arXiv subjects

Zhengxiang Li

Publications and source records attributed to Zhengxiang Li.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Prospects of strongly lensed fast radio bursts: Simultaneous measurement of post-Newtonian parameter and Hubble constant

Strong gravitational lensing effect is a powerful tool to probe cosmological models and gravity theories. Recently, the time-delay cosmography from strong lensing and the stellar kinematics of the deflector, which encode the Hubble constant and the post-Newtonian parameter via two distance ratios reflecting the lensing mass and dynamical mass respectively, have been proposed to investigate these two parameters simultaneously. Among strong lensing systems with different sources, strongly lensed fast radio bursts (FRBs) have been proposed as precision probes of the universe since the time delay $\sim$ 10 days between images could be measured extremely precisely because of their short duration of a few milliseconds. In this work, we investigate the ability of strongly lensed FRBs on simultaneously estimating these two parameters via simulations. Take the expected FRB detection rate of upcoming facilities and lensing probability into consideration, it is likely to accumulate 10 lensed FRBs in several years and we find that $H_0$ could be determined to a $\sim1.5\%$ precision and $γ_{\rm PPN}$ could be constrained to a $\sim8.7\%$ precision simultaneously from them. These simultaneous estimations will be helpful for properly reflecting the possible correlation between these two fundamental parameters.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Constraints on the abundance of supermassive primordial black holes from lensing of compact radio sources

The possibility that primordial black holes (PBHs) form a part of dark matter has been considered over a wide mass range from the Planck mass ($10^{-5}~\rm g$) to the level of the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy. Primordial origin might be one of the most important formation channel of supermassive black holes. We use the non-detection of lensing effect of very long baseline interferometer observations of compact radio sources with extremely high angular resolution as a promising probe to constrain the abundance of intergalactic PBHs in the mass range $\sim10^4$-$10^9~M_{\odot}$. For a sample of well-measured 543 flat-spectrum compact radio sources, no milli-lensed images are found with angular separations between $1.5$ milli-arcseconds and $50$ milli-arcseconds. From this null search result, we derive that the fraction of dark matter made up of supermassive PBHs in the mass range $\sim10^6$-$10^8~M_{\odot}$ is $\lesssim1.48\%$ at $95\%$ confidence level. This constraints would be significantly improved due to the rapid increase of the number of measured compact radio sources. For instance, on the basis of none confirmed milli-lensing candidate in the latest $\sim14000$ sources, we derive the abundance of supermassive PBHs and obtain that it is $\lesssim0.06\%$ at $95\%$ confidence level.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Search for lensing signatures from the latest fast radio burst observations and constraints on the abundance of primordial black holes

The possibility that primordial black holes (PBHs) form a part of dark matter has been considered for a long time but poorly constrained over a wide mass range. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright radio transients with millisecond duration. Lensing effect of them has been proposed as one of the cleanest probes for constraining the presence of PBHs in the stellar mass window. In this paper, we first apply the normalised cross-correlation algorithm to search and identify candidates of lensed FRBs in the latest public FRB observations, i.e. $593$ FRBs which mainly consist of the first Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment FRB catalog, and then derive constraints on the abundance of PBHs from the null search result of lensing signature. For a monochromatic mass distribution, the fraction of dark matter made up of PBHs could be constrained to $\leq87\%$ for $\geq500~M_{\odot}$ at 95\% confidence level by assuming flux ratio thresholds dependent signal-to-noise ratio for each FRB and that apparently one-off events are intrinsic single bursts. This result would be improved by a three times factor when a conventional constant flux ratio threshold is considered. Moreover, we derive constraints on PBHs with a log-normal mass function naturally predicted by some popular inflation models and often investigated with gravitational wave detections. We find that, in this mass distribution scenario, the constraint from currently public FRB observations is relatively weaker than the one from gravitational wave detections. It is foreseen that upcoming complementary multi-messenger observations will yield considerable constraints on the possibilities of PBHs in this intriguing mass window.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Constraints on the abundance of primordial black holes with different mass distributions from lensing of fast radio bursts

Primordial black holes (PBHs) has been considered to form a part of dark matter for a long time but the possibility has been poorly constrained over a wide mass range, including the stellar mass range ($1-100~M_{\odot}$). However, due to the discovery of merger events of black hole binaries by LIGO-Virgo gravitational wave observatories, the interest for PBHs in the stellar mass window has been aroused again. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright radio transients with millisecond duration and very high all-sky occurrence rate. Lensing effect of these bursts has been proposed as one of the optimal probes for constraining the abundance of PBHs in the stellar mass range. In this paper, we first investigate constraints on the abundance of PBHs from the latest $593$ FRB observations for both the monochromatic mass distribution and three other popular extended mass distributions related to different formation mechanisms of PBHs. It is found that constraints from currently public FRB observations are relatively weaker than those from existing gravitational wave detections. Furthermore, we forecast constraining power of future FRB observations on the abundance of PBHs with different mass distributions of PBHs and different redshift distributions of FRBs taken into account. Finally, We find that constraints of parameter space on extended mass distributions from $\sim10^5$ FRBs with $\overline{Δt}\leq1 ~\rm ms$ would be comparable with what can be constrained from gravitational wave events. It is foreseen that upcoming complementary multi-messenger observations will yield considerable constraints on the possibilities of PBHs in this intriguing mass window.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Bias of reconstructing the dark energy equation of state from the Pad$\acute{e}$ cosmography

Pad$\acute{e}$ cosmography has been widely used to probe the cosmic evolution and to investigate the nature of dark energy. In this paper, we find that the Pad$\acute{e}$ approximant can describe the cosmic evolution better than the standard cosmography, and if the luminosity distance $d_L(z)$ described by the Pad$\acute{e}$ approximant is used to reconstruct the dark energy equation of state $w(z)$, then the reconstructed $w(z)$ will approach a constant, i.e. $1/3$ or $0$, when the redshift is very high. This result is general since it is independent of the coefficients in the Pad$\acute{e}$ approximant and the value of the present dimensionless matter density parameter. This intrinsic character will bias the $w(z)$ reconstruction and lead to misconception of the property of dark energy. Therefore, one must exercise caution in investigating the property of dark energy from Pad$\acute{e}$ cosmography when the high redshift data, i.e. $z>2$, are included.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Constraints on compact dark matter with fast radio burst observations

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are bright radio transients with millisecond duration at cosmological distances. Since compact dark matter/objects (COs) could act as lenses and cause split of this kind of very short duration signals, Mu$\rm{\tilde{n}}$oz et al. (2016) has proposed a novel method to probe COs with lensing of FRBs. In this Letter, we for the first time apply this method to real data and give constraints of the nature of COs with currently available FRB observations. We emphasize the information from dynamic spectra of FRBs is quite necessary for identifying any lensed signals and find no echoes in the existing data. The null search gives a constraint comparable to that from galactic wide binaries, though the methods of redshift inference from dispersion measure would impact a little. Furthermore, we make an improved forecast basing on the distributions of real data for the ongoing and upcoming telescopes. Finally, we discuss the situation where one or more lensed signals will be detected. In such a case, the parameter space of COs can be pinned down very well since the lens mass can be directly determined through the observed flux ratio and time delay between split images.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Cosmology-insensitive estimate of IGM baryon mass fraction from five localized fast radio bursts

Five fast radio bursts (FRBs), including three apparently non-repeating ones FRB 180924, FRB 181112, and FRB 190523, and two repeaters, FRB 121102 and FRB 180916.J0158+65, have already been localized so far. We apply a method developed recently by us (Li et al. 2019) to these five localized FRBs to give a cosmology-insensitive estimate of the fraction of baryon mass in the IGM, $f_{\rm IGM}$. Using the measured dispersion measure (DM) and luminosity distance $d_{\rm L}$ data (inferred from the FRB redshifts and $d_{\rm L}$ of type Ia supernovae at the same redshifts) of the five FRBs, we constrain the local $f_{\rm IGM} = 0.84^{+0.16}_{-0.22}$ with no evidence of redshift dependence. This cosmology-insensitive estimate of $f_{\rm IGM}$ from FRB observations is in excellent agreement with previous constraints using other probes. Moreover, using the three apparently non-repeating FRBs only we get a little looser but consistent result $f_{\rm IGM} = 0.74^{+0.24}_{-0.18}$. In these two cases, reasonable estimations for the host galaxy DM contribution (${\rm DM_{host}}$) can be achieved by modelling it as a function of star formation rate. The constraints on both $f_{\rm IGM}$ and ${\rm DM_{host}}$ are expected to be significantly improved with the rapid progress in localizing FRBs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Constraining the Evolution of the Baryon Fraction in the IGM with FRB and H(z) data

Extragalactic dispersion measures (DMs) obtained from observations of fast radio bursts (FRBs) are an excellent tool for probing intergalactic medium (IGM) and for conducting cosmography. However, the DM contribution from the IGM (${\rm DM_{IGM}}$) depends on the fraction of baryon mass in the IGM, $f_{\rm IGM}$, which is not properly constrained. As $f_{\rm IGM}(z)$ is geometrically related to the Hubble parameter $H(z)$ and ${\rm DM_{IGM}}(z)$, here we propose that combining two independent measurements of FRBs and $H(z)$ in similar redshift ranges provides a novel and cosmology-free method to constrain the evolution of $f_{\rm IGM}(z)$. Under the assumption that $f_{\rm IGM}$ is evolving with redshift in a functional form, we forecast that the evolution of $f_{\rm IGM}(z)$ can be well inferred in a combined analysis of $\sim3000$ ${\rm DM_{IGM}}(z)$ derived from FRBs and $\sim50$ $H(z)$ derived from the Hubble parameter data. Though the efficiency of our method is not as good as that of the other model-independent method involving the joint measurements of DM and luminosity distance of FRBs, our method offers a new model-independent way to constrain $f_{\rm IGM}(z)$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Prospects of strongly lensed repeating fast radio bursts: complementary constraints on dark energy evolution

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are highly dispersed and probably extragalactic radio flashes with millisecond-duration. Recently, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (using the CHIME/FRB instrument) has reported detections of 13 FRBs during a pre-commissioning phase. It is more exciting that one of the 13 FRBs is a second source of repeaters which suggests that CHIME/FRB and other wide-field sensitive radio telescopes will find a substantial population of repeating FRBs. We have proposed strongly lensed repeating FRBs as a precision cosmological probe, e.g. constraining the Hubble constant and model-independently estimating the cosmic curvature. Here, we study complementary constraints on the equation of state of dark energy from strongly lensed FRBs to currently available popular probes. It is found that, in the framework of Chevalier-Polarski-Linder parametrization, adding time delay measurement of 30 strongly lensed FRB systems to cosmic microwave background radiation and type Ia supernovae can improve the dark energy figure of merit by a factor 2. In the precision cosmology era, this improvement is of great significance for studying the nature of dark energy.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Limits on the Weak Equivalence Principle and Photon Mass with FRB 121102 Sub-pulses

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are short duration ($\sim$millisecond) radio transients with cosmological origin. The simple sharp features of the FRB signal have been utilized to probe two fundamental laws of physics, namey, testing Einstein's weak equivalence principle and constraining the rest mass of the photon. Recently, \cite{hessels18} found that after correcting for dispersive delay, some of the bursts in FRB 121102 have complex time-frequency structures that include sub-pulses with a time-frequency downward drifting property. Using the delay time between sub-pulses in FRB 121102, here we show that the parameterized post-Newtonian parameter $γ$ is the same for photons with different energies to the level of $\left|γ_1-γ_2\right|<2.5\times 10^{-16}$, which is 1000 times better than previous constraints from FRBs using similar methods. We also obtain a stringent constraint on the photon mass, $m_γ < 5.1\times10^{-48}$ g, which is 10 times smaller than previous best limits on the photon mass derived through the velocity dispersion method.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Complementary constraints on dark energy equation of state from strongly lensed gravitational wave

It has been shown that time delay of strong gravitational lensing is not only an effective cosmological probe to constrain the Hubble constant, the matter density and the curvature of the universe but also useful for breaking the degeneracy of the dark energy equation of state and thus provide complementarity with other popular probes, such as type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, and cosmic microwave background radiation. Interestingly, compared to traditional strong lensing systems where quasars act as sources, strongly lensed gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binary coalescence and their electromagnetic (EM) counterparts systems have been recently proposed to be more powerful for studying cosmology since GWs and their EM counterparts are transients. Short durations of GWs and their EM counterparts are very advantageous to time delay measurement and lens profile modeling. Here, in the framework of Chevalier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parametrization, we investigate improvement of constraining power on dark energy equation of state due to including time delay measurements of strong lensed GW systems. It is suggested that, on the basis of the third generation ground-based detector, e.g. Einstein Telescope, adding time delay of only 30 strong lensed GW systems to type Ia supernovae and cosmic microwave background radiation can improve the dark energy figure of merit by a factor 2. For the traditional standard siren method where the uncertainties of luminosity distances of GWs are $\sim10\%$, a few $\times~10^4$ events are expected to present similar constraints. In the precision cosmology era, this progress is of great significance for studying the nature of dark energy.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Cosmology-independent estimate of the fraction of baryon mass in the IGM from fast radio burst observations

The excessive dispersion measure (DM) of fast radio bursts (FRBs) has been proposed to be a powerful tool to study intergalactic medium (IGM) and to perform cosmography. One issue is that the fraction of baryons in the IGM, $f_{\rm IGM}$, is not properly constrained. Here we propose a method of estimating $f_{\rm IGM}$ using a putative sample of FRBs with the measurements of both DM and luminosity distance $d_{\rm L}$. The latter can be obtained if the FRB is associated with a distance indicator (e.g. a gamma-ray burst or a gravitational wave event), or the redshift $z$ of the FRB is measured and $d_{\rm L}$ at the corresponding $z$ is available from other distance indicators (e.g. type Ia supernovae) at the same redshift. Since $d_{\rm L}/{\rm DM}$ essentially does not depend on cosmological parameters, our method can determine $f_{\rm IGM}$ independent of cosmological parameters. We parameterize $f_{\rm IGM}$ as a function of redshift and model the DM contribution from a host galaxy as a function of star formation rate. Assuming $f_{\rm IGM}$ has a mild evolution with redshift with a functional form and by means of Monte Carlo simulations, we show that an unbiased and cosmology-independent estimate of the present value of $f_{\rm IGM}$ with a $\sim 12\%$ uncertainty can be obtained with 50 joint measurements of $d_{\rm L}$ and DM. In addition, such a method can also lead to a measurement of the mean value of DM contributed from the local host galaxy.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Cosmological inference from standard sirens without redshift measurements

The purpose of this work is to investigate the prospects of using the future standard siren data without redshift measurements to constrain cosmological parameters. With successful detections of gravitational wave (GW) signals an era of GW astronomy has begun. Unlike the electromagnetic domain, GW signals allow direct measurements of luminosity distances to the sources, while their redshifts remain to be measured by identifying electromagnetic counterparts. This leads to significant technical problems for almost all possible BH-BH systems. It is the major obstacle to cosmological applications of GW standard sirens. In this paper, we introduce the general framework of using luminosity distances alone for cosmological inference. The idea is to use the prior knowledge of the redshift probability distribution for coalescing sources from the intrinsic merger rates assessed with population synthesis codes. Then the posterior probability distributions for cosmological parameters can be calculated. We demonstrate the performance of our method on the simulated mock data and show that the luminosity distance measurement would enable an accurate determination of cosmological parameters up to $20%$ uncertainty level. We also find that in order to infer $H_0$ to 1% level with flat $Λ$CDM model, we need about $10^5$ events.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Strongly lensed repeating Fast Radio Bursts as precision probes of the universe

Fast Radio bursts (FRBs), bright transients with millisecond durations at $\sim$ GHz and typical redshifts probably $>0.8$, are likely to be gravitationally lensed by intervening galaxies. Since the time delay between images of strongly lensed FRB can be measured to extremely high precision because of the large ratio $\sim10^9$ between the typical galaxy-lensing delay time $\sim\mathcal{O}$(10 days) and the width of bursts $\sim\mathcal{O}$(ms), we propose strongly lensed FRBs as precision probes of the universe. We show that, within the flat $Λ$CDM model, the Hubble constant $H_0$ can be constrained with a $\sim0.91\%$ uncertainty from 10 such systems probably observed with the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) in $<$ 30 years. More importantly, the cosmic curvature can be model-independently constrained to a precision of $\sim0.076$. This constraint can directly test the validity of the cosmological principle and break the intractable degeneracy between the cosmic curvature and dark energy.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Curvature from strong gravitational lensing: a spatially closed Universe or systematics?

Model-independent constraints on the spatial curvature are not only closely related to important problems such as the evolution of the Universe and properties of dark energy, but also provide a test of the validity of the fundamental Copernican principle. In this paper, with the distance sum rule in the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric, we achieve model-independent measurements of the spatial curvature from the latest type Ia supernovae and strong gravitational lensing (SGL) observations. We find that a spatially closed Universe is preferred. Moreover, by considering different kinds of velocity dispersion and subsample, we study possible factors which might affect model-independent estimations for the spatial curvature from SGL observations. It is suggested that the combination of observational data from different surveys might cause a systematic bias and the tension between the spatially flat Universe and SGL observations is alleviated when the subsample only from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey is used or a more complex treatment for the density profile of lenses is considered.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Test of the FLRW metric and curvature with strong lens time delays

We present a new model-independent strategy for testing the Friedmann-Lema\^ıtre-Robertson-Walker metric and constraining cosmic curvature, based on future time delay measurements of strongly lensed quasar-elliptical galaxy systems from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and supernova observations from the Dark Energy Survey. The test only relies on geometric optics. It is independent of the energy contents of the universe and the validity of the Einstein equation on cosmological scales. The study comprises two levels: testing the FLRW metric through the Distance Sum Rule and determining/constraining cosmic curvature. We propose an effective and efficient (redshift) evolution model for performing the former test, which allows us to concretely specify the violation criterion for the FLRW Distance Sum Rule. If the FLRW metric is consistent with the observations, then, on the second level, the cosmic curvature parameter will be constrained to $\sim0.057$ or $\sim0.041$ ($1σ$), depending on the availability of high-redshift supernovae, much more stringent than current model-independent techniques. We also show that the bias in the time delay method might be well controlled, leading to robust results. The proposed method is a new independent tool for both testing the fundamental assumptions of homogeneity and isotropy in cosmology and for determining cosmic curvature. It is complementary to cosmic microwave background plus baryon acoustic oscillation analyses, which normally assume a cosmological model with dark energy domination in the late-time universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Determining $H_0$ using a model-independent method

By using type Ia supernovae (SNIa) to provide the luminosity distance (LD) directly, which depends on the value of the Hubble constant $H_0= 100 h\; {\rm km\; s^{-1}\; Mpc^{-1}}$, and the angular diameter distance from galaxy clusters or baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) to give the derived LD according to the distance duality relation, we propose a model-independent method to determine $h$ from the fact that different observations should give the same LD at a given redshift. Combining the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II (SDSS-II) SNIa from the MLCS2k2 light curve fit and galaxy cluster data, we find that at the $1σ$ confidence level (CL), $h=0.5867\pm0.0303$ for the sample of the elliptical $β$ model for galaxy clusters, and $h=0.6199\pm0.0293$ for that of the spherical $β$ model. The former is smaller than the values from other observations, whereas the latter is consistent with the Planck result at the $2σ$ CL and agrees very well with the value reconstructed directly from the $H(z)$ data. With the SDSS-II SNIa and BAO measurements, a tighter constraint, $h=0.6683\pm0.0221$, is obtained. For comparison, we also consider the Union 2.1 SNIa from the SALT2 light curve fitting. The results from the Union 2.1 SNIa are slightly larger than those from the SDSS-II SNIa, and the Union 2.1 SNIa + BAOs give the tightest value. We find that the values from SNIa + BAOs are quite consistent with those from the Planck and the BAOs, as well as the local measurement from Cepheids and very-low-redshift SNIa.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Model-independent estimations for the curvature from standard candles and clocks

Model-independent estimations for the spatial curvature not only provide a test for the fundamental Copernican principle assumption, but also can effectively break the degeneracy between curvature and dark energy properties. In this paper, we propose to achieve model-independent constraints on the spatial curvature from observations of standard candles and standard clocks, without assuming any fiducial cosmology and other priors. We find that, for the popular Union2.1 type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia ) observations, the spatial curvature is constrained to be $Ω_K=-0.045_{-0.172}^{+0.176}$. For the latest joint light-curve analysis (JLA) of SNe Ia observations, we obtain $Ω_K=-0.140_{-0.158}^{+0.161}$. It is suggested that these results are in excellent agreement with the spatially flat Universe. Moreover, compared to other approaches aiming for model-independent estimations of spatial curvature, this method also achieves constraints with competitive precision.

astro-ph.CO↗