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

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: 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.

  • Direct tests of General Relativity under screening effect with galaxy-scale strong lensing systems

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Observations of galaxy-scale strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems have enabled unique tests of nonlinear departures from general relativity (GR) on the galactic and supergalactic scales. One of the most important cases of such tests is constraints on the gravitational slip between two scalar gravitational potentials. In this paper, we use a newly compiled sample of strong gravitational lenses to test the validity of GR, focusing on the screening effects on the apparent positions of lensed sources relative to the GR predictions. This is the first simultaneous measurement of the Post-Newtonian (PN) parameter ($\gamma_{PN}$) and the screening radius ($\Lambda$) without any assumptions about the contents of the Universe. Our results suggest that the measured PPN is marginally consistent with GR ($\gamma_{PN}=1$) with increasing screening radius ($\Lambda = 10-300 $kpc), although the choice of lens models may have a significant influence on the final measurements. Based on a well-defined sample of 5000 simulated strong lenses from the forthcoming LSST, our methodology will provide a strong extragalactic test of GR with an accuracy of 0.5\%, assessed up to scales of $\Lambda \sim 300$ kpc. For the current and future observations of available SGL systems, there is no noticeable evidence indicating some specific cutoff scales on kpc-Mpc scales, beyond which new gravitational degrees of freedom are expressed.

  • Probing modified gravity theories with multiple measurements of high-redshift quasars

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: In this paper, we quantify the ability of multiple measurements of high-redshift quasars (QSOs) to constrain several theories of modified gravity, including the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati braneworld scenario, generalized Chaplygin gas, $f(T)$ modified gravity, and Modified Polytropic Cardassian model. Recently released sample of 1598 quasars with X-ray and UV flux measurements in the redshift range of $0.036\leq z \leq 5.1003$, as well as a compilation of 120 intermediate-luminosity radio quasars covering the redshift of $0.46 < z < 2.76$ are respectively used as standard probes at higher redshifts. For all considered modified gravity theories, our results show that there is still some possibility that the standard $\Lambda$CDM scenario might not be the best cosmological model preferred by the current quasar observations. In order to improve cosmological constraints, the quasar data are also combined with the latest observations of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), which strongly complement the constraints. Finally, we discuss the support given by the data to modified gravity theories, applying different information theoretic techniques like the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD).

  • Direct tests of General Relativity under screening effect with galaxy-scale strong lensing systems

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Observations of galaxy-scale strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems have enabled unique tests of nonlinear departures from general relativity (GR) on the galactic and supergalactic scales. One of the most important cases of such tests is constraints on the gravitational slip between two scalar gravitational potentials. In this paper, we use a newly compiled sample of strong gravitational lenses to test the validity of GR, focusing on the screening effects on the apparent positions of lensed sources relative to the GR predictions. This is the first simultaneous measurement of the Post-Newtonian (PN) parameter ($\gamma_{PN}$) and the screening radius ($\Lambda$) without any assumptions about the contents of the Universe. Our results suggest that the measured PPN is marginally consistent with GR ($\gamma_{PN}=1$) with increasing screening radius ($\Lambda = 10-300 $kpc), although the choice of lens models may have a significant influence on the final measurements. Based on a well-defined sample of 5000 simulated strong lenses from the forthcoming LSST, our methodology will provide a strong extragalactic test of GR with an accuracy of 0.5\%, assessed up to scales of $\Lambda \sim 300$ kpc. For the current and future observations of available SGL systems, there is no noticeable evidence indicating some specific cutoff scales on kpc-Mpc scales, beyond which new gravitational degrees of freedom are expressed.

  • Consistency testing for invariance of the speed of light at different redshifts: the newest results from strong lensing and type Ia supernovae observations

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The invariance of the speed of light in the distant universe has profound significance for fundamental physics. In this paper, we propose a new model-independent method to test the invariance of the speed of light $c$ at different redshifts by combining the strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems and the observations of type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). All the quantities used to test the deviation of $c$ come from the direct observations, and the absolute magnitudes of SNe Ia need not to be calibrated. Our results show that the speed of light in the distant universe is no obvious deviation from the constant value $c_0$ within the uncertainty based on current observations. Moreover, we conclude that the currently compiled SGL and SNe Ia Pantheon samples may achieve much higher precision $\Delta c/c\sim10^{-2}$ for the deviation of $c$ than all previously considered approaches. The forthcoming data from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time and Wide-Field InfraRed Space Telescope will achieve more stringent testing for deviation of the SOL (at the level of $\Delta c/c \sim10^{-3}$) by using our model-independent method. Finally, we discuss the potential ways in which our technique might be improved, focusing on the treatment of possible sources of systematic uncertainties.

  • Revisiting Chaplygin gas cosmologies with the recent observations of high-redshfit quasars

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: In this paper, we use the latest observations of quasars covering the redshift range of $0.04展开 -->