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Zhen-Hong Lyu

Publications and source records attributed to Zhen-Hong Lyu.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Self-stimulated avalanche in superradiant axion clouds

Boson clouds formed via superradiance around spinning black holes offer a novel probe of ultralight particles. We show that such gravitational atoms can undergo a self-stimulated avalanche: a coherent quadrupolar transition is seeded by external gravitational waves and amplified by self-generated radiation feedback. We formulate an effective two-level description that captures the logistic population transfer and the resulting delayed gravitational-wave pulse with a characteristic envelope. This cooperative emission mechanism opens a new observational avenue into the ultralight dark sector.

gr-qc

Astrophysical Graviton Squeezing Can Be Hidden in the Far-Field

While localized astrophysical sources can generate macroscopic graviton squeezing, their observable quantum signatures at far-field detectors remain unresolved. In this work, we investigate the propagation dynamics of the squeezed states using spatial quantum optics methods to evaluate correlation functions accessible to a local observer. Crucially, we reveal a severe kinematic conflict in same-cone measurements, which highly suppresses local quantum coherence. Consequently, these macroscopically squeezed states appear classically thermal to a single detector. Our results demonstrate that global squeezing does not guarantee local observability, and the measurable quantum signatures may be significantly weaker than what would be expected from the overall squeezing parameter of the state.

gr-qc

Ward Identity Constraints on Loop Corrections in Non-Attractor Inflation

The conservation of super-horizon curvature perturbations in strongly interacting inflationary models, particularly in the presence of quantum-loop corrections, remains a topic of active debate. We found that this conservation is essentially a direct consequence of the symmetry in perturbation theory. We demonstrate that the associated Ward identity imposes strict non-perturbative constraints on the infrared power spectrum. This finding provides a rigorous, symmetry-based framework for understanding nonlinear quantum fluctuations in the primordial universe.

astro-ph.CO

Constraining interacting dark energy models with black hole superradiance

The recent preference for a dynamical dark energy (DE) from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument seems to call for interactions between DE and dark matter (DM), either from direct DE-DM interaction or indirect interaction induced by modified gravity. Therefore, an independent probe for these kinds of DE-DM interactions would be appealing from observational aspects. In this paper, we propose the black hole superradiance as a novel astrophysical probe for field-theoretic interacting DE-DM models, providing complementary constraints independent of large-scale cosmological observations. The core principle is that the DE-DM interaction can alter the effective mass of the superradiant ultralight boson, thereby modifying its superradiant instability rate around spinning black holes. We explore this connection through two distinct scenarios: a model where the DE field mediates a dark fifth force within the DM sector, affecting the superradiance from DM particles; and a novel mechanism where the DE field itself becomes superradiant due to the effective mass enhancement induced by dense DM spikes around supermassive black holes. By applying a statistical framework to black hole observations in both scenarios, we derive constraints on the fundamental DE-DM coupling strength. Although the current constraints are rather loose due to small samples and inaccurate measurements, our work provides new astrophysical constraints on these interacting DE-DM scenarios and establishes a new synergy between black hole physics and cosmology for probing the fundamental nature of the dark sector.

astro-ph.CO

Ring formation from black hole superradiance through repeated particle production on bound orbits

Ultralight bosonic fields around a rotating black hole can extract energy and angular momentum through the superradiant instability and form a dense cloud. We investigate the scenario involving two scalar fields, $ϕ$ and $χ$, with a coupling term $\frac{1}{2}λϕχ^2$, which is motivated by the multiple-axion framework. The ultralight scalar $ϕ$ forms a cloud that efficiently produces $χ$ particles nonperturbatively via parametric resonance, with a large mass hierarchy, $μ_χ\gg μ_ϕ$. Rather than escaping the system as investigated by previous studies, these $χ$ particles remain bound, orbiting the black hole. Moreover, the particle production occurs primarily at the peak of the cloud's profile, allowing $χ$ particles in quasicircular orbits to pass repeatedly through resonant regions, leading to cumulative amplification. This selective process naturally forms a dense ring of $χ$ particles, with a mass ratio to the cloud fixed by $(μ_ϕ/μ_χ)^2$. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism for generating bound-state particles via parametric resonance, which also impacts the evolution of the cloud. This process can be probed through its imprint on binary dynamics and its gravitational-wave signatures.

gr-qc

Incorporating Backreaction in One-Loop Corrections in Ultra-Slow-Roll Inflation

We investigate the one-loop quantum correction to the power spectrum of primordial curvature perturbations in the ultra-slow-roll (USR) inflationary scenario, incorporating the backreaction effect from curvature perturbations. In the spatially-flat gauge, we expand the background inflaton field up to second order and identify the one-loop level backreaction term in the action. Utilizing a gauge transformation, we derive the comoving curvature interaction Hamiltonian in the presence of the backreaction term and calculate the one-loop correction using the in-in formalism. Our results reveal that the one-loop super-horizon corrections previously reported in the literature are canceled by the backreaction contributions. This finding underscores the importance of accounting for the backreaction effects in the analysis of quantum corrections during USR inflation.

gr-qc