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Zhoujian Cao

Publications and source records attributed to Zhoujian Cao.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
arXiv2021

Kilonova Emission From Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers. II. Luminosity Function and Implications for Target-of-opportunity Observations of Gravitational-wave Triggers and Blind Searches

We present detailed simulations of black hole-neutron star (BH-NS) mergers kilonova and gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow and kilonova luminosity function, and discuss the detectability of electromagnetic (EM) counterpart in connection with gravitational wave (GW) detections, GW-triggered target-of-opportunity observations, and time-domain blind searches. The predicted absolute magnitude of the BH-NS kilonovae at $0.5\,{\rm days}$ after the merger falls in $[-10,-15.5]$. The simulated luminosity function contains the potential viewing-angle distribution information of the anisotropic kilonova emission. We simulate the GW detection rates, detectable distances and signal duration, for the future networks of 2nd/2.5th/3rd-generation GW detectors. BH-NSs tend to produce brighter kilonovae and afterglows if the BH has a higher aligned-spin, and a less massive NS with a stiffer EoS. The detectability of kilonova is especially sensitive to the BH spin. If BHs typically have low spins, the BH-NS EM counterparts are hard to discover. For the 2nd generation GW detector networks, a limiting magnitude of $m_{\rm limit}\sim23-24\,{\rm mag}$ is required to detect the kilonovae even if BH high spin is assumed. Thus, a plausible explanation for the lack of BH-NS associated kilonova detection during LIGO/Virgo O3 is that either there is no EM counterpart (plunging events), or the current follow-ups are too shallow. These observations still have the chance to detect the on-axis jet afterglow associated with an sGRB or an orphan afterglow. Follow-up observations can detect possible associated sGRB afterglows, from which kilonova signatures may be studied. For time-domain observations, a high-cadence search in redder filters is recommended to detect more BH-NS associated kilonovae and afterglows.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2021

A higher-multipole gravitational waveform model for an eccentric binary black holes based on the effective-one-body-numerical-relativity formalism

We construct a new factorized waveform including $(l,|m|)=(2,2),(2,1),(3,3),(4,4)$ modes based on effective-one-body (EOB) formalism, which is valid for spinning binary black holes (BBH) in general equatorial orbit. When combined with the dynamics of $\texttt{SEOBNRv4}$, the $(l,|m|)=(2,2)$ mode waveform generated by this new waveform can fit the original $\texttt{SEOBNRv4}$ waveform very well in the case of a quasi-circular orbit. We have calibrated our new waveform model to the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) catalog. The comparison is done for BBH with total mass in $(20,200)M_\odot$ using Advanced LIGO designed sensitivity. For the quasi-circular cases we have compared our $(2,2)$ mode waveforms to the 281 numerical relativity (NR) simulations of BBH along quasi-circular orbits. All of the matching factors are bigger than 98\%. For the elliptical cases, 24 numerical relativity simulations of BBH along an elliptic orbit are used. For each elliptical BBH system, we compare our modeled gravitational polarizations against the NR results for different combinations of the inclination angle, the initial orbit phase and the source localization in the sky. We use the the minimal matching factor respect to the inclination angle, the initial orbit phase and the source localization to quantify the performance of the higher modes waveform. We found that after introducing the high modes, the minimum of the minimal matching factor among the 24 tested elliptical BBHs increases from 90\% to 98\%. Following our previous $\texttt{SEOBNRE}$ waveform model, we call our new waveform model $\texttt{SEOBNREHM}$. Our $\texttt{SEOBNREHM}$ waveform model can match all tested 305 SXS waveforms better than 98\% including highly spinning ($χ=0.99$) BBH, highly eccentric ($e\approx0.15$) BBH and large mass ratio ($q=10$) BBH.

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arXiv2021

Extending the frequency reach of pulsar timing array based gravitational wave search without high cadence observations

Gravitational wave (GW) searches using pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are assumed to be limited by the typical average observational cadence of $1/(2~{\rm weeks})$ for a single pulsar to GW frequencies $\lesssim 4\times 10^{-7}$ Hz. We show that this assumption is incorrect and that a PTA can detect signals with much higher frequencies, which are preserved in the data due to aliasing, by exploiting asynchronous observations from multiple pulsars. This allows an observation strategy that is scalable to future large-scale PTAs containing $O(10^3)$ pulsars, enabled by the Five-hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope and the Square Kilometer Array, without requiring a higher per-pulsar observation cadence. We show that higher frequency GW observations, reaching up to $4\times 10^{-4}$ Hz with an SKA-era PTA, have significant astrophysical implications, such as (i) a three orders of magnitude better constraint than current high-cadence observations on GW strain in the $[10,400]$ $μ{\rm Hz}$ band, and (ii) sensitive tests of the no-hair theorem in the mass range of supermassive black hole binaries using their inspiral, merger, and ringdown signals.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2020

Improved deep learning techniques in gravitational-wave data analysis

In recent years, convolutional neural network (CNN) and other deep learning models have been gradually introduced into the area of gravitational-wave (GW) data processing. Compared with the traditional matched-filtering techniques, CNN has significant advantages in efficiency in GW signal detection tasks. In addition, matched-filtering techniques are based on the template bank of the existing theoretical waveform, which makes it difficult to find GW signals beyond theoretical expectation. In this paper, based on the task of GW detection of binary black holes, we introduce the optimization techniques of deep learning, such as batch normalization and dropout, to CNN models. Detailed studies of model performance are carried out. Through this study, we recommend to use batch normalization and dropout techniques in CNN models in GW signal detection tasks. Furthermore, we investigate the generalization ability of CNN models on different parameter ranges of GW signals. We point out that CNN models are robust to the variation of the parameter range of the GW waveform. This is a major advantage of deep learning models over matched-filtering techniques.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2020

Measuring eccentricity of binary black holes in GWTC-1 by using inspiral-only waveform

In this paper, we estimate the eccentricity of the 10 BBHs in GWTC-1 by using the inspiral-only BBH waveform template EccentricFD. Firstly, we test our method with simulated eccentric BBHs. Afterwards we apply the method to the real BBH gravitational wave data. We find that the BBHs in GWTC-1 except GW151226, GW170608 and GW170729 admit very small eccentricity. Their upper limits on eccentricity range from 0.033 to 0.084 with 90% credible interval at the reference frequency 10 Hz. For GW151226, GW170608 and GW170729, the upper limits are higher than 0.1. The relatively large eccentricity of GW151226 and GW170729 is probably due to ignoring the effective spin and low signal-to-noise ratio, and GW170608 is worthy of follow-up research. We also point out the limitations of the inspiral-only non-spinning waveform template in eccentricity measurement. The measurement of BBH eccentricity helps to understand its formation mechanism. With the increase in the number of BBH gravitational wave events and the more complete eccentric BBH waveform template, this will become a viable method in the near future.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2020

Physical Implications of the Sub-threshold GRB GBM-190816 and its Associated Sub-threshold Gravitational Wave Event

The LIGO-Virgo and Fermi collaborations recently reported a possible joint detection of a sub-threshold gravitational wave (GW) event and a sub-threshold gamma-ray burst (GRB), GBM-190816, that occurred 1.57 s after the merger. We perform an independent analysis of the publicly available data and investigate the physical implications of this potential association. By carefully studying the following properties of GBM-190816 using Fermi/GBM data, including signal-to-noise ratio, duration, f-parameter, spectral properties, energetic properties, and its compliance with some GRB statistical correlations, we confirm that this event is likely a typical short GRB. Assuming its association with the sub-threshold GW event, the inferred luminosity is $1.47_{-1.04}^{+3.40} \times 10^{49}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Based on the available information of the sub-threshold GW event, we infer the mass ratio q of the compact binary as $q=2.26_{-1.43}^{+2.75}$ according to the reported range of luminosity distance. If the heavier compact object has a mass > 3 solar masses, q can be further constrained to $q=2.26_{-0.12}^{+2.75}$. The leading physical scenario invokes an NS-BH merger system with the NS tidally disrupted. Within this scenario, we constrain the physical properties of such a system to produce a GRB. The GW data may also allow an NS-BH system with no tidal disruption of the NS or a BH-BH merger. We apply the charged compact binary coalescence (cCBC) theory (for both a constant charge and an increasing charge for the merging members) to derive the model parameters to account for GBM-190816 and found that the required parameters are extreme. Finally, we argue that the fact that the observed GW-GRB delay time scale is comparable to that of GW170817/GRB 170817A suggests that the GW-GRB time delay of these two cases is mainly defined by the time scale for the jet to propagate to the GRB emission site.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2019

Accuracy of source localization for eccentric inspiraling binary mergers using a ground-based detector network

The problem of gravitational wave parameter estimation and source localization is crucial in gravitational wave astronomy. Gravitational waves emitted by compact binary coalescences in the sensitivity band of second-generation ground-based detectors could have non-negligible eccentricities. Thus it is an interesting topic to study how the eccentricity of a binary source affects and improves the accuracy of its localization (and the signal-to-noise ratio). In this work we continue to investigate this effect with the enhanced postcircular waveform model. Using the Fisher information matrix method, we determine the accuracy of source localization with three ground-based detector networks. As expected, the accuracy of source localization is improved considerably with more detectors in a network. We find that the accuracy also increases significantly by increasing the eccentricity for the large total mass ($M\ge 40M_\odot$) binaries with all three networks. For the small total mass ($M<40 M_\odot$) binaries, this effect is negligible. For the smaller total mass ($M<5 M_\odot$) binaries, the accuracy could be even worse at some orientations with increasing eccentricity. This phenomenon comes mainly from how well the frequency of the higher harmonic modes induced by increasing eccentricity coincides with the sensitive bandwidth of the detectors. For the case of the $100 M_\odot$ black hole binary, the improvement factor is about $2$ in general when the eccentricity grows from $0.0$ to $0.4$. For the cases of the $22 M_\odot$ black hole binary and the $2.74 M_\odot$ neutron star binary, the improvement factor is less than $1.1$, and it may be less than 1 at some orientations.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2019

Direct test of the FLRW metric from strongly lensed gravitational wave observations

The assumptions of large-scale homogeneity and isotropy underly the familiar Friedmann-Lema\^ıtre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric that appears to be an accurate description of our Universe. In this paper, we propose a new strategy of testing the validity of the FLRW metric, based on the galactic-scale lensing systems where strongly lensed gravitational waves and their electromagnetic counterparts can be simultaneously detected. Each strong lensing system creates opportunity to infer the curvature parameter of the Universe. Consequently, combined analysis of many such systems will provide a model-independent tool to test the validity of the FLRW metric. Our study demonstrates that the third-generation ground based GW detectors, like the Einstein Telescope (ET) and space-based detectors, like the Big Bang Observer (BBO), are promising concerning determination of the curvature parameter or possible detection of deviation from the FLRW metric. Such accurate measurements of the FLRW metric can become a milestone in precision GW cosmology.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2019

Constraint on the fifth force through perihelion precession of planets

The equivalence principle is important in fundamental physics. The fifth force, as a describing formalism of the equivalence principle, may indicate the property of an unknown theory. Dark matter is one of the most mysterious objects in the current natural science. It is interesting to constrain the fifth force of dark matter. We propose a new method to use perihelion precession of planets to constrain the long-range fifth force of dark matter. Due to the high accuracy of perihelion precession observation, and the large difference of matter composition between the Sun and planets, we get one of the strongest constraints on the fifth force of dark matter. In the near future, the BepiColombo mission will be capable to improve the test by another factor of ten.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2019

Validating the Effective-One-Body Numerical-Relativity Waveform Models for Spin-aligned Binary Black Holes along Eccentric Orbits

Effective-one-body (EOB) numerical-relativity (NR) waveform models for spin-aligned binary black holes (BBHs), known as the SEOBNR waveform models, are based on the EOB theoretical framework and NR simulations. SEOBNR models have played an important role in the LIGO scientific collaboration (LSC) gravitational wave (GW) data analysis for both signal search and parameter estimation. SEOBNR models for quasi-circular orbits have evolved through version 1 to version 4 by extending their validity domain and including more NR results. Along another direction, we recently extended SEOBNRv1 model to SEOBNRE model which is valid for spin-aligned BBH coalescence along eccentric orbits. In this paper we validate this theoretical waveform model by comparing them against the numerical relativity simulation bank, Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) catalog. In total, 278 NR waveforms are investigated which include binaries with large eccentricity; large spin and large mass ratio. Our SEOBNRE can model the NR waveforms quite well. The fitting factor for most of the 278 waveforms is larger than 99\%. It indicates that the SEOBNRE model could be used as template waveforms for eccentric spin-aligned BBH coalescence.

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arXiv2019

Gravitational wave signal recognition of O1 data by deep learning

Deep learning method develops very fast as a tool for data analysis these years. Such a technique is quite promising to treat gravitational wave detection data. There are many works already in the literature which used deep learning technique to process simulated gravitational wave data. In this paper we apply deep learning to LIGO O1 data. In order to improve the weak signal recognition we adjust the convolutional neural network (CNN) a little bit. Our adjusted convolutional neural network admits comparable accuracy and efficiency of signal recognition as other deep learning works published in the literature. Based on our adjusted CNN, we can clearly recognize the eleven confirmed gravitational wave events included in O1 and O2. And more we find about 2000 gravitational wave triggers in O1 data.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2019

Reduced-order surrogate models for scalar-tensor gravity in the strong field and applications to binary pulsars and GW170817

We investigate the scalar-tensor gravity of Damour and Esposito-Farèse (DEF), which predicts non-trivial phenomena in the nonperturbative strong-field regime for neutron stars (NSs). Instead of solving the modified Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations, we construct reduced-order surrogate models, coded in the pySTGROM package, to predict the relations of a NS radius, mass, and effective scalar coupling to its central density. Our models are accurate at $\sim1\%$ level and speed up large-scale calculations by two orders of magnitude. As an application, we use pySTGROM and Markov-chain Monte Carlo techniques to constrain parameters in the DEF theory, with five well-timed binary pulsars, the binary NS (BNS) inspiral GW170817, and a hypothetical BNS inspiral in the Advanced LIGO and next-generation GW detectors. In the future, as more binary pulsars and BNS mergers are detected, our surrogate models will be helpful in constraining strong-field gravity with essential speed and accuracy.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2019

Dark matter minispike: a significant enhancement of eccentricity for intermediate-mass-ratio-inspirals

When a stellar massive compact object, such as a black hole (BH), inspirals into an intermediate massive black hole (IMBH), an intermediate-mass-ratio-inspiral (IMRI) system forms. Such kind of systems are important sources for space-based gravitational wave detectors including LISA, Taiji and Tianqin. Dark matter (DM) minispikes may form around IMBHs. We study the effect of dynamical friction against DM minispike on the evolution of eccentric IMRI. For such investigation we construct the dynamical equations which describes the evolution of eccentric IMRI under the effect of dynamical friction. As dynamical friction is large for small velocity, the dissipation of energy near apastron is more than that near periastron. This will greatly enhance the eccentricity. For instance, with an initial semi-latus rectum of $1\rm AU$, even a moderate DM minispike can make the eccentricity grow from $0.3$ to $0.85$. In the extremal case the eccentricity could be enhanced to near $1$. We also study a specific case which corresponds to an IMRI in the center of a globular cluster (GC) and find the eccentricity can keep its value above $0.95$ until the IMRI enters LISA band. These gravitational wave with enhanced eccentricity by DM minispikes can be easly distinguished from that without DM at $10^{-3}\rm Hz$ due to the eccentricity difference. These anticipations can be tested by future space-based GW detectors such as LISA.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2019

On neutralization of charged black holes

For non-spinning, charged (Reissner-Nordström) black holes, the particles with an opposite sign of charge with respect to that of the black hole will be pulled into the black hole by the extra electromagnetic force. Such a hole will be quickly neutralized so that there should not exist significantly charged, non-spinning black holes in the universe. The case of spinning, charged (Kerr-Newmann) black holes is more complicated. For a given initial position and initial velocity of the particle, an oppositely charged particle does not always more easily fall into the black hole than a neutral particle. The possible existence of a magnetosphere further complicate the picture. One therefore cannot straightforwardly conclude that a charged spinning black hole will be neutralized. In this paper, we make the first step to investigate the neutralization of Kerr-Newmann black holes without introducing a magnetosphere. We track the particle trajectories under the influence of the curved spacetime and the electromagnetic field carried by the spinning, charged black hole. A statistical method is used to investigate the neutralization problem. We find a universal dependence of the falling probability into the black hole on the charge of the test particle, with the oppositely charged particles having a higher probability of falling. We therefore conclude that charged, spinning black holes without a magnetosphere should be quickly neutralized, consistent with people's intuition. The neutralization problem of Kerr-Newmann black holes with a co-rotating force-free magnetosphere is subject to further studies.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2019

Detecting the Beaming Effect of Gravitational Waves

The models currently used in the detection of gravitational waves (GWs) either do not consider a relative motion between the center-of-mass of the source and the observer, or usually only consider its effect on the frequencies of GWs. However, it is known for light waves that a relative motion not only changes the frequencies but also the brightness of the source, the latter of which is called the `beaming effect'. Here we investigate such an effect for GWs and find that the observed amplitude of a GW signal, unlike the behavior of light, is not a monotonic function of the relative velocity and responds differently to the two GW polarizations. We attribute the difference to a rotation of the wave-vector, as well as a reorientation of the GW polarizations. We find that even for velocities as small as $0.25\%$ of the speed of light, ignoring the aforementioned beaming effect could induce a systematic error that is larger than the designated calibration accuracy of LIGO. This error could lead to an incorrect estimation of the distance and orbital inclination of a GW source, or result in a spurious signal that appears to be incompatible with general relativity.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2019

Mass-redshift Degeneracy for Gravitational-wave Sources in the Vicinity of a Supermassive Black Hole

Retrieving the mass of a gravitational-wave (GW) source is a fundamental but difficult problem because the mass is degenerate with redshift. In astronomy, three types of redshift exist, namely cosmological, Doppler, and gravitational redshift, but the latter two are normally too weak to affect the observation. In this Letter, we show that the current astrophysical models allow binary black holes (BBHs) to merge within $10$ Schwarzschild radii of a supermassive black hole (SMBH). We find that in this case both the Doppler and gravitational redshift are significant, and in the most extreme condition they could increase the "apparent" black-hole mass and distance by a factor of $1.9-3.4$. We show that such a factor is consistent with the distribution in the distance-mass diagram of the ten BBHs detected so far by LIGO/Virgo. We also discuss the difficulties of this redshift scenario caused by the low event rate predicted by the current models, as well the potential solutions.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2018

Binary black hole simulation with an adaptive finite element method III: Evolving a single black hole

We extend a new finite element code, Einstein PHG (iPHG), to solve the evolution part of Einstein equations in first-order GH formalism. This paper is the third one of a systematic investigation of applying adaptive finite element method to the Einstein equations, especially binary compact objects simulations. The primary motivation of this work is to evolve black holes for the first time utilizing a continuous Galerkin finite element method on unstructured (tetrahedral) mesh. We test our code by evolving a nonlinear scalar wave equation. It works well and runs stably with both reflect and radiative boundary conditions. Then we use iPHG to simulate the full three-dimensional spacetime of a single black hole. We find that the filter used to dealt with aliasing error is a crucial ingredient for numerical stability. For simplicity, we impose the "freezing" ingoing characteristic fields condition in weak form at the outer boundary. Our simulations show both the convergence and stability.

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