arXiv subjects

Xingjiang Zhu

Publications and source records attributed to Xingjiang Zhu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Nanohertz Gravitational-Wave Constraints on Supermassive Binary Black Holes at Cosmic Dawn

Standard continuous gravitational-wave searches with pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) neglect cosmological redshift, restricting their applicability to the local Universe. We introduce a redshift-aware PTA framework and apply it to the Parkes PTA Data Release 3, deriving the first direct constraints on supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) at the cosmic dawn. Evaluating our limits across a broad redshift range, we observationally establish the non-monotonic mass-redshift exclusion boundary driven by the theoretical ``redshift bias", demonstrating how PTAs can effectively probe sources at extreme distances. Redshift-aware targeted searches toward high-redshift systems, including the ultraluminous quasar J0100+2802 ($z=6.327$) and the JWST-discovered galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0 ($z=14.32$), rigorously exclude SMBBHs with chirp masses $\mathcal{M}_c \gtrsim 10^{10} M_\odot$ across the nanohertz frequency band. Finally, we demonstrate that high-redshift binaries can be robustly detected and localized, allowing for the accurate measurement of their intrinsic properties. Our results provide the tightest constraints to date on SMBBHs at $z > 6$ and establish a practical framework for probing early-Universe black hole assembly.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Constraints on Ultralight Scalar and Dark Photon Dark Matter from PPTA-DR3 and EPTA-DR2

The cold dark matter model successfully describes the Universe on large scales, yet faces challenges at sub-galactic scales. Ultralight dark matter (ULDM), with particle masses around $10^{-22} \mathrm{eV}$, offers a promising solution to these small-scale issues. Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs), designed to detect nanohertz gravitational waves, can also provide a sensitive probe for ULDM signals. In this work, we perform a Bayesian search for ULDM using PTA data sets, focusing on two types of signals: the oscillatory gravitational potential from scalar ULDM and the fifth-force interaction mediated by dark photon dark matter (DPDM). We incorporate pulsar distances in the analysis to better model the ULDM density. No statistically significant evidence for ULDM has been found, therefore we place 95% confidence-level upper limits on the relevant parameters. For scalar ULDM, our analysis does not exclude the scenario in which ULDM constitutes all of dark matter. The constraints from PPTA-DR3 show significant improvements over the earlier PPTA-DR2 (2018 Preview) across most of the mass range, and are consistent with the recent uncorrelated limits from other PTAs. We also present for the first time the DPDM constraints using EPTA data. The obtained bounds on the DPDM from the EPTA-DR2 and PPTA-DR3 are comparable to existing constraints.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Targeted search for eccentric supermassive binary black holes in OJ 287 and nearby galaxy clusters with PPTA DR3

We perform Bayesian targeted searches for continuous gravitational waves from eccentric supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) using the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array third data release (PPTA DR3). Six electromagnetically motivated sky directions are analyzed, including the blazar OJ~287 and five nearby galaxy clusters (Virgo, Fornax, Norma, Hercules, and Coma). No significant signals are found. For OJ 287, by explicitly incorporating orbital eccentricity (up to $e_0 = 0.8$) to robustly capture signal power spread across multiple harmonics, we constrain the total binary mass to $M_{\rm tot} < 5.25 \times 10^{10} M_{\odot}$ (95\% credible level). We also place upper limits on the chirp mass of potential SMBBHs residing in galaxy clusters. By combining these limits with independent black hole mass estimates, we place novel constraints on the allowed binary mass ratios for potential hosts such as M87 and NGC~4889. Specifically, our results exclude binaries with mass ratios $q \gtrsim 10^{-2}$ at around 10 nHz for these massive systems, effectively ruling out equal-mass black hole mergers in the sampled parameter space. These findings demonstrate the growing power of pulsar timing arrays to probe SMBBH populations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

From Detection to Host Galaxy Identification: Precision Continuous Gravitational Wave Localization with a Few Anchor Pulsars

Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) are rapidly advancing toward the detection of continuous gravitational waves from individual supermassive binary black holes. While it is well established that coherently utilizing the ``pulsar term" requires astrometric distance uncertainties to be smaller than the gravitational wavelength, achieving this precision across an entire array is observationally prohibitive. Here, we demonstrate that achieving sub-wavelength precision for a few ``anchor" pulsars is sufficient to phase-lock the array and drastically shrink the sky-localization error. Using 20 years of realistically simulated data, we systematically evaluate the localization performance of a 25-pulsar array containing three to six high-precision anchors. We show that while introducing three sub-wavelength anchors can reduce the 90\% credible sky area by a factor of 30 in certain directions, expanding this high-precision subset to six anchor pulsars ensures high-precision localizations across diverse source directions. Evaluating a representative set of sky directions, including local galaxy clusters and the locations of maximum and minimum array sensitivity, this six-anchor configuration yields 90\% credible localization areas ranging from $\sim 0.1$ to $9.2 \text{ deg}^2$ at a signal-to-noise ratio of 20. Furthermore, once this minimal subset crosses the sub-wavelength threshold, further reductions in distance uncertainty yield diminishing returns. This establishes a highly efficient near-term observational strategy: prioritizing intensive parallax campaigns for a small core of stable millisecond pulsars provides a cost-effective pathway to precision multi-messenger astronomy.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Searching for Anisotropy in the Gravitational Wave Background Using the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array

In recent years, several pulsar timing array collaborations have reported evidence for a nanohertz gravitational wave background (GWB). Such a background signal could be produced by supermassive binary black holes, early-Universe processes such as inflation and phase transitions, or a mixture of both. One way to disentangle different contributions to the GWB is to search for anisotropic signatures. In this work, we search for anisotropy in the GWB using the third data release of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. Our analysis employs both the radiometer method and the spherical harmonic basis to characterize the distribution of GWB power across the sky. We calculate the angular power in the lowest five frequency bins and compare it with detection thresholds determined under the null hypothesis of isotropy. In the 5.26 nHz frequency bin, we identify a hotspot in the reconstructed sky map with a $p$-value of $0.016$ (the lowest in our analysis), which we attribute to noise fluctuations. While our search reveals no statistically significant anisotropy, we expect that the precise measurement of angular power spectrum of the GWB will become instrumental in determining the origin of the nanohertz GWB signal.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Beyond the Simple Power Law: A Bayesian Analysis of 897 Pulsar Spectra

We present a comprehensive re-evaluation of pulsar radio spectra using the largest curated dataset of calibrated flux densities to date, comprising 897 pulsars, and employing a robust Bayesian framework for model comparison alongside frequentist methods. Contrary to the established consensus that pulsar spectra are predominantly simple power laws, our analysis reveals that complex spectral shapes with curvature or breaks are in fact the norm. The broken power law emerges as the most common spectral shape, accounting for 60\% of pulsars, while the simple power law describes only 13.5\%, with 68.8\% of pulsars decisively favoring curved or broken models. We further identify 74 confident gigahertz-peaked spectrum pulsars, and demonstrate that millisecond pulsars frequently exhibit spectral curvature. A key finding is that the previously reported dominance of the simple power law was largely a statistical artifact of the frequentist method used in earlier work. These findings substantially revise the prevailing view of pulsar spectra and establish a critical, model-classified foundation for future theoretical work.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Constraining the gravitational-wave emission of core-collapse supernovae with ground-based detectors

A gravitational-wave background (GWB) arising from the superposition of numerous unresolved gravitational-wave signals has yet to be detected. Potential contributing sources to such a background include compact binary coalescences (CBCs) and core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). In this work, we place upper limits on the gravitational-wave energy emitted by CCSNe using cross-correlation measurements made with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors during their third observing run. Specifically, we obtain a $95\%$ credibility upper limit of $0.01~ {M_\odot c^2}$ while accounting for the contribution from CBC sources to a GWB. This result improves on previous constraint obtained from initial LIGO data by approximately two orders of magnitude. We also explore the detection prospects of third-generation ground-based detectors such as the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer for both individual CCSNe events and the GWB. Our results show that single events are likely to be detected prior to the GWB.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Ultra-Wideband Polarimetry of the April 2021 Profile Change Event in PSR J1713+0747

The millisecond pulsar PSR J1713+0747 is a high-priority target for pulsar timing array experiments due to its long-term timing stability, and bright, narrow pulse profile. In April 2021, PSR~J1713$+$0747 underwent a significant profile change event, observed by several telescopes worldwide. Using the broad-bandwidth and polarimetric fidelity of the Ultra-Wideband Low-frequency receiver on Murriyang, CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope, we investigated the long-term spectro-polarimetric behaviour of this profile change in detail. We highlight the broad-bandwidth nature of the event, which exhibits frequency dependence that is inconsistent with cold-plasma propagation effects. We also find that spectral and temporal variations are stronger in one of the orthogonal polarisation modes than the other, and observe mild variations ($\sim 3$ - $5\,\sigma$ significance) in circular polarisation above 1400 MHz following the event. However, the linear polarisation position angle remained remarkably stable in the profile leading edge throughout the event. With over three years of data post-event, we find that the profile has not yet recovered back to its original state, indicating a long-term asymptotic recovery, or a potential reconfiguration of the pulsar's magnetic field. These findings favour a magnetospheric origin of the profile change event over a line-of-sight propagation effect in the interstellar medium.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Probing Ultralight Axion-like Dark Matter: A Pulsar Timing Arrays-Pulsar Polarization Arrays Synergy

Ultralight axionlike dark matter (ALDM) is a leading candidate in the dark matter realm, characterized by its prominent wave properties on astronomical scales. Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) and Pulsar polarization arrays (PPAs) aim to detect this dark matter through timing and polarization measurements, respectively, of pulsars. The PTA relies on gravitational effects, while the PPA detects nongravitational effects. These two methods complement each other, synergistically enhancing the pulsar array's capability to identify the ALDM signals in the data. In this article, we provide a foundational development of this synergy. We begin by revisiting previously derived two-point correlation functions for both PTA and PPA, and extend the analysis to include the leading-order correlation between timing and polarization signals, encoded as a three-point function. We then explore the constructions of likelihood functions for PTA and combined PTA-PPA analyses within a Bayesian framework, aimed at detecting the characteristic correlations of ALDM signals. We emphasize the non-Gaussianity of the ALDM timing signals, which arises from their nonlinear dependence on the field, in contrast to the Gaussian nature of its polarization signals. To address the complexities introduced, we approach this investigation in two ways: one involves a Gaussian approximation with proper justifications, while the other derives the formalism from the generic Gaussian characteristics of the ALDM field. Particularly, for the combined PTA-PPA case, a clear connection between the three-point correlation function and the likelihood is established. We anticipate that these efforts will lead to further developments in PTA and PTA-PPA analysis methods, better accounting for the influence of non-Gaussianity.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

The birth mass function of neutron stars

The birth mass function of neutron stars encodes rich information about supernova explosions, double star evolution, and properties of matter under extreme conditions. To date, it has remained poorly constrained by observations, however. Applying probabilistic corrections to account for mass accreted by recycled pulsars in binary systems to mass measurements of 90 neutron stars, we find that the birth masses of neutron stars can be described by a unimodal distribution that smoothly turns on at $1.1 M_{\odot}$, peaks at $1.27 M_{\odot}$, before declining as a steep power law. Such a ``turn-on" power-law distribution is strongly favoured against the widely-adopted empirical double-Gaussian model at the $3 σ$ level. The power-law shape may be inherited from the initial mass function of massive stars, but the relative dearth of massive neutron stars implies that single stars with initial masses greater than $\approx 18 M_{\odot}$ do not form neutron stars, in agreement with the absence of massive red supergiant progenitors to supernovae.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Searching for gravitational-wave bursts from cosmic string cusps with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array third data release

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are designed to detect nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves (GWs). Since GWs are anticipated from cosmic strings, PTAs offer a viable approach to testing their existence. We present the results of the first Bayesian search for gravitational-wave bursts from cosmic string cusps (GWCS) using the third PPTA data release for 30 millisecond pulsars. In this data collection, we find no evidence for GWCS signals. We compare a model with a GWCS signal to one with only noise, including a common spatially uncorrelated red noise (CURN), and find that our data is more consistent with the noise-only model.We then establish upper limits on the strain amplitude of GWCS at the pulsar term, based on the analysis of 30 millisecond pulsars, after finding no compelling evidence. We find the addition of a CURN with different spectral indices into the noise model has a negligible impact on the upper limits. And the upper limit range of the amplitude of the pulsar-term GWCS is concentrated between 10^{-12} and 10^{-11}. Finally, we set upper limits on the amplitude of GWCS events, parametrized by width and event epoch, for a single pulsar PSR J1857+0943. Moreover, we derive upper limit on the cosmic string tension as a function of burst width and compare it with previous results.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Constraining inflation with nonminimal derivative coupling with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array third data release

We study an inflation model with nonminimal derivative coupling that features a coupling between the derivative of the inflaton field and the Einstein tensor. This model naturally amplifies curvature perturbations at small scales via gravitationally enhanced friction, a mechanism critical for the formation of primordial black holes and the associated production of potentially detectable scalar-induced gravitational waves. We derive analytical expressions for the primordial power spectrum, enabling efficient exploration of the model parameter space without requiring computationally intensive numerical solutions of the Mukhanov-Sasaki equation. Using the third data release of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA DR3), we constrain the model parameters characterizing the coupling function: $ϕ_c = 3.7^{+0.3}_{-0.5} M_\mathrm{P}$, $\log_{10} ω_L = 7.1^{+0.6}_{-0.3}$, and $\log_{10} σ= -8.3^{+0.3}_{-0.6}$ at 90\% confidence level. Our results demonstrate the growing capability of pulsar timing arrays to probe early Universe physics, complementing traditional cosmic microwave background observations by providing unique constraints on inflationary dynamics at small scales.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Pulsar Polarization Array Limits on Ultralight Axion-like Dark Matter

We conduct the first-ever Pulsar Polarization Array (PPA) analysis to detect the ultralight Axion-Like Dark Matter (ALDM) using the polarization data of 22 millisecond pulsars from the third data release of Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. As one of the major dark matter candidates, the ultralight ALDM exhibits a pronounced wave nature on astronomical scales and offers a promising solution to small-scale structure issues within local galaxies. While the linearly polarized pulsar light travels through the ALDM galactic halo, its position angle (PA) can be subject to an oscillation induced by the ALDM Chern-Simons coupling with electromagnetic field. The PPA is thus especially suited for detecting the ultralight ALDM by correlating polarization data across the arrayed pulsars. To accomplish this task, we develop an advanced Bayesian analysis framework that allows us to construct pulsar PA residual time series, model noise contributions properly and search for pulsar cross-correlations. We find that for an ALDM density of $\rho_0=0.4\,\textrm{GeV}/\textrm{cm}^3$, the Parkes PPA offers the best global limits on the ALDM Chern-Simons coupling, namely $\lesssim 10^{-13.5}-10^{-12.2}~{\rm GeV}^{-1}$, for the mass range of $10^{-22} - 10^{-21}~{\rm eV}$. The crucial role of pulsar cross-correlation in recognizing the nature of the derived limits is also highlighted.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Constraining cosmological phase transitions with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array

A cosmological first-order phase transition is expected to produce a stochastic gravitational wave background. If the phase transition temperature is on the MeV scale, the power spectrum of the induced stochastic gravitational waves peaks around nanohertz frequencies, and can thus be probed with high-precision pulsar timing observations. We search for such a stochastic gravitational wave background with the latest data set of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. We find no evidence for a Hellings-Downs spatial correlation as expected for a stochastic gravitational wave background. Therefore, we present constraints on first-order phase transition model parameters. Our analysis shows that pulsar timing is particularly sensitive to the low-temperature ($T \sim 1 - 100$ MeV) phase transition with a duration $(β/H_*)^{-1}\sim 10^{-2}-10^{-1}$ and therefore can be used to constrain the dark and QCD phase transitions.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Constraining ultralight vector dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array second data release

Composed of ultralight bosons, fuzzy dark matter provides an intriguing solution to challenges that the standard cold dark matter model encounters on sub-galactic scales. The ultralight dark matter with mass $m\sim10^{-23} \rm{eV}$ will induce a periodic oscillation in gravitational potentials with a frequency in the nanohertz band, leading to observable effects in the arrival times of radio pulses from pulsars. Unlike scalar dark matter, pulsar timing signals induced by the vector dark matter are dependent on the oscillation direction of the vector fields. In this work, we search for ultralight vector dark matter in the mass range of $[2\times 10^{-24}, 2\times 10^{-22}]{\rm{eV}}$ through its gravitational effect in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) second data release. Since no statistically significant detection is made, we place $95\%$ upper limits on the local dark matter density as $ρ_{\rm{\tiny{VF}}} \lesssim 5{\rm{GeV/cm^{3}}}$ for $m\lesssim 10^{-23}{\rm{eV}}$. As no preferred direction is found for the vector dark matter, these constraints are comparable to those given by the scalar dark matter search with an earlier 12-year data set of PPTA.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array

The nature of dark matter remains obscure in spite of decades of experimental efforts. The mass of dark matter candidates can span a wide range, and its coupling with the Standard Model sector remains uncertain. All these unknowns make the etection of dark matter extremely challenging. Ultralight dark matter, with $m \sim10^{-22}$ eV, is proposed to reconcile the disagreements between observations and predictions from simulations of small-scale structures in the cold dark matter paradigm, while remaining consistent with other observations. Because of its large de Broglie wavelength and large local occupation number within galaxies, ultralight dark matter behaves like a coherently oscillating background field with an oscillating frequency dependent on its mass. If the dark matter particle is a spin-1 dark photon, such as the $U(1)_B$ or $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson, it can induce an external oscillating force and lead to displacements of test masses. Such an effect would be observable in the form of periodic variations in the arrival times of radio pulses from highly stable millisecond pulsars. In this study, we search for evidence of ultralight dark photon dark matter (DPDM) using 14-year high-precision observations of 26 pulsars collected with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. While no statistically significant signal is found, we place constraints on coupling constants for the $U(1)_B$ and $U(1)_{B-L}$ DPDM. Compared with other experiments, the limits on the dimensionless coupling constant $ε$ achieved in our study are improved by up to two orders of magnitude when the dark photon mass is smaller than $3\times10^{-22}$~eV ($10^{-22}$~eV) for the $U(1)_{B}$ ($U(1)_{B-L}$) scenario.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

The SPIIR online coherent pipeline to search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences

This paper presents the SPIIR pipeline used for public alerts during the third advanced LIGO and Virgo observation run (O3 run). The SPIIR pipeline uses infinite impulse response (IIR) filters to perform extremely low-latency matched filtering and this process is further accelerated with graphics processing units (GPUs). It is the first online pipeline to select candidates from multiple detectors using a coherent statistic based on the maximum network likelihood ratio statistic principle. Here we simplify the derivation of this statistic using the singular-value-decomposition (SVD) technique and show that single-detector signal-to-noise ratios from matched filtering can be directly used to construct the statistic for each sky direction. Coherent searches are in general more computationally challenging than coincidence searches due to extra search over sky direction parameters. The search over sky directions follows an embarrassing parallelization paradigm and has been accelerated using GPUs. The detection performance is reported using a segment of public data from LIGO-Virgo's second observation run. We demonstrate that the median latency of the SPIIR pipeline is less than 9 seconds, and present an achievable roadmap to reduce the latency to less than 5 seconds. During the O3 online run, SPIIR registered triggers associated with 38 of the 56 non-retracted public alerts. The extreme low-latency nature makes it a competitive choice for joint time-domain observations, and offers the tantalizing possibility of making public alerts prior to the merger phase of binary coalescence systems involving at least one neutron star.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Parkes Pulsar Timing Array constraints on ultralight scalar-field dark matter

It is widely accepted that dark matter contributes about a quarter of the critical mass-energy density in our Universe. The nature of dark matter is currently unknown, with the mass of possible constituents spanning nearly one hundred orders of magnitude. The ultralight scalar field dark matter, consisting of extremely light bosons with $m \sim 10^{-22}$ eV and often called "fuzzy" dark matter, provides intriguing solutions to some challenges at sub-Galactic scales for the standard cold dark matter model. As shown by Khmelnitsky and Rubakov, such a scalar field in the Galaxy would produce an oscillating gravitational potential with nanohertz frequencies, resulting in periodic variations in the times of arrival of radio pulses from pulsars. The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) has been monitoring 20 millisecond pulsars at two to three weeks intervals for more than a decade. In addition to the detection of nanohertz gravitational waves, PPTA offers the opportunity for direct searches for fuzzy dark matter in an astrophysically feasible range of masses. We analyze the latest PPTA data set which includes timing observations for 26 pulsars made between 2004 and 2016. We perform a search in this data set for evidence of ultralight dark matter in the Galaxy using Bayesian and Frequentist methods. No statistically significant detection has been made. We therefore place upper limits on the local dark matter density. Our limits, improving on previous searches by a factor of two to five, constrain the dark matter density of ultralight bosons with $m \leq 10^{-23}$ eV to be below $6\,\text{GeV}\,\text{cm}^{-3}$ with 95\% confidence in the Earth neighborhood. Finally, we discuss the prospect of probing the astrophysically favored mass range $m \gtrsim 10^{-22}$ eV with next-generation pulsar timing facilities.

astro-ph.CO↗