arXiv subjects

Yi-Ming Hu

Publications and source records attributed to Yi-Ming Hu.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Detecting Gravitational-waves from Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals using Convolutional Neural Networks

Extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs) are among the most interesting gravitational wave (GW) sources for space-borne GW detectors. However, successful GW data analysis remains challenging due to many issues, ranging from the difficulty of modeling accurate waveforms, to the impractically large template bank required by the traditional matched filtering search method. In this work, we introduce a proof-of-principle approach for EMRI detection based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). We demonstrate the performance with simulated EMRI signals buried in Gaussian noise. We show that over a wide range of physical parameters, the network is effective for EMRI systems with a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 50, and the performance is most strongly related to the signal-to-noise ratio. The method also shows good generalization ability towards different waveform models. Our study reveals the potential applicability of machine learning technology like CNNs towards more realistic EMRI data analysis.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

A Higher Probability of Detecting Lensed Supermassive Black Hole Binaries by LISA

Gravitational lensing of gravitational waves (GWs) is a powerful probe of the matter distribution in the universe. Here we revisit the wave-optics effects induced by dark matter (DM) halos on the GW signals of merging massive black hole binaries (MBHBs), and we study the possibility of discerning these effects using the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). In particular, we include the halos in the low-mass range of $\rm 10^5-10^8\, M_\odot$ since they are the most numerous according to the cold DM model. We simulate the lensed signals corresponding to a wide range of impact parameters, and we find distinguishable deviation from the standard best-fit GW templates even when the impact parameter is as large $y\simeq50$. Consequently, we estimate that over $(0.1-1.6)\%$ of the MBHBs in the mass range of $\rm 10^{5.0}-10^{6.5}\, M_\odot$ and the redshift range of $4-10$ should show detectable wave-optics effects. This probability is one order of magnitude higher than that derived in previous works. The uncertainty comes mainly from the mass function of the DM halos. Not detecting any signal during the LISA mission would imply that DM halos with $\rm 10^5-10^8\, M_\odot$ are less numerous than what the cold DM model predicts.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Constraining the Hubble constant to a precision of about 1% using multi-band dark standard siren detections

Gravitational wave signal from the inspiral of stellar-mass binary black hole can be used as standard sirens to perform cosmological inference. This inspiral covers a wide range of frequency bands, from the millihertz band to the audio-band, allowing for detections by both space-borne and ground-based gravitational wave detectors. In this work, we conduct a comprehensive study on the ability to constrain the Hubble constant using the dark standard sirens, or gravitational wave events that lack electromagnetic counterparts. To acquire the redshift information, we weight the galaxies within the localization error box with photometric information from several bands and use them as a proxy for the binary black hole redshift. We discover that TianQin is expected to constrain the Hubble constant to a precision of roughly $30\%$ through detections of $10$ gravitational wave events; in the most optimistic case, the Hubble constant can be constrained to a precision of $< 10 \%$, assuming TianQin I+II. In the optimistic case, the multi-detector network of TianQin and LISA is capable of constraining the Hubble constant to within $5\%$ precision. It is worth highlighting that the multi-band network of TianQin and Einstein Telescope is capable of constraining the Hubble constant to a precision of about $1\%$. We conclude that inferring the Hubble constant without bias from photo-z galaxy catalog is achievable, and we also demonstrate self-consistency using the P$-$P plot. On the other hand, high-quality spectroscopic redshift information is crucial for improving the estimation precision of Hubble constant.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Science with the TianQin Observatory: Preliminary Results on Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

In this work, we study the prospect of detecting the stochastic gravitational-wave background with the TianQin Observatory. We consider sources of both astrophysical-origin and cosmological-origin, including stellar-mass binary black holes, binary neutron stars, Galactic white dwarves, inflation, first-order phase transitions, and cosmic defects. For the detector configurations, we consider TianQin, TianQin I+II, and TianQin + LISA. We study the detectability of stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds with both the cross correlation and null channel methods, and present the corresponding power-law integrated sensitivity curves. We introduce the definition of the "joint foreground" with a network of detectors. With the joint foreground, the number of resolved double white dwarves in the Galaxy will be increased by 5$-$22\% compared with a simple combination of individual detectors. The astrophysical background is expected to be detectable with a signal-to-noise ratio of 100 after 5 years of operation and dominated by the extragalactic double white dwarves. On the other hand, due to the uncertain nature of underlying models, we can only estimate the detection capability of the cosmological background for specific cases.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Probing chromatic onsets of gravitational wave overtones

The ringdown data of both GW150914 and GW190521\_074359 (GW190521r) show evidence supporting the presence of overtone. Previous studies all adopt a fundamental assumption, which were motivated more by convenience than by first principles, that the first overtone and the fundamental mode share a same onset. In this work, for the first time we relax such assumption, and we aim to probe the possible chromatic onsets of these two components within the GW150914 and GW190521r ringdown data. For both events, we bound the onset lags to be $Δt_0\geq 5M_f$ at probabilities of $\geq 94.7\%$, where $M_f$ is the mass of the remnant black hole formed in the merger. This result moderately favours the non-simultaneous excitation between the fundamental mode and the first overtone in the ringdown.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Capability for detection of GW190521-like binary black holes with TianQin

The detection of GW190521 gains huge attention because it is the most massive binary that LIGO and Virgo ever confidently detected until the release of GWTC-3 (GW190426_190642 is more massive), and it is the first black hole merger whose remnant is believed to be an intermediate mass black hole. Furthermore, the primary black hole mass falls in the black hole mass gap, where the pair-instability supernova prevents the formation of astrophysical black holes in this range. In this paper, we systematically explore the prospect of TianQin on detecting GW190521-like sources. For sources with small orbital eccentricities, (i) TianQin could resolve up to a dozen of sources with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) larger than 8. Even if the signal-to-noise ratio threshold increases to 12, TianQin could still detect GW190521-like binaries. (ii) The parameters of sources merging within several years would be precisely recovered. The precision of coalescence time and sky localization closes to $1\ {\rm s}$ and $1\ {\rm deg^{2}}$ respectively. This indicates that TianQin could provide early warnings for ground-based gravitational waves detectors and electromagnetic telescopes for these sources. Furthermore, TianQin could distinguish the formation channels of these sources by measuring the orbital eccentricities with a relative precision of $10^{-4}$. (iii) TianQin could constrain the Hubble constant with a $10\%$ precision with GW190521-like sources. Finally, for very eccentric GW190521-like sources, although their gravitational wave signal might be too weak for TianQin to detect, even the null detection of TianQin could still present a significant contribution to the understanding of the underlying science.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Science with the TianQin Observatory: Preliminary Results on Testing the No-hair Theorem with EMRI

Constituted with a massive black hole and a stellar mass compact object, Extreme Mass Ratio Inspiral (EMRI) events hold unique opportunity for the study of massive black holes, such as by measuring and checking the relations among the mass, spin and quadrupole moment of a massive black hole, putting the no-hair theorem to test. TianQin is a planned space-based gravitational wave observatory and EMRI is one of its main types of sources. It is important to estimate the capacity of TianQin on testing the no-hair theorem with EMRIs. In this work, we use the analytic kludge waveform with quadrupole moment corrections and study how the quadrupole moment can be constrained with TianQin. We find that TianQin can measure the dimensionless quadrupole moment parameter with accuracy to the level of $10^{-5}$ under suitable scenarios. The choice of the waveform cutoff is found to have significant effect on the result: if the Schwarzschild cutoff is used, the accuracy depends strongly on the mass of the massive black hole, while the spin has negligible impact; if the Kerr cutoff is used, however, the dependence on the spin is more significant. We have also analyzed the cases when TianQin is observing simultaneously with other detectors such as LISA.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Lensing by primordial black holes: constraints from gravitational wave observations

Primordial black holes (PBHs) have been proposed to explain at least a portion of dark matter. Observations have put strong constraints on PBHs in terms of the fraction of dark matter which they can represent, $f_{\rm PBH}$, across a wide mass range -- apart from the stellar-mass range of $20M_\odot\lesssim M_{\rm PBH}\lesssim 100M_\odot$. In this paper, we explore the possibility that such PBHs could serve as point-mass lenses capable of altering the gravitational-wave (GW) signals observed from binary black hole (BBH) mergers along their line-of-sight. We find that careful GW data analysis could verify the existence of such PBHs based on the $fitting~factor$ and odds ratio analyses. When such a lensed GW signal is detected, we expect to be able to measure the redshifted mass of the lens with a relative error $ΔM_{\rm PBH}/M_{\rm PBH}\lesssim0.3$. If no such lensed GW events were detected despite the operation of sensitive GW detectors accumulating large numbers of BBH mergers, it would translate into a stringent constraint of $f_{\rm PBH}\lesssim 10^{-2}-10^{-5}$ for PBHs with a mass larger than $\sim10M_\odot$ by the Einstein Telescope after one year of running, and $f_{\rm PBH}\lesssim 0.2$ for PBHs with mass greater than $\sim 50M_\odot$ for advanced LIGO after ten years of running.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Constrains on the electric charges of the binary black holes with GWTC-1 events

Testing black hole's charged property is a fascinating topic in modified gravity and black hole astrophysics. In the first Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-1), ten binary black hole merger events have been formally reported, and these gravitational wave signals have significantly enhanced our understanding of the black hole. In this paper, we try to constrain the amount of electric charge with the parameterized post-Einsteinian framework by treating the electric charge as a small perturbation in a Bayesian way. We find that the current limits in our work are consistent with the result of Fisher information matrix method in previous works. We also develop a waveform model considering a leading order charge effect for binary black hole inspiral.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Characterization of silicon microstrip sensors for space astronomy

Silicon microstrip detectors are widely used in experiments for space astronomy. Before the detector is assembled, extensive characterization of the silicon microstrip sensors is indispensable and challenging. This work electrically evaluates a series of sensor parameters, including the depletion voltage, bias resistance, metal strip resistance, total leakage current, strip leakage current, coupling capacitance, and interstrip capacitance. Two methods are used to accurately measure the strip leakage current, and the test results match each other well. In measuring the coupling capacitance, we extract the correct value based on a SPICE model and two-port network analysis. In addition, the expression of the measured bias resistance is deduced based on the SPICE model.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

GW190426_152155: a merger of neutron star-black hole or low mass binary black holes?

GW190426_152155 was recently reported as one of the 39 candidate gravitational wave (GW) events in \citet{2020arXiv201014527A}, which has an unusual source-frame chirp mass $\sim 2.4M_{\odot}$ and may be the first GW signal from a neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger. Assuming an astrophysical origin, we reanalyze GW190426_152155 using several waveforms with different characteristics, and consider two different priors for the mass ratio of the binary (Uniform and LogUniform). We find that the results are influenced by the priors of mass ratio, and this candidate could also be from the merger of two low mass black holes (BH). In the case for a binary black hole (BBH) merger, the effective spin is likely negative and the effective precession spin is non-negligible. As for the NSBH merger, supposing the mass of the light object follow the distribution of current neutron stars (NSs) with a reasonably measured/constrained mass, the spin of the low mass BH is so small that is hard to generate bright electromagnetic emission. Finally, we estimate a merger rate of GW190426\_152155-like systems to be $59^{+137}_{-51}~{\rm Gpc}^{-3}~{\rm yr}^{-1}$.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Science with the TianQin observatory: Preliminary result on extreme-mass-ratio inspirals

Systems consisting of a massive black hole and a stellar-origin compact object (CO), known as extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs), are of great significance for space-based gravitational-wave detectors, as they will allow for testing gravitational theories in the strong field regime, and for checking the validity of the black hole no-hair theorem. In this work, we present a calculation of the EMRI rate and parameter estimation capabilities of the TianQin observatory, for various astrophysical models for these sources. We find that TianQin can observe EMRIs involving COs with mass of 10$M_\odot$ up to redshift $\sim2$. We also find that detections could reach tens or hundreds per year in the most optimistic astrophysical scenarios. Intrinsic parameters are expected to be recovered to within fractional errors of $\sim 10^{-6}$, while typical errors on the luminosity distance and sky localization are 10% and 10 deg$^2$, respectively. TianQin observation of EMRIs can also constrain possible deviations from the Kerr quadrupole moment to within fractional errors $\lesssim10^{-4}$. We also find that a network of multiple detectors would allow for improvements in both detection rates (by a factor $\sim 1.5$ -$3$) and in parameter estimation precision (20-fold improvement for the sky localization and fivefold improvement for the other parameters).

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Science with the TianQin Observatory: Preliminary results on Galactic double white dwarf binaries

We explore the prospects of detecting of Galactic double white dwarf (DWD) binaries with the space-based gravitational wave (GW) observatory TianQin. In this work, we analyze both a sample of currently known DWDs and a realistic synthetic population of DWDs to assess the number of guaranteed detections and the full capacity of the mission. We find that TianQin can detect 12 out of $\sim100$ known DWDs; GW signals of these binaries can be modeled in detail ahead of the mission launch, and therefore they can be used as verification sources. Besides we estimate that TianQin has potential to detect as many as $10^4$ DWDs in the Milky Way. TianQin is expected to measure their orbital periods and amplitudes with accuracies of $\sim10^{-7}$ and $\sim0.2$, respectively, and to localize on the sky a large fraction (39%) of the detected population to better than 1 deg$^2$. We conclude that TianQin has the potential to significantly advance our knowledge on Galactic DWDs by increasing the sample up to 2 orders of magnitude, and will allow their multi-messenger studies in combination with electromagnetic telescopes. We also test the possibilities of different configurations of TianQin: (1) the same mission with a different orientation, (2) two perpendicular constellations combined into a network, and (3) the combination of the network with the ESA-led Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. We find that the network of detectors boosts the accuracy on the measurement of source parameters by 1-2 orders of magnitude, with the improvement on sky localization being the most significant.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

The TianQin project: current progress on science and technology

TianQin is a planned space-based gravitational wave (GW) observatory consisting of three earth orbiting satellites with an orbital radius of about $10^5~{\rm km}$. The satellites will form a equilateral triangle constellation the plane of which is nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. TianQin aims to detect GWs between $10^{-4}~{\rm Hz}$ and $1~{\rm Hz}$ that can be generated by a wide variety of important astrophysical and cosmological sources, including the inspiral of Galactic ultra-compact binaries, the inspiral of stellar-mass black hole binaries, extreme mass ratio inspirals, the merger of massive black hole binaries, and possibly the energetic processes in the very early universe or exotic sources such as cosmic strings. In order to start science operations around 2035, a roadmap called the 0123 plan is being used to bring the key technologies of TianQin to maturity, supported by the construction of a series of research facilities on the ground. Two major projects of the 0123 plan are being carried out. In this process, the team has created a new generation $17~{\rm cm}$ single-body hollow corner-cube retro-reflector which has been launched with the QueQiao satellite on 21 May 2018; a new laser ranging station equipped with a $1.2~{\rm m}$ telescope has been constructed and the station has successfully ranged to all the five retro-reflectors on the Moon; and the TianQin-1 experimental satellite has been launched on 20 December 2019 and the first round result shows that the satellite has exceeded all of its mission requirements.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Following up the afterglow: strategy for X-ray observation triggered by gravitational wave events

The multi-messenger observation of compact binary coalescence promises great scientific treasure. However, a synthetic observation from both gravitational wave and electromagnetic channels remains challenging. Relying on the day-to-week long macronova emission, GW170817 remains the only event with successful electromagnetic followup. In this manuscript, we explore the possibility of using the early stage X-ray afterglow to search for the electromagnetic counterpart of gravitational wave events. Two algorithms, the sequential observation and the local optimization are considered and applied to three simulated events. We consider the proposed Einstein probe as a candidate X-ray telescope. Benefiting from the large field of view and high sensitivity, we find that the sequential observation algorithm not only is easy to implement, but also promises a good chance of actual detection.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Science with the TianQin observatory: Preliminary results on stellar-mass binary black holes

We study the prospect of using TianQin to detect stellar-mass binary black holes (SBBHs). We estimate the expected detection number as well as the precision of parameter estimation on SBBH inspirals, using five different population models. We note TianQin can possibly detect a few SBBH inspirals with signal to noise ratios greater than 12; lowering the threshold and combining multiple detectors can both boost the detection number. The source parameters can be recovered with good precision for most events above the detection threshold. For example, the precision of the merger time most likely occurs near 1s, making it possible to guide the detection of the ground-based detectors, the precision of the eccentricity $e_0$ most likely occurs near $10^{-4}$, making it possible to distinguish the formation channels, and the precision of the mass parameter is better than $10^{-6}$ in general and most likely occurs near $10^{-7}$. We note, in particular, that for a typical merger event, the error volume is likely to be small enough to contain only the host galaxy, which could greatly help in the study of gravitational wave cosmology and relevant studies through the multimessenger observation.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Is GW190425 consistent with being a neutron star$-$black hole merger?

GW190425 is the second neutron star merger event detected by the Advanced LIGO/Virgo detectors. If interpreted as a double neutron star merger, the total gravitational mass is substantially larger than that of the binary systems identified in the Galaxy. In this work we analyze the gravitational-wave data within the neutron star$-$black hole merger scenario. For the black hole, we yield a mass of $2.40^{+0.36}_{-0.32}M_\odot$ and an aligned spin of $0.141^{+0.067}_{-0.064}$. As for the neutron star we find a mass of $1.15^{+0.15}_{-0.13}M_\odot$ and the dimensionless tidal deformability of $1.4^{+3.8}_{-1.2}\times 10^{3}$. These parameter ranges are for 90\% credibility. The inferred masses of the neutron star and the black hole are not in tension with current observations and we suggest that GW190425 is a viable candidate of a neutron star$-$black hole merger event. Benefitting from the continual enhancement of the sensitivities of the advanced gravitational detectors and the increase of the number of the observatories, similar events are anticipated to be much more precisely measured in the future and the presence of black holes below the so-called mass gap will be unambiguously clarified. If confirmed, the mergers of neutron stars with (quickly rotating) low-mass black holes are likely important production sites of the heaviest r-process elements.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Science with the TianQin observatory: Preliminary results on massive black hole binaries

We investigate the prospects of detecting gravitational waves from coalescing massive black hole binaries in the Universe with the TianQin observatory, a space-based gravitational wave interferometer proposed to be launched in the 2030s. To frame the scientific scope of the mission, in this paper, we carry out a preliminary estimation of the signal-to-noise ratio, detection rate and parameter estimation precision of massive black hole binaries detectable by TianQin. In order to make our results as robust as possible, we consider several models of the growth history of massive black holes, exploring the effect of some key astrophysical prescriptions as well the impact of the employed computational methods. In the most optimistic model, TianQin can detect as many as approximately 60 mergers per year. If TianQin detects a merger at redshift of 15, it will be capable of estimating its luminosity distance to within an accuracy of 10%; for a nearby event at redshift approximately 2, TianQin can issue early warnings 24 hours before coalescence, with a timing accuracy of around three hours and a sky localization ability of approximately 80 deg$^2$, thus enabling multi-messenger observations.

astro-ph.HE↗