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Your conditions: Rong-Gen Cai
  • Testing primordial black hole and measuring the Hubble constant with multiband gravitational-wave observations

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: There exist two kinds of stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds associated with the primordial curvature perturbations. One is called induced gravitational wave due to the nonlinear coupling of curvature perturbations to tensor perturbations, while the other is produced by coalescences of binary primordial black holes formed when the large amplitude curvature perturbations reenter the horizon in the radiation dominant era. In this paper we find a quite useful relation for the peak frequencies of these two stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds. This relation can not only offer a smoking-gun criterion for the existence of primordial black holes, but also provide a method for measuring the Hubble constant $H_0$ by multiband observations of the stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds.

  • Space-borne atom interferometric gravitational wave detections. Part I. The forecast of bright sirens on cosmology

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Atom interferometers (AIs) as gravitational-wave (GW) detectors have been proposed a decade ago. Both ground and space-based projects will be in construction and preparation in the near future. In this paper, for the first time, we investigate the potential of the space-borne AIs on detecting GW standard sirens and hence the applications on cosmology. We consider AEDGE as our fiducial AI GW detector and estimate the number of bright sirens that would be obtained within a 5-years data-taking period of GW and with the follow-up observation of electromagnetic (EM) counterparts. We then construct the mock catalogue of bright sirens and predict their ability on constraining cosmological parameters such as the Hubble constant, dynamics of dark energy, and modified gravity theory. Our preliminary results show around order $\mathcal{O} (30)$ bright sirens can be obtained from a 5-years operation time of AEDGE and the follow-up observation of EM counterparts. The bright sirens alone can measure $H_0$ with a precision of 2.1\%, which is sufficient to arbitrate the Hubble tension. Combining current most precise electromagnetic experiments, the inclusion of AEDGE bright sirens can improve the measurement of the equation of state of dark energy, though marginally. Moreover, by modifying GW propagation on cosmological scales, the deviations from general relativity (modified gravity theory effects) can be constrained at 5.7\% precision level.

  • On the energy of gravitational waves

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The energy of gravitational waves is a fundamental problem in gravity theory. The existing descriptions for the energy of gravitational waves, such as the well-known Isaacson energy-momentum tensor, suffer from several defects. Due to the equivalence principle, the gravitational energy-momentum can only be defined quasilocally, being associated with a closed spacelike 2-surface bounding a region. We propose a new approach to derive the energy of gravitational waves $directly$ from the quasilocal gravitational energy. Such an approach is natural and consistent with the quasilocality of gravitational energy-momentum.

  • No-go guide for late-time solutions to the Hubble tension: Matter perturbations

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The Hubble tension seems to be a crisis with $\sim5\sigma$ discrepancy between the most recent local distance ladder measurement from type Ia supernovae calibrated by Cepheids and the global fitting constraint from the cosmic microwave background data. To narrow down the possible late-time solutions to the Hubble tension, we have used in a recent study [Phys. Rev. D 105, L021301 (2022)] an improved inverse distance ladder method calibrated by the absolute measurements of the Hubble expansion rate at high redshifts from the cosmic chronometer data, and found no appealing evidence for new physics at the late time beyond the $\Lambda$CDM model characterized by a parametrization based on the cosmic age. In this paper, we further investigate the perspective of this improved inverse distance ladder method by including the late-time matter perturbation growth data. Independent of the dataset choices, model parametrizations, and diagnostic quantities ($S_8$ and $S_{12}$), the new physics at the late time beyond the $\Lambda$CDM model is strongly disfavored so that the previous late-time no-go guide for the Hubble tension is further strengthened.

  • Gravitational waves from resonant amplification of curvature perturbations during inflation

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Parametric resonance in a single-field inflationary model with a periodic structure on the potential gives rise to curvature perturbations with large amplitudes on small scales, which could result in observable primordial black holes (PBHs) and concomitant gravitational waves (GWs) induced by curvature perturbations in the radiation-dominated era. In such a model, GWs associated with the PBH formation were investigated in Ref. [1]. In this paper, we consider a stochastic GW background sourced by inflaton perturbations resonantly amplified during inflation. We compute the energy spectra of induced GWs produced both during inflation and in the radiation-dominated era, and find that the peak of the energy spectrum of the former is much higher than that of the latter, but is located at a lower frequency. Moreover, the energy spectrum of induced GWs produced during inflation exhibits a unique oscillating character in the ultraviolet region. Both the stochastic GW backgrounds are expected to be detected by future space-based laser interferometers.

  • Microlensing sheds light on the detection of strong lensing gravitational waves

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The strong lensing gravitational wave (SLGW) is a promising transient phenomenon containing rich physics. However, the poor sky localization due to the long-wave nature of gravitational waves makes the identification of such events very challenging. We propose a new method based on the wave optics effect of the microlensing field embedded in SLGW data. The microlensing diffraction/interference fringes can produce frequency-dependent random fluctuations in the waveform. To pin down the microlensing induced stochastic features in the waveform, we utilize both the template-independent method, \texttt{cWB}, and the template-dependent method, \texttt{Bilby}, to reconstruct the waveform with and without microlensing imprints. The mismatching degree of these two waveforms can be treated as an indicator of SLGW events. We forecast the identification rate of this method with the third-generation gravitational wave observatory, such as Cosmic Explorer. Our result shows that this method can successfully identify about 2 (out of 180) SLGW events with strong enough microlensing effect per year. This method is entirely data-driven, which is immune to model priors, and can greatly avoid the false positive errors contaminated by the coincident unlensed events.

  • Testing primordial black hole and measuring the Hubble constant with multiband gravitational-wave observations

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: There exist two kinds of stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds associated with the primordial curvature perturbations. One is called induced gravitational wave due to the nonlinear coupling of curvature perturbations to tensor perturbations, while the other is produced by coalescences of binary primordial black holes formed when the large amplitude curvature perturbations reenter the horizon in the radiation dominant era. In this paper we find a quite useful relation for the peak frequencies of these two stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds. This relation can not only offer a smoking-gun criterion for the existence of primordial black holes, but also provide a method for measuring the Hubble constant $H_0$ by multiband observations of the stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds.

  • Magnetic field and gravitational waves from the first-order Phase Transition

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: We perform the three dimensional lattice simulation of the magnetic field and gravitational wave productions from bubble collisions during the first-order electroweak phase transition. Except that of the gravitational wave, the power-law spectrum of the magnetic field strength is numerically calculated for the first time, which is of a broken power-law spectrum: $B_{\xi}\propto f^{0.91}$ for low frequency region of $ff_\star$ in the thin-wall limit, with the peak frequency being $f_\star\sim 5$ Hz at the phase transition temperature 100 GeV. When the hydrodynamics is taken into account, the generated magnetic field strength can reach $B_\xi\sim 10^{-7}$G at a correlation length $\xi\sim 10^{-7}$pc, which may seed the large scale magnetic fields. Our study shows that the measurements of cosmic magnetic field strength and gravitational waves are complementary to probe new physics admitting electroweak phase transition.

  • Chameleon dark energy can resolve the Hubble tension

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Values of the Hubble constant between the direct measurements from various independent local observations and that inferred from the cosmic microwave background with the $\Lambda$-cold-dark-matter model are in tension with persistent significance. We propose a late-time inhomogeneous resolution suggesting that a chameleon field coupled to a local overdensity of matter could be trapped at a higher potential energy density as an effective cosmological constant driving the local expansion rate faster than that of the background with lower matter density. We illustrate this mechanism in a toy model in which a region with only $20\%$ overdensity of matter is sufficient to resolve the Hubble tension, and the Hubble constant measured by the local distance ladders could be accommodated by the chameleon coupled to the observed overdensities from the large-scale structure surveys.

  • No-go guide for the Hubble tension : Late-time solutions

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The Hubble tension, if not caused by any systematics, could be relieved or even resolved from modifying either the early-time or late-time Universe. The early-time modifications are usually in tension with either galaxy clustering or galaxy lensing constraints. The late-time modifications are also in conflict with the constraint from the inverse distance ladder, which, however, is weakened by the dependence on a sound-horizon prior and some particular approximation for the late-time expansion history. To achieve a more general no-go argument for the late-time scenarios, we propose to use a global parametrizationbased on the cosmic age (PAge) to consistently use the cosmic chronometers data beyond the Taylor expansion domain and without the input of a sound-horizon prior. Both the early-time and late-time scenarios are therefore largely ruled out, indicating the possible ways out of the Hubble tension from either exotic modifications of our concordance Universe or some unaccounted systematics.

  • Eccentricity of Long Inspiraling Compact Binaries Sheds Light on Dark Sirens

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The localization and distance inference of gravitational waves are two crucial factors for dark sirens as precise probes of cosmology, astrophysics, and fundamental physics. In this Letter, for the first time we investigate the parameter estimation of gravitational waves emitted by the eccentric compact binaries in the mid-frequency (0.1--10 Hz) band. Based on the configuration of one cluster of DECIGO (B-DECIGO), we simulate five types of typical compact binaries in GWTC-3 with component mass ranging from $\mathcal{O}(1\sim100)~M_{\odot}$. For each type of binaries, we assign discrete eccentricities from 0 to 0.4 at 0.1 Hz in $10^3$ random orientations. The multiple harmonics induced by eccentricity can break the degeneracy between parameters. We find that with eccentricity $e_0=0.4$, these typical binaries can achieve $\mathcal{O}(10^2-10^4)$ improvement for the distance inference in the near face-on orientations, compared to the circular case. More importantly, a nonvanishing eccentricity ($0.01\sim0.4$) can significantly improve the source localization of the typical binary black holes, most by $1.5\sim{3.5}$ orders of magnitude. Our result shows the remarkable significance of eccentricity for dark sirens in the mid-band as precise probes of the Universe.

  • Gravitational microlensing by dressed primordial black holes

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The accretion of dark matter around the primordial black holes (PBHs) could lead to the formation of surrounding minihalos, whose mass can be several orders of magnitude higher than the central PBH mass. The gravitational microlensing produced by such dressed PBHs could be quite different from that of the bare PBHs, which may significantly affect the constraints on the PBH abundance. In this paper, we study the gravitational microlensing produced by dressed PBHs in detail. We find that all the microlensing effects by dressed PBHs have asymptotic behavior depending on the minihalo size, which can be used to predict the microlensing effects by comparing the halo size with the Einstein radius. When the minihalo radius and the Einstein radius are comparable, the effect of the density distribution of the halo is significant to the microlensing. Applying the stellar microlensing by dressed PBHs to the data of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment and Subaru/HSC Andromeda observations, we obtain the improved constraints on the PBH abundance. It shows that the existence of dark matter minihalos surrounding PBHs can strengthen the constraints on the PBH abundance from stellar microlensing by several orders, and can shift the constraints to the well-known asteroid mass window where PBHs can constitute all the dark matter.

  • A New Picture of Cosmic String Evolution and Anisotropic Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: We investigate the anisotropies of the stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) produced by cosmic strings associated with the spontaneous U(1) symmetry breaking of Grand Unified Theory, which happens at the onset of inflation. The string network evolution is determined by primordial fluctuations and never reaches the scaling regime. The string loops are inhomogeneously distributed in large scale regions, resulting in large anisotropies in the SGWB. We find that the angular power spectrum of SGWB anisotropies depends on frequency, which is testable in multiband observations of GWs. In particular, GWs from the cosmic strings can appropriately interpret the common-spectrum process reported by NANOGrav collaboration, and the angular power spectrum in the nanohertz band, $\mathtt{l}(\mathtt{l}+1)C_{\mathtt{l}}=5.6\times 10^{-2}$ at large scales, is expected to be detectable by pulsar timing array experiments in the near future.

  • Probing the $B+L$ violation process with the observation of cosmic magnetic field

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: We investigate the $B+L$ violation process by performing three-dimensional lattice simulations in an electroweak theory with first-order phase transition and the electroweak sphaleron decay. The simulation results indicate that the Chern-Simons number changes along with the helical magnetic field production when the sphaleron decay occurs. Our study suggests that, for the electroweak phase transition with nucleation rate being smaller than $\sim \mathcal{O}(10)$, the helical magnetic field with the fractional magnetic helicity $\epsilon_M\leq 0.2$ can be probed by Cherenkov Telescope Array through the intergalactic magnetic field measurements. Based on our numerical results, we suggest a method to probe the baryon asymmetry generation of the Universe, which is a general consequence of the electroweak sphaleron process, through the astronomical observation of the corresponding helical magnetic field.

  • Constraining first-order phase transitions with curvature perturbations

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: We investigate the curvature perturbations induced by the randomness of the quantum tunneling process during cosmological first-order phase transitions (PTs) and for the first time ultilize curvature perturbations to constrain the PT parameters. We find that the observations of the cosmic microwave background spectrum distortion and the ultracompact minihalo abundance can give strict constraints on the PTs below 100GeV, especially for the low-scale PTs and the weak PTs. The current constraint on the PT parameters is largely extended by the results in this work.

  • Probing the electroweak symmetry breaking history with Gravitational waves

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: We perform a three dimensional lattice simulation of the electroweak symmetry breaking process through a two-step phase transition, where one of the two steps is a first order phase transition. Our results show that: 1) when the electroweak symmetry breaking is driven by the beyond Standard Model sector around $\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{2-3})$ GeV, the gravitational wave spectra produced from the phase transitions are of broken power-law double-peak shapes; 2) when the electroweak symmetry breaking is induced by a first-order phase transition of a high-scale global U(1) theory, cosmic strings can form and then disappear through particle radiation, and the yielded gravitational wave spectra are of plateau shapes. The two scenarios can be distinguished through probing gravitational wave spectra. Our study suggests that the stochastic gravitational waves provide an alternative way to probe the beyond Standard Model sector relevant to the electroweak symmetry breaking pattern in the early Universe.

  • Gravitational microlensing by dressed primordial black holes

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The accretion of dark matter around the primordial black holes (PBHs) could lead to the formation of surrounding minihalos, whose mass can be several orders of magnitude higher than the central PBH mass. The gravitational microlensing produced by such dressed PBHs could be quite different from that of the bare PBHs, which may significantly affect the constraints on the PBH abundance. In this paper, we study the gravitational microlensing produced by dressed PBHs in detail. We find that all the microlensing effects by dressed PBHs have asymptotic behavior depending on the minihalo size, which can be used to predict the microlensing effects by comparing the halo size with the Einstein radius. When the minihalo radius and the Einstein radius are comparable, the effect of the density distribution of the halo is significant to the microlensing. Applying the stellar microlensing by dressed PBHs to the data of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment and Subaru/HSC Andromeda observations, we obtain the improved constraints on the PBH abundance. It shows that the existence of dark matter minihalos surrounding PBHs can strengthen the constraints on the PBH abundance from stellar microlensing by several orders, and can shift the constraints to the well-known asteroid mass window where PBHs can constitute all the dark matter.

  • Hubble parameter estimation via dark sirens with the LISA-Taiji network

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The Hubble parameter is one of the central parameters in modern cosmology, which describes the present expansion rate of the universe. Their values inferred from the late-time observations are systematically higher than those from the early-time measurements by about $10\%$. To come to a robust conclusion, independent probes with accuracy at percent levels are crucial. Gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence events can be formulated into the standard siren approach to provide an independent Hubble parameter measurement. The future space-borne gravitational wave observatory network, such as the LISA-Taiji network, will be able to measure the gravitational wave signals in the Millihertz bands with unprecedented accuracy. By including several statistical and instrumental noises, we show that within 5 years operation time, the LISA-Taiji network is able to constrain the Hubble parameter within $1\%$ accuracy, and possibly beats the scatters down to $0.5\%$ or even better.

  • Space-borne atom interferometric gravitational wave detections. Part III. Eccentricity on dark sirens

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Eccentricity of the inspiraling compact binaries can greatly improve the distance inference and source localization of dark sirens. In this paper, we continue the research for the space-borne atom interferometric gravitational-wave detector AEDGE and investigate the effects of eccentricity on the dark sirens observed by AEDGE in the mid-band. We simulate five types of typical compact binaries with component mass ranging from $1-100~M_{\odot}$. The largest improvement for both distance inference and localization can be as much as 1.5--3 orders of magnitude. We then construct the catalogs of dark sirens observed by AEDGE in five years. We find eccentricity is crucial to the detection of golden binary black holes (BBH) whose host galaxy can be uniquely identified. With only 5--10 golden dark BBHs one can obtain a 2 percent precision measurement of $H_0$ which is sufficient to arbitrate the Hubble tension. Regardless of eccentricity, AEDGE can also observe tens of golden binary neutron stars (BNS) and neutron star--black hole binaries (NSBH) with unique host galaxies. These golden dark sirens can serve as early warnings for the follow-up observations of gravitational waves in the high frequency band as well as the search of their electromagnetic counterparts. Our results show eccentricity is a crucial factor in the detection, data analysis, and application of GWs with the atom interferometers in the mid-band.

  • Space-borne atom interferometric gravitational wave detections. Part II. Dark sirens and finding the one

    Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the potential of dark sirens by the space-borne atom interferometric gravitational-wave detectors to probe the Hubble constant. In the mid-frequency band, the sources live a long time. The motion of a detector around the Sun as well as in Earth orbit would induce large Doppler and reorientation effects, providing a precise angular resolution. Such precise localization for the GW sources makes it possible to observe the dark sirens with only one potential host galaxy, which are dubbed "golden dark sirens". We construct the catalogs of golden dark sirens and estimate that there are around 79 and 35 golden dark sirens of binary neutron stars (BNS) and binary black holes (BBH) that would be pass the detection threshold of AEDGE in 5 years. Our results show that with 5, 10, and all 79 golden dark BNS tracked by AEDGE one can constrain $H_0$ at 5.5\%, 4.1\%, and 1.8\% precision levels. With 5, 10, and all 35 golden dark BBH one can constrain $H_0$ at 2.2\%, 1.8\%, and 1.5\% precision levels, respectively. It suggests that only 5-10 golden dark BBH by AEDGE are sufficient to arbitrate the current tension between local and high-$z$ measurements of $H_0$.