)/S(50-100~keV)=0.78_{-0.15}^{+0.1}$ classifies EP250416a as an X-ray rich (XRR) GRB. The X-ray afterglow shows an initial shallow decay ($α\approx -0.5$) transitioning to a canonical decay phase ($α\approx -1$), with a very late jet break at $t\sim 1.5\times 10^6$ s, corresponding to a jet half-opening angle of $θ_j=10.6_{-1.8}^{+1.9}$ degrees. EP250416a is optically dark, as it shows only a faint $r$-band detection ($r=24.16$ mag) from Gemini South-GMOS and a low optical-to-X-ray spectral index $β_{\rm OX} = 0.3$. This may be attributed to significant host-galaxy extinction, with a required $A_V^{\text{host}}=5.5\ \text{mag}$ derived from the extinction curve model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Doubly charged Higgs production within the Higgs triplet model at future electron-positron colliders

We investigate in detail the discovery potential of the doubly charged Higgs boson at the Compact Linear Collider in $e^-e^-$, $e^-γ$, $γγ$, and $e^+e^-$ collision modes, within the Higgs triplet model at two extreme benchmark points as representatives of the Yukawa-like and gauge-like regions. In the Yukawa-like region, the most promising production mechanism is the single production via $e^-e^-$ and $e^-γ$ collisions. Given the subsequent decay of the doubly charged Higgs into a same-sign lepton pair, CLIC can achieve statistical significance well beyond the discovery threshold, within the parameter space permitted by experimental constraints. In the gauge-like region, with the $\ell^{\pm}\ell^{\pm} + \geq 3j$ final state, CLIC exhibits robust discovery potential for the doubly charged Higgs boson, up to a mass of approximately $1.2~\mathrm{TeV}$. We also investigate the search for doubly charged Higgs at the HL-LHC. Our results demonstrate that CLIC possesses greater advantages and offers superior discovery potential for the doubly charged Higgs boson, compared to the HL-LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Mixed QCD-EW corrections to $W$-pair production at electron-positron colliders

The discrepancy between the CDF measurement and the Standard Model theoretical prediction for the $W$-boson mass underscores the importance of conducting high-precision studies on the $W$ boson, which is one of the predominant objectives of proposed future $e^+e^-$ colliders. We investigate in detail the production of $W$-boson pairs at $e^+e^-$ colliders, and compute the next-to-next-to-leading order mixed QCD-EW corrections to both the integrated cross section and various kinematic distributions. By employing the method of differential equations, we analytically calculate the two-loop master integrals for the mixed QCD-EW virtual corrections to $e^+e^- \rightarrow W^+W^-$. Utilizing the Magnus transformation, we derive a set of canonical master integrals for each integral family. This canonical basis satisfies a system of differential equations in which the dependence on the dimensional regulator is linearly factorized from the kinematics. We then express all these canonical master integrals as Taylor series in $ε$ up to $ε^4$, with coefficients articulated in terms of Goncharov polylogarithms up to weight four. Upon applying our analytic expressions of these master integrals to the phenomenological analysis of $W$-pair production, we observe that the $\mathcal{O}(αα_s)$ corrections are significantly impactful in the $α(0)$ scheme, particularly in certain phase-space regions. However, these mixed QCD-EW corrections can be heavily suppressed by adopting the $G_μ$ scheme.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Two-loop planar master integrals for NNLO QCD corrections to W-pair production in quark-antiquark annihilation

The planar two-loop scalar Feynman integrals contributing to the massive NNLO QCD corrections for $W$-boson pair production via quark-antiquark annihilation can be classified into three family branches, each of which is reduced to a distinct set of master integrals (MIs), totaling $27$, $45$ and $15$, respectively. These MIs are analytically calculated using the method of differential equations, with solutions expanded as Taylor series in the dimensional regulator $ε$. For the first two family branches, the differential systems can be successfully transformed into canonical form by adopting appropriate bases of MIs. This enables the MIs of these family branches to be expressed either as Goncharov polylogarithms (GPLs) or as one-fold integrals over GPLs, up to $\mathcal{O}(ε^4)$. In contrast, the differential system for the third family branch can only be cast into a form linear in $ε$ due to the presence of elliptic integrals. The solution to this linear-form differential system is expressed in an iterated form owing to the strictly lower-triangular structure of the coefficient matrices at $ε= 0$. Our analytic expressions for these MIs are verified with high accuracy against the numerical results from the \texttt{AMFlow} package.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Next-to-next-to-leading order $\text{QCD} \otimes \text{EW}$ corrections to $Z$-boson pair production at electron-positron colliders

We present a comprehensive analytic calculation of the next-to-next-to-leading order $\text{QCD} \otimes \text{EW}$ corrections to $Z$-boson pair production at electron-positron colliders. The two-loop master integrals essential to this calculation are evaluated using the differential equation method. In this work, we detail the formulation and solution of the canonical differential equations for the two-loop three-point master integrals with two on-shell $Z$-boson external legs and a massive internal quark in the loops. These canonical master integrals are systematically expanded as Taylor series in the dimensional regulator, $ε= (4-d)/2$, up to the order of $ε^4$, with coefficients expressed in terms of Goncharov polylogarithms up to weight four. Upon applying our analytic expressions of these master integrals to the phenomenological analysis of $Z$-pair production, we observe that the $\mathcal{O}(αα_s)$ corrections manifest at a level of approximately one percent compared to the leading-order predictions, underscoring their significance for comparisons with future high-precision experimental data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Discovery and Extensive Follow-Up of SN 2024ggi, a nearby type IIP supernova in NGC 3621

We present the discovery and early observations of the nearby Type II supernova (SN) 2024ggi in NGC 3621 at 6.64 +/- 0.3 Mpc. The SN was caught 5.8 (+1.9 -2.9) hours after its explosion by the ATLAS survey. Early-phase, high-cadence, and multi-band photometric follow-up was performed by the Kinder (Kilonova Finder) project, collecting over 1000 photometric data points within a week. The combined o- and r-band light curves show a rapid rise of 3.3 magnitudes in 13.7 hours, much faster than SN 2023ixf (another recent, nearby, and well-observed SN II). Between 13.8 and 18.8 hours after explosion SN 2024ggi became bluer, with u-g colour dropping from 0.53 to 0.15 mag. The rapid blueward evolution indicates a wind shock breakout (SBO) scenario. No hour-long brightening expected for the SBO from a bare stellar surface was detected during our observations. The classification spectrum, taken 17 hours after the SN explosion, shows flash features of high-ionization species such as Balmer lines, He I, C III, and N III. Detailed light curve modeling reveals critical insights into the properties of the circumstellar material (CSM). Our favoured model has an explosion energy of 2 x 10^51 erg, a mass-loss rate of 10^-3 solar_mass/yr (with an assumed 10 km/s wind), and a confined CSM radius of 6 x 10^14 cm. The corresponding CSM mass is 0.4 solar_mass. Comparisons with SN 2023ixf highlight that SN 2024ggi has a smaller CSM density, resulting in a faster rise and fainter UV flux. The extensive dataset and the involvement of citizen astronomers underscore that a collaborative network is essential for SBO searches, leading to more precise and comprehensive SN characterizations.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

The environments of Type Ia supernovae with different relative equivalent width of Si II feature in their spectra

Although type Ia supernovae are so important in many astrophysical field, e.g. in cosmology, their explosion mechanism and progenitor system are still unclear. In physics, the relative equivalent width (REW) of the Si II 635.5 nm absorption feature reflects the velocity interval of silicon in the supernova ejecta and then may provide constraints on the explosion mechanism of SNe Ia. In this paper, we divide the SNe Ia into broad line (BL) and normal line (NL) subsamples based on their REW of Si II 635.5 nm absorption lines around maximum light, and find that the BL SNe Ia have a dimmer mean brightness than NL ones, which possibly results from their different metallicities. However, based on the pixel statistics study on the environments of two subsamples, we do not find any significant potential difference on the environments between BL and NL SNe Ia, which implies that the explosion mechanism of SNe Ia could be independent of their progenitor populations.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

iPTF14hls in the circumstellar medium interaction model: A promising candidate for a pulsational pair-instability supernova

iPTF14hls is a luminous Type II supernova (SN) with a bumpy light curve that remains debated for its origin. It maintains roughly a constant effective temperature and luminosity since discovery for about 600 days, followed by a slow decay. On $\sim 1000$\ days post discovery the light curve transitions to a very steep decline. A spectrum taken during this steep decline phase shows clear signatures of shock interaction with dense circumstellar medium (CSM). Here we explore the possibility of iPTF14hls as an interaction-powered SN. The light curve of iPTF14hls can be fitted with wind-like CSMs. Analytic modeling indicates that iPTF14hls may have undertaken six episodes of mass loss during the last $\sim 200\mathrm{yr}$. Assuming that the 1954 eruption triggered the last mass-loss episode, the stellar-wind velocity is determined to be $40-70\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^{-1}$, depending on different models. Mass loss rates are in the range $% 0.4-3.3M_{\odot }\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. The inferred total mass of ejecta and CSMs ($M_{\mathrm{ej}}+M_{\mathrm{CSMs}}\simeq 245M_{\odot }$) supports the idea that iPTF14hls may be a candidate for a (pulsational) pair-instability SN. Discovery and observations of more similar stellar explosions will help understand these peculiar SNe.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Magnetar-Driven Shock Breakout Revisited and Implications for Double-Peaked Type I Superluminous Supernovae

The discovery of early bumps in some type-I superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) before the main peaks offers an important clue to their energy source mechanisms. In this paper, we updated an analytic magnetar-powered model for fitting the multi-band light curves of double-peaked SLSNe-I: the early bump is powered by magnetar-driven shock breakout thermal emission, and the main peak is powered by a radiative diffusion through the SN ejecta as in the standard magnetar-powered model. Generally, the diffusive luminosity is greater than the shock breakout luminosity at the early time, which makes the shock breakout bumps usually not clearly seen as observed. To obtain a clear double-peaked light curve, inefficient magnetar heating at early times is required. This model is applied to three well-observed double-peaked SLSNe-I (i.e., SN2006oz, LSQ14bdq, and DES14Xtaz). We find that a relative massive SN ejecta with $M_{\mathrm{ej}} \simeq 10.2-18.1 M_{\odot}$ and relative large kinetic energy of SN ejecta $E_{\mathrm{sn}} \simeq (3.8-6.5) \times 10^{51}$ erg are required, and the thermalization efficiency of the magnetar heating is suppressed before $t_{\mathrm{delay}}$, which are in the range of $\simeq 15- 43$ days. The model can well reproduce the observed light curves, with a reasonable and similar set of physical parameters for both the early bump and the main peak, strengthening support for magnetar-powered model. In the future, modeling of the double-peaked SLSNe-I will become more feasible as more events are discovered before the early bump.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

The Tsinghua University-Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey: Overview and Performance of the System

Over the past decade, time-domain astronomy in optical bands has developed rapidly with the operations of some wide-field survey facilities. However, most of these surveys are conducted with only a single band, and simultaneous color information is usually unavailable for the objects monitored during the survey. Here we present introductions to the system of Tsinghua University-Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey (TMTS), which consists of an array of four optical telescopes installed on a single equatorial mount. Such a system is designed to get multiband photometry simultaneously for stars and transients discovered during the survey. The optics of each telescope is a modified Hamilton-Newtonian system, covering the wavelengths from 400 to 900 nm, with a field of view (FoV) of about 4.5 deg2 and a plate scale of 1.86"/pixel when combining with a 4K*4K QHY4040 CMOS detector. The TMTS system can have a FoV of about 9 deg2 when monitoring the sky with two bands (i.e., SDSS g and r filters) at the same time, and a maximum FoV of ~18 deg2 when four telescopes monitor different sky areas in monochromatic filter mode. For an exposure time of 60 s, the average 3σ detection limit of the TMTS system can reach at ~19.4 mag in Luminous filter and at ~18.7 mag in SDSS r filter. The preliminary discovery obtained during the first few months' survey is briefly discussed. As this telescope array is located at the Xinglong Observatory of NAOC, it can have an excellent synergy with the spectroscopic survey by the LAMOST (with a FoV of about 20 deg2) at the same site, which will benefit the studies of stellar and binary physics besides the transient sciences.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Fully Heavy Tetraquark ${bb \bar c \bar c}$: Lifetimes and Weak Decays

We study the lifetime and weak decays of the full-heavy S-wave $0^+$ tetraquark $T^{\{bb\}}_{\{\bar c\bar c\}}$. Using the operator product expansion rooted in heavy quark expansion, we find a rather short lifetime, at the order $(0.1-0.3)\times 10^{-12}s$ depending on the inputs. With the flavor SU(3) symmetry, we then construct the effective Hamiltonian at the hadron level, and derive relations between decay widths of different channels. According to the electro-weak effective operators, we classify different decay modes, and make a collection of the golden channels, such as $T_{\{\bar c \bar c\}}^{\{bb\}}\to B^- K^0 B_c^-$ for the charm quark decay and $T_{\{\bar c \bar c\}}^{\{bb\}}\to B^-D^-$ for the bottom quark decay. Our results for the lifetime and golden channels are helpful to search for the fully-heavy tetraquark in future experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

A possible feedback mechanism of outflows from a black hole hyperaccretion disk in the center of jet-driven iPTF14hls

iPTF14hls is an unusually bright, long-lived II-P supernova (SN), whose light curve has at least five peaks. We propose that the outflows from the black hole hyperaccretion systems in the center of the collapsars should continuously inject into the envelope. For a jet-driven core-collapsar model, the outflow feedback results in prolonging the accretion timescale and fluctuating accretion rates in our analytic solutions. Thus, the long period of luminous, varying SN iPTF14hls might originate from the choked jets, which are regulated by the feedback of the strong disk outflows in a massive core-collapsar. One can expect that jet-driven iPTF14hls may last no more than approximately 3,000 days, and the luminosity may quickly decrease in the later stages. Moreover, the double-peak light curves in some SNe might be explained by the outflow feedback mechanism.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Weak Decays of Doubly-Heavy Tetraquarks ${b\bar c}{q\bar q}$

We study the weak decays of exotic tetraquark states ${b\bar c}{q\bar q}$ with two heavy quarks. Under the SU(3) symmetry for light quarks, these tetraquarks can be classified into an octet plus a singlet: $3\bigotimes\bar 3=1\bigoplus8$. We will concentrate on the octet tetraquarks with $J^{P}=0^{+}$, and study their weak decays, both semileptonic and nonleptonic. Hadron-level effective Hamiltonian is constructed according to the irreducible representations of the SU(3) group. Expanding the Hamiltonian, we obtain the decay amplitudes parameterized in terms of a few irreducible quantities. Based on these amplitudes, relations for decay widths are derived, which can be tested in future. We also give a list of golden channels that can be used to look for these states at various colliders.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

A fallback accretion model for the unusual type II-P supernova iPTF14hls

The Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory reported the discovery of an unusual type II-P supernova iPTF14hls. Instead of a ~100-day plateau as observed for ordinary type II-P supernovae, the light curve of iPTF14hls has at least five distinct peaks, followed by a steep decline at ~1000 days since discovery. Until 500 days since discovery, the effective temperature of iPTF14hls is roughly constant at 5000-6000K . In this paper we propose that iPTF14hls is likely powered by intermittent fallback accretion. It is found that the light curve of iPTF14hls can be well fit by the usual t^{-5/3} accretion law until ~1000 days post discovery when the light curve transitions to a steep decline. To account for this steep decline, we suggest a power-law density profile for the late accreted material, rather than the constant profile as appropriated for the t^{-5/3} accretion law. Detailed modeling indicates that the total fallback mass is ~0.2M_{sun}, with an ejecta mass M_{ej}~21M_{sun}. We find the third peak of the light curve cannot be well fit by the fallback model, indicating that there could be some extra rapid energy injection. We suggest that this extra energy injection may be a result of a magnetic outburst if the central object is a neutron star. These results indicate that the progenitor of iPTF14hls could be a massive red supergiant.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

DIMM-SC: A Dirichlet mixture model for clustering droplet-based single cell transcriptomic data

Motivation: Single cell transcriptome sequencing (scRNA-Seq) has become a revolutionary tool to study cellular and molecular processes at single cell resolution. Among existing technologies, the recently developed droplet-based platform enables efficient parallel processing of thousands of single cells with direct counting of transcript copies using Unique Molecular Identifier (UMI). Despite the technology advances, statistical methods and computational tools are still lacking for analyzing droplet-based scRNA-Seq data. Particularly, model-based approaches for clustering large-scale single cell transcriptomic data are still under-explored. Methods: We developed DIMM-SC, a Dirichlet Mixture Model for clustering droplet-based Single Cell transcriptomic data. This approach explicitly models UMI count data from scRNA-Seq experiments and characterizes variations across different cell clusters via a Dirichlet mixture prior. An expectation-maximization algorithm is used for parameter inference. Results: We performed comprehensive simulations to evaluate DIMM-SC and compared it with existing clustering methods such as K-means, CellTree and Seurat. In addition, we analyzed public scRNA-Seq datasets with known cluster labels and in-house scRNA-Seq datasets from a study of systemic sclerosis with prior biological knowledge to benchmark and validate DIMM-SC. Both simulation studies and real data applications demonstrated that overall, DIMM-SC achieves substantially improved clustering accuracy and much lower clustering variability compared to other existing clustering methods. More importantly, as a model-based approach, DIMM-SC is able to quantify the clustering uncertainty for each single cell, facilitating rigorous statistical inference and biological interpretations, which are typically unavailable from existing clustering methods.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2017

General theory for Rydberg states of atoms: nonrelativistic case

We carry out a complete derivation on nonrelativistic energies of atomic Rydberg states, including finite nuclear mass corrections. Several missing terms are found and a discrepancy is confirmed in the works of Drachman [in Long Range Casimir Forces: Theory and Recent Experiments on Atomic Systems, edited by F. S. Levin and D. A. Micha (Plenum, New York, 1993)] and Drake [Adv. At., Mol., Opt. Phys. 31, 1 (1993)]. As a benchmark, we present a detailed tabulation of different energy levels.

physics.atom-ph↗