Search

It was hypothesized in the literature that some physical parameters may be time-evolving and the astrophysical data can serve as a probe. Recently, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have released its early observations. In this work, we select the JWST spectroscopic observations of the high redshift ($z>7.1$) galaxies with strong [OIII] ($\lambda=4959$ \AA \,and $5007$ \AA \,in the rest frame) emission lines to constraint the evolution of the fine structure constant ($\alpha$). With the spectra from two galaxies at redshifts of $7.19$ and $8.47$, the deviation of $\alpha$ to its fiducial value is found to be as small as $0.44^{+8.4+1.7}_{-8.3-1.7} \times 10^{-4}$ and $-10.0^{+18+1.5}_{-18-1.5} \times 10^{-4}$, respectively (the first error is statistical and the latter is systematic). The combination of our results with the previous data reveals that $\frac{1}{\alpha} \frac{d \alpha}{dt} = 0.30^{+4.5}_{-4.5} \times 10^{-17}~{\rm yr^{-1}}$. Clearly, there is no evidence for a cosmic evolution of $\alpha$. The prospect of further constraining the time evolution of $\alpha$ is also discussed. The scalar field of dark energy is hypothesized to drive the acceleration of the universe's expansion through an interaction with the electromagnetic field. By integrating the observational data of the fine-structure constant variation, $\frac{\Delta\alpha}{\alpha}(z)$, we have established a stringent upper limit on the coupling strength between dark energy and electromagnetism. Our analysis yields $\zeta \leq 3.92 \times 10^{-7}$ at the 95\% confidence level, representing the most stringent bound to date.

Although connections between flaring blazars and some IceCube neutrinos have been established, the dominant sources for the bulk extragalactic neutrino emissions are still unclear and one widely suggested candidate is a population of radio galaxies. Because of their relatively low $\gamma$-ray radiation luminosities ($L_\gamma$), it is rather challenging to confirm such a hypothesis with the neutrino/GeV flare association. Here we report on the search for GeV $\gamma$-ray counterpart of the neutrino IC-180213A and show that the nearby ($z$ = 0.03) broad line radio galaxy 3C 120 is the unique co-spatial GeV $\gamma$-ray source in a half-year epoch around the neutrino detection. Particularly, an intense $\gamma$-ray flare, the second strongest one among the entire 16-year period, is temporally coincident with the detection of IC-180213A. Accompanying optical flare is observed, too. We also find that the IC-180213A/3C 120 association well follows the $L_\gamma$-$D_{L}^{2}$ correlation for the (candidate) neutrino sources including NGC 1068 and some blazars. These facts are strongly in favor of 3C 120 as a high energy neutrino emitter and provide the first piece of evidence for the radio galaxy origin of some PeV neutrinos., Comment: 17 pages,4 figures, 1 table

We investigate the production of axion-like particles (ALPs) in stellar cores, where they interact with electromagnetic fields and electrons, with typical masses between $\mathcal O(0.1)$ and $\mathcal O(10)$ keV. These low-energy ALPs are gravitationally trapped in the orbits of stars and subsequently decay into two photons that we detect as monochromatic X-ray lines. We propose to search for these gravitationally trapped ALPs in the Alpha Centauri binary system, our closest stellar neighbor, using sensitive X-ray detectors like Chandra and eROSITA. Our search for ALP decay signals in the energy range of 0.2 keV to 10 keV yielded null results, thus establishing the most stringent limits on ALP interactions to date. Specifically, if ALPs are mainly produced by Compton or bremsstrahlung processes (ALP-electron coupling $g_{aee}$ being significant), we have improved the limits on the ALP-photon coupling $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$ by two to three orders of magnitude, in ALP mass range between 0.2 keV to 5 keV, compared to previous measurements, including those from GW170817, SN 2023ixf, and other sources., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

The precision measurements of the muon magnetic moment and the $W$ boson mass have sparked interest in the potential deviations from standard model (SM) predictions. While it may be premature to attribute any excesses in these precision measurements to new physics, they do offer a valuable indication of potential directions for physics beyond the SM. Additionally, the particle nature of dark matter (DM) remains a crucial enigma. Despite the absence of any definitive DM signal in direct detection and collider experiments, the Galactic Center GeV $\gamma$-ray excess and the AMS-02 antiproton ($\overline{p}$) excess could potentially offer hints related to the evidence of DM. Motivated by these observations, we propose a simple DM model that addresses all these issues. This model extends the SM by incorporating singlet and doublet Dirac fermion fields, along with a doublet complex scalar field. For the viable parameter regions in this model, we find that future upgrades of the Large Hadron Collider and DM direct detection experiments can only partially probe them, while future high-energy muon colliders hold promise for exploring the unexplored parameter space., Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables. Comments are welcome

The origin and evolution of organic molecules represent a pivotal issue in the fields of astrobiology and astrochemistry, potentially shedding light on the origins of life. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), with its exceptional sensitivity and spectral resolution, is well suitable to observe molecules such as methane ($\rm CH_4$). Our analysis focused on the distribution of $\rm CH_4$, $\rm CO_2$, $\rm H_2O$, $\rm{CH_3OH+NH_4^+}$ ice and silicate absorption dips at approximately 7.7, 15.0, 6.0, 6.7 and 10.0 micrometres in two protostars: IRAS 16253-2429 and IRAS 23385+6053. We extract the $\rm CH_4$, $\rm CO_2$, $\rm H_2O$, $\rm{CH_3OH+NH_4^+}$ ice equivalent width (EW) maps and silicate extinction maps of the two sources. Our results reveal that the spatial distribution of $\rm CH_4$ in the protostellar system IRAS 16253-2429 closely mirrors that of its $\rm CO_2$ ice, forming a surrounded distribution that encircles the central protostar. This alignment suggests a common formation mechanism and subsequent trapping within the protostellar envelope, which is consistent with the "Classical" dark-cloud chemistry with ion-molecule reaction. In contrast, the spatial distributions of various molecules in the system IRAS 23385+6053 exhibit low similarities, which may be attributed to the dynamic influences of outflows or accretion processes. These discrepancies highlight the complex interplay between physical processes and chemical evolution in protostellar environments., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

Scalar-tensor gravity, exemplified by Brans-Dicke (BD) gravity, introduces additional scalar polarization modes that contribute scalar radiation alongside tensor modes. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of how gravitational wave generation and propagation effects under Brans-Dicke gravity are encoded into the astrophysical stochastic gravitational wave background (AGWB). We perform end-to-end analyses of realistic populations of simulated coalescing binary systems to generate AGWB mock data with third-generation gravitational wave detectors and conducted a complete Bayesian analysis for the first time. We find the uncertainties in the population properties of binary black holes (BBH) significantly affect the ability to constrain BD gravity. Under the most favorable conditions, the upper limit may suggest $\omega_{\rm BD} > 816$. Furthermore, we explore the detectability of potential scalar backgrounds arising from binary neutron star (BNS) mergers, setting upper limits on scalar backgrounds expected to be two orders of magnitude lower than the total background contributed by both BBH and BNS in one year of observational data. We conclude that for ambiguous populations, employing waveform matching with individual sources provides a more robust approach to constrain Brans-Dicke gravity. However, the future detection of a potential scalar background within the AGWB could provide significant support for gravity theories beyond General Relativity., Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures, and 2 tables

As the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe, galaxy clusters have provided the first piece of evidence for the presence of dark matter and may be suitable targets for indirect dark matter searches. Among various signals, the GeV-TeV $\gamma$-ray line has been taken as the smoking-gun signal of the dark matter annihilation/decay since no known astrophysical/physical process(es) could generate such a peculiar spectrum. With 15.5 years of Fermi-LAT P8R3 publicly available data, we search for the $\gamma$-ray line emission in the directions of a group of 13 nearby massive galaxy clusters with an unbinned likelihood analysis. A $\gamma$-ray line signal at $\sim 43.2$ GeV has a net TS value of $\approx 30$ if we only take into account the data in the directions of Virgo, Fornax and Ophiuchus clusters, three massive clusters with the highest J-factors expected to generate the dark matter annihilation signal. The signal still presents when the data of other 10 nearby massive clusters have also been included, though the TS value decreases to $\approx 21$ likely because of their lower signal-to-noise ratios. The absence of this signal in the inner Galaxy disfavors both the instrumental effect and the canonical dark matter annihilation interpretation, and a more sophisticated dark matter model or very peculiar astrophysical scenario might be needed. This $\gamma$-ray line signal, if intrinsic, could be unambiguously verified by the Very Large Area $\gamma$-ray Space Telescope in its first two years of performance., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Comments are welcome!

This study reanalyzes the detection prospects of dark matter (DM) annihilation signals in the Galactic Center, focusing on velocity-dependent dynamics within a spike density near the supermassive black hole (Sgr~A$^{\star}$). We investigate three annihilation processes -- $p$-wave, resonance, and forbidden annihilation -- under semi-relativistic velocities, leveraging gamma-ray data from Fermi and DAMPE telescopes. Our analysis integrates a fermionic DM model with an electroweak axion-like particle (ALP) portal, exploring annihilation into two or four photons. Employing a comprehensive six-dimensional integration, we precisely calculate DM-induced gamma-ray fluxes near Sgr~A$^{\star}$, incorporating velocity and positional dependencies in the annihilation cross-section and photon yield spectra. Our findings highlight scenarios of resonance and forbidden annihilation, where the larger ALP-DM-DM coupling constant $C_{a\chi\chi}$ can affect spike density, potentially yielding detectable gamma-ray line spectra within Fermi and DAMPE energy resolution. We set upper limits for $C_{a\chi\chi}$ across these scenarios, offering insights into the detectability and spectral characteristics of DM annihilation signals from the Galactic Center., Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures

Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are a new class of transients with luminosities $\sim10 -100$ times larger than the usual core-collapse supernovae (SNe). Their origin is still unclear and one widely discussed scenario involves a millisecond magnetar central engine. The GeV-TeV emission of SLSNe has been predicted in the literature but has not been convincingly detected yet. Here we report the search for the $\gamma$-ray emission in the direction of SN 2017egm, one of the closest SLSNe detected so far, with the 15-year {\it Fermi}-LAT Pass 8 data. There is a transient $\gamma$-ray source appearing about 2 months after this event and lasting a few months. Both the peak time and the luminosity of the GeV emission are consistent with the magnetar model prediction, suggesting that such a GeV transient is the high-energy counterpart of SN 2017egm and the central engine of this SLSNe is a young magnetar.

The recent measurements of cosmic ray deuteron fluxes by AMS-02 show that the rigidity dependence of deuterons is similar with that of protons but flatter than $^3$He, which has been attributed to the existence of primary deuterons with abundance much higher than that from the Big Bang nucleosynthesis. The requirement of highly deuteron-abundant sources imposes a serious challenge on the modern astrophysics since there is no known process to produce a large amount of deuterons without violating other constraints \citep{1976Natur.263..198E}. In this work we demonstrate that the fragmentation of heavy nuclei up to nickel plays a crucial role in shaping/enhancing the spectrum/flux of the cosmic ray deuterons. Based on the latest cosmic ray data, the predicted secondary fluxes of deuterons and $^3$He are found to be reasonably consistent with the AMS-02 measurements and a primary deuteron component is not needed. The observed differences between the spectra of D and $^3$He, as well as those between the D/$^4$He (D/p) and $^3$He/$^4$He ($^3$He/p) flux ratios, measured in the rigidity space, is probably due to the kinetic-energy-to-rigidity conversion and the solar modulation, given different charge-to-mass ratios of D and $^3$He. More precise measurements of the fragmentation cross sections of various nuclei to produce deuterons, tritons, and $^3$He in a wide energy range will be very helpful in further testing the secondary origin of cosmic ray deuterons., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, and 1 table; published in ApJL

The cosmic expansion rate can be directly measured with gravitational-wave (GW) data of the compact binary mergers by jointly constraining the mass function of the population and the cosmological model via the so-called spectral sirens. Such a method relies on the features in the mass functions, which may originate from some individual subpopulations, and hence become blurred/indistinct due to the superposition of different subpopulations. In this work we propose a novel approach to constrain the cosmic expansion rate with subpopulations of GW events, named multi-spectral sirens. The advantage of the multi-spectral sirens compared to the traditional spectral sirens is demonstrated by the simulation with the mock data. The application of this approach to the GWTC-3 data yields $H_0=73.3^{+29.9}_{-25.6}~{\rm Mpc}^{-1}~{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1}$ (median and symmetric 68.3\% credible interval), which is about 19\% tighter than the result inferred with the traditional spectral sirens utilizing a PowerLaw+Peak mass function. The incorporation of the bright standard siren GW170817 with a uniform prior in [10,200] (log-uniform prior in [20,140]) ${\rm Mpc}^{-1}~{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1}$ gives $H_0=71.1^{+15.0}_{-7.5}~(70.3^{+12.9}_{-7.1})~{\rm Mpc}^{-1}~{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1}$ (68.3\% confidence level), corresponding to an improvement of $\sim26\%$ (23\%) with respect to the measurement from sole GW170817., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; Accepted for publication in ApJ

The spins of binary black holes (BBHs) measured from gravitational waves carry notable information of the formation pathways. Here we propose a quantity "dimensionless net spin" ($\chi_{\rm N}$), which is related to the sum of angular momentum of component black holes in the system, to provide a novel perspective to study the origin(s) of BBHs. By performing hierarchical Bayesian inference on $\chi_{\rm N}$, we find strong evidence that the marginal distribution of this quantity can be better fitted by two Gaussian components rather than one: there is a narrow peak at $\chi_{\rm N} \sim 0.15$ and another extended peak at $\chi_{\rm N} \sim 0.47$. We also find that the rapidly spinning systems likely dominate the high-mass end of the population and they evolve with redshift much quicker. These findings bring new challenges to the field binary scenario, and suggest that dynamical process should plays a key role in forming high total mass BBHs., Comment: Submitted on 25 April 2024

In this work, we study the implications of GW230529 on gravity theories and the charge of black holes. The GW230529, which was initially released in O4a, is most likely neutron star-black hole (NSBH) mergers. We reanalyze the data from the GW230529 event to obtain bounds on the Einstein-dilation-Gauss-Bonnet (EdGB) gravity parameter $\sqrt{\alpha_{\rm EdGB}}$ and the electric charge of compact binary systems. The event places a $90\%$ credible upper bounds on $\sqrt{\alpha_{\rm EdGB}}$ of $\lesssim 0.298$ km. After including high order corrections of EdGB gravity, the bounds improve to $\sqrt{\alpha_{\rm EdGB}} \lesssim 0.260$ km. Analyses of GW230529 also yield a $90\%$ credible upper bounds on the combination of charge-to-mass ratio of the binary components $\zeta \lesssim 0.024$. The constraints are more stringent than those derived from previously observed single gravitational wave merger event., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, PRD accepted

Thanks to the successful performance of the James Webb Space Telescope, our understanding of the epoch of reionization of the Universe has been advanced. The ultraviolet luminosity functions (UV LFs) of galaxies span a wide range of redshift, not only revealing the connection between galaxies and dark matter (DM) halos but also providing the information during reionization. In this work, we develop a model connecting galaxy counts and apparent magnitude based on UV LFs, which incorporates redshift-dependent star formation efficiency (SFE) and corrections for dust attenuation. By synthesizing some observations across the redshift range $4\le z \le 10$ from various galaxy surveys, we discern the evolving SFE with increasing redshift and DM halo mass through model fitting. Subsequent analyses indicate that the Thomson scattering optical depth was $\tau_{\rm e} = 0.054^{+0.001}_{-0.003}$ and the epoch of reionization started (ended) at $z=18.8^{+7.2}_{-6.0}$ ($z=5.3^{+0.8}_{-1.0}$) which is insensitive to the choice of the truncated magnitude of the UV LFs. Incorporating additional dataset and some reasonable constraints, the amplitude of matter perturbation is found to be $\sigma_8=0.80\pm0.05$, which is consistent with the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. Future galaxy surveys and the dynamical simulations of galaxy evolution will break the degeneracy between SFE and cosmological parameters, improving the accuracy and the precision of the UV LF model further., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures and 4 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Very recently, it has been shown that there is an upper bound on the squared sound speed of nuclear matter from the transport, which reads $c_{\rm s}^2 \leq 0.781$. In this work, we demonstrate that this upper bound is corroborated by the reconstructed equation of state (EOS; modeled with a nonparametric method) for ultradense matter. The reconstruction integrates multimessenger observation for neutron stars, in particular, the latest radius measurements for PSR J0437-4715 ($11.36^{+0.95}_{-0.63}$ km), PSR J0030+0451 ($11.71^{+0.88}_{-0.83}$ km, in the ST+PDT model), and PSR J0740+6620 ($12.49^{+1.28}_{-0.88}$ km) by NICER have been adopted. The result shows in all cases, the $c_{\rm s}^2 \leq 0.781$ upper limit for EOS will naturally yield the properties of matter near the center of the massive neutron star consistent with the causality-driven constraint from pQCD, where, in practice, the density in implementing the pQCD likelihood ($n_{\rm L}$) is applied at $10n_s$ (where $n_s$ is the nuclear saturation density). We also note that there is a strong correlation for the maximum $c_s^2$ with $n_{\rm L}$, and $c_{\rm s}^2 \leq 0.781$ is somehow violated when $n_{\rm L} = n_{\rm c,TOV}$. The result indicates that a higher $n_{\rm L}$, even considering the uncertainties from statistics, is more natural. Moreover, the remarkable agreement between the outcomes derived from these two distinct and independent constraints (i.e., the transport calculation and pQCD boundary) lends strong support to their validity. In addition, the latest joint constraint for $R_{1.4}$, $R_{2.0}$, $R_{1.4}-R_{2.0}$, and $M_{\rm TOV}$ are $11.94_{-0.68}^{+0.77}$ km, $11.99_{-0.67}^{+0.88}$ km, $-0.1_{-0.27}^{+0.42}$ km, and $2.24_{-0.10}^{+0.13}M_\odot$ (at $90\%$ credible level), respectively., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, ApJ published

We investigate the elastic scattering cross section between dark matter and protons using the DES Year 3 weak lensing data. This scattering induces a dark acoustic oscillation structure in the matter power spectra. To address non-linear effects at low redshift, we utilize principal component analysis alongside a limited set of $N$-body simulations, improving the reliability of our matter power spectrum prediction. We further perform a robust Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis to derive the upper bounds on the DM-proton elastic scattering cross-section, assuming different velocity dependencies. Our results, presented as the first Frequentist upper limits, are compared with the ones obtained by Bayesian approach. Compared with the upper limits derived from the Planck cosmic microwave background data, our findings from DES Year 3 data exhibit improvements of up to a factor of five. In addition, we forecast the future sensitivities of the China Space Station Telescope, the upcoming capabilities of this telescope could improve the current limits by approximately one order of magnitude., Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, published in JCAP

A hierarchical triple merger (HTM) constitutes a type of event in which two successive black hole (BH) mergers occur sequentially within the observational window of gravitational wave (GW) detectors, which has important role in testing general relativity and studying BH population. In this work, we conduct an analysis to determine the feasibility of identifying HTMs from a large GW event catalog using the third-generation ground-based GW detectors. By comparing the Bhattacharyya coefficient that measures the overlap between the posterior distributions of the remnant and progenitor BH parameters, we find that the overlap between the event pair can serve as a preliminary filter, which balances between computational demand and the probability of false alarms. Following this initial, time-efficient, yet less accurate screening, a subset of potential HTM candidates will be retained. These candidates will subsequently be subjected to a more precise, albeit time-intensive, method of joint parameter estimation for verification. Ultimately, this process will enable us to robustly identify HTMs., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, ApJ accepted

The central engine of a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) is widely believed to launch a pair of oppositely moving jets, i.e. the forward jet moving towards us and the counter jet regressing away. The forward jet generates the radiation typically observed in GRBs, while the counter jet has not been detected yet due to its dimness. GRB 170817A, a short burst associated with a binary neutron star merger event, is a nearby event ($z=0.0097$) with an off-axis structured energetic forward jet and hence probably the most suitable target for searching the counter jet radiation. Assuming the same properties for the forward and counter jet components as well as the shock parameters, the fit to the multi-wavelength afterglow emission of GRB 170817A suggests a peak time $\sim {\rm quite~a~few}\times 10^{3}$ day of the counter jet radiation, but the detection prospect of this new component is not promising. Anyhow, if the shock parameters ($\epsilon_{\rm e}$ and $\epsilon_{\rm B}$) of the counter jet component are (a few times) higher than that of the forward shock e.g., the posterior results of the magnetic energy fraction of the forward shock and the counter jet are $\log_{10}\epsilon_{\rm B}=-4.23^{+1.42}_{-0.69}$ and $\log_{10}\epsilon_{\rm B, cj}=-3.65^{+3.06}_{-2.11}$, respectively), as still allowed by the current data, the counter jet afterglow emission will be enhanced and hence may be detected. A few hour exposure by JWST in F356W band will stringently test such a scenario.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been proposed as one of promising sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), but observational evidence is still lacking. The nearby B.O.A.T. (brightest of all time) GRB 221009A, an once-in-1000-year event, is able to accelerate protons to $\sim 10^{3}$ EeV. Protons arriving at the Milky Way are dominated by neutron-decay-induced protons. The inter-galactic magnetic fields would not yield a sizable delay of the $\geq 10{\rm~EeV}$ cosmic rays if its strength is $\lesssim 10^{-13}{\rm~G}$, while Galactic magnetic fields would cause a significant time delay. We predict that, an UHECR burst from GRB 221009A would be detectable by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the TA$\times$4, within $\sim$ 10 years. The detection of such an UHECR outburst will provide the direct evidence for UHECR acceleration in GRBs.

Mergers of binary compact objects, accompanied with electromagnetic (EM) counterparts, offer excellent opportunities to explore varied cosmological models, since gravitational waves (GWs) and EM counterparts always carry the information of luminosity distance and redshift, respectively. $f(T)$ gravity, which alters the background evolution and provides a friction term in the propagation of GWs, can be tested by comparing the modified GW luminosity distance with the EM luminosity distance. Considering the third-generation gravitational-wave detectors, Einstein Telescope and two cosmic explorers, we simulate a series of GW events of binary neutron stars and neutron-star-black-hole binaries with EM counterparts. These simulations can be used to constrain $f(T)$ gravity [especially the power-law model $f(T)=T+\alpha(-T)^\beta$ in this work] and other cosmological parameters, such as $\beta$ and the Hubble constant. In addition, combining simulations with current observations of type Ia supernovae and baryon acoustic oscillations, we obtain tighter limitations for $f(T)$ gravity. We find that the estimated precision significantly improved when all three datasets are combined ($\Delta \beta \sim 0.03$), compared to analyzing the current observations alone ($\Delta \beta \sim 0.3$). Simultaneously, the uncertainty of the Hubble constant can be reduced to approximately $1\%$., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables

Recently, an association of GW190425 and FRB 20190425A had been claimed and a highly magnetized neutron star (NS) remnant was speculated. Given the $\sim 2.5$-h delay of the occurrence of FRB 20190425A, a uniformly rotating supramassive magnetar is favored since the differential rotation would have been promptly terminated by the magnetic braking. The required maximum gravitational mass ($M_{\rm TOV}$) of the nonrotating NS is $\approx 2.77M_\odot$, which is strongly in tension with the relatively low $M_{\rm TOV}\approx 2.25M_\odot$ obtained in current equation of state (EOS) constraints incorporating perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) information. However, the current mass-radius and mass-tidal deformability measurements of NSs alone do not convincingly exclude the high $M_{\rm TOV}$ possibility. By performing EOS constraints with mock measurements, we find that with a $2\%$ determination for the radius of PSR J0740+6620-like NS it is possible to distinguish between the low and high $M_{\rm TOV}$ scenarios. We further explore the prospect to resolve the issue of the appropriate density to impose the pQCD constraints with future massive NS observations or determinations of $M_{\rm TOV}$ and/or $R_{\rm TOV}$. It turns out that measuring the radius of a PSR J0740+6620-like NS is insufficient to probe the EOSs around 5 nuclear saturation density, where the information from pQCD becomes relevant. The additional precise $M_{\rm TOV}$ measurements anyhow could provide insights into the EOS at such a density. Indeed, supposing the central engine of GRB 170817A is a black hole formed via the collapse of a supramassive NS, the resulting $M_{\rm TOV}\approx 2.2M_\odot$ considerably softens the EOS at the center of the most massive NS, which is in favor of imposing the pQCD constraint at density beyond the one achievable in the NSs., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, PRD published

The mass ($M_{\rm TOV}$) and radius ($R_{\rm TOV}$) of the maximum-mass nonrotating neutron star (NS) play a crucial role in constraining the elusive equation of state of cold dense matter and in predicting the fate of remnants from binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. In this study, we introduce a novel method to deduce these parameters by examining the mergers of second-generation (2G) black holes (BHs) with NSs. These 2G BHs are assumed to originate from supramassive neutron stars (SMNSs) formed in BNS mergers. Since the properties of the remnant BHs arising from the collapse of SMNSs follow a universal relation governed by $M_{\rm TOV}$ and $R_{\rm TOV}$, we anticipate that by analyzing a series ($\sim 100$ detections) of mass and spin measurements of the 2G BHs using the third-generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, $M_{\rm TOV}$ and $R_{\rm TOV}$ can be determined with a precision of $\sim 0.01M_\odot$ and $\sim 0.6$ km, respectively., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, ApJ published

The maximal gravitational mass of nonrotating neutron stars ($M_{\rm TOV}$) is one of the key parameters of compact objects and only loose bounds can be set based on the first principle. With reliable measurements of the masses and/or radii of the neutron stars, $M_{\rm TOV}$ can be robustly inferred from either the mass distribution of these objects or the reconstruction of the equation of state (EoS) of the very dense matter. For the first time we take the advantages of both two approaches to have a precise inference of $M_{\rm TOV}=2.25^{+0.08}_{-0.07}~M_\odot$ (68.3\% credibility), with the updated neutron star mass measurement sample, the mass-tidal deformability data of GW170817, the mass-radius data of PSR J0030+0451 and PSR J0740+6620, as well as the theoretical information from the chiral effective theory ($\chi$EFT) and perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) at low and very high energy densities, respectively. This narrow credible range is benefited from the suppression of the high $M_{\rm TOV}$ by the pQCD constraint and the exclusion of the low $M_{\rm TOV}$ by the mass function. Three different EoS reconstruction methods are adopted separately, and the resulting $M_{\rm TOV}$ and $R_{\rm TOV}$ are found to be almost identical, where $R_{\rm TOV}=11.90^{+0.63}_{-0.60}$ km is the radius of the most massive non-rotating NS. This precisely evaluated $M_{\rm TOV}$ suggests that the EoS of neutron star matter is just moderately stiff and the $\sim 2.5-3M_\odot$ compact objects detected by the second generation gravitational wave detectors are most likely the lightest black holes., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. The latest mass measurements of the neutron stars up to April 2023 have been summarized in Table 1 of the Appendix. Published in PRD with moderate revision

For bright transients such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), the Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) operates under event mode at early phases, which records incident positions and arrival time for each photon. The event file is able to be screened into many exposures to study the early light curve of GRBs with a high time resolution, including in particular the rapid brightening of the UV/Optical emission. Such a goal, however, is hampered for some extremely bright GRBs by the saturation in UVOT event images. For moderately saturated UVOT sources, in this work we develop the method proposed in Jin et al. (2023) to recover their photometries. The basic idea is to assume a stable point spread function (PSF) of UVOT images, for which the counts in the core region (i.e., an aperture of a radius of 5 arcsec) and the wing region (i.e., an annulus ranging from 15 arcsec to 25 arcsec) should be a constant and the intrinsic flux can be reliably inferred with data in the ring. We demonstrate that in a given band, a tight correlation does hold among the background-removed count rates in the core and the wing. With the new method, the bright limit of measuring range for UVOT V and B bands increases ~ 1.7 mag, while only ~ 0.7 mag for U band due to the lack of bright calibration sources. Systematic uncertainties are ~ 0.2 mag for V, B and U bands., Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables, accepted to ApJS

Early results from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations have hinted at two traces beyond the standard cosmological framework. One is the extraordinarily high stellar masses and their density at $z=7.5\sim9.1$, another is the unexpected abundance of ultraviolet (UV) bright galaxies at $z\ge10$. Nevertheless, both pieces of evidence are not statistically robust yet. In this work, we construct rest-frame UV luminosity functions (LFs) based on a general formation model for these high-redshift galaxy candidates, since UV LFs always carry the information of stellar formation efficiency (SFE), initial mass function (IMF), dust attenuation, and other crucial elements for galaxy evolution. By updating the massive galaxies candidates with spectroscopic observations and exploring the parameter space of SFE, we are able to reasonably explain the cumulative stellar mass density within the redshift range of $7.5\sim9.1$, with only one galaxy exhibiting unusual characteristics. We also reveal a potential nonmonotonic trend of SFE with the increasing redshift. At higher redshift ($z\sim13$), bright UV LFs can be well fitted with non-dust attenuation or top-heavy IMF for Population III stars. The Population III star scenario can also naturally account for the possible dip of the peak SFE evolution curve at $z\sim9$., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, and 2 tables. Published in ApJL

Several Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) collaborations have recently provided strong evidence for a nHz Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background (SGWB). Here we investigate the implications of a first-order phase transition occurring within the early universe's dark quantum chromodynamics (dQCD) epoch, specifically within the framework of the mirror twin Higgs dark sector model. Our analysis indicates a distinguishable SGWB signal originating from this phase transition, which can explain the measurements obtained by PTAs. Remarkably, a significant portion of the parameter space for the SGWB signal also effectively resolves the existing tensions in both the $H_0$ and $S_8$ measurements in Cosmology. This intriguing correlation suggests a possible common origin of these three phenomena for $0.2 < \Delta N_{\rm eff} < 0.5$, where the mirror dark matter component constitutes about $30\%$ of the total dark matter abundance. Next generation CMB experiment such as CMB-S4 is able to test this parameter region., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

Recently, pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments have provided compelling evidence for the existence of the nanohertz stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB). In this work, we demonstrated that cosmic string loops generated from cosmic global strings offer a viable explanation for the observed nanohertz SGWB data, requiring a cosmic string tension parameter of $\log(G\mu) \sim -12$ and a loop number density of $\log N \sim 4$. Additionally, we revisited the impact of cosmic string loops on the abundance of massive galaxies at high redshifts. However, our analysis revealed challenges in identifying a consistent parameter space that can concurrently explain both the SGWB data and observations from the James Webb Space Telescope. This indicates the necessity for either extending the existing model employed in this research or acknowledging distinct physical origins for these two phenomena., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron. (SCPMA)

The origin of interstellar and intergalactic magnetic fields remains largely unknown. One possibility is that they are related to the primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) produced by, for instance, the phase transitions of the early Universe. In this paper, we show that the PMF-induced turbulence generated at around the QCD phase transition epoch--the characteristic magnetic field strength $B_{\rm ch}^* \sim \mathcal{O}(1)~\rm{\mu G}$ and coherent length scale $\ell_{\rm ch}^* \sim \mathcal{O}(1)~\rm{pc}$--can naturally accommodate nanohertz gravitational waves reported by pulsar timing array (PTA) collaborations. Moreover, the evolution of the PMFs to the recombination era with the form of $B_{\rm ch}\sim \ell_{\rm ch}^{-\alpha}$ can induce baryon density inhomogeneities, alter the recombination history, and alleviate the tension of the Hubble parameter $H_0$ and the matter clumpiness parameter $S_8$ between early- and late-time measurements for $0.88\leq \alpha \leq 1.17$ (approximate 95\% credible region based on three PTA likelihoods). The further evolved PMFs may account for the $\sim {\cal O}(10^{-16})$ Gauss extragalactic magnetic field inferred with GRB 221009A., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

This study investigates the antineutrinos production by $\beta$-decay of $r$-process nuclei in two astrophysical sites that are capable of producing gamma-ray bursts (GRBs): binary neutron star mergers (BNSMs) and collapsars, which are promising sites for heavy element nucleosynthesis. We employ a simplified method to compute the $\beta$-decay $\bar\nu_e$ energy spectrum and consider a number of different representative thermodynamic trajectories for $r$-process simulations, each with four sets of $Y_e$ distribution. The time evolution of the $\bar\nu_e$ spectrum is derived for both the dynamical ejecta and the disk wind for BNSMs and collapsar outflow, based on approximated mass outflow rates. Our results show that the $\bar\nu_e$ has an average energy of approximately 3 to 9~MeV, with a high energy tail of up to 20 MeV. The $\bar\nu_e$ flux evolution is primarily determined by the outflow duration, and can thus remain large for $\mathcal{O}(10)$~s and $\mathcal{O}(100)$~s for BNSMs and collapsars, respectively. For a single merger or collapsar at 40~Mpc, the $\bar\nu_e$ flux is $\mathcal{O}(10-100)$~cm$^{-2}$~s$^{-1}$, indicating a possible detection horizon up to $0.1-1$~Mpc for Hyper-Kamiokande. We also estimate their contributions to the diffuse $\bar\nu_e$ background, and find that both sources should only contribute subdominantly to the diffuse background when compared to that expected from core-collapse supernovae., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures

Studies have proposed that there is evidence for cosmological coupling of black holes (BHs) with an index of $k\approx 3$; hence, BHs serve as the astrophysical source of dark energy. However, the data sample is limited for the redshifts of $\leq 2.5$. In recent years, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected many high-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars. Among the JWST NIRSpec-/NIRCam-resolved AGNs, three are determined to be in early-type host galaxies with a redshift of $z\sim 4.5--7$. However, their $M_{\star}$ and $M_{\rm BH}$ are in tension with the predicted cosmological coupling of black holes with $k = 3$ at a confidence level of $\sim 2\sigma$, which challenges the hypothesis that BHs serve as the origin of dark energy. Future work on high-redshift AGNs using the JWST will further assess such a hypothesis by identifying more early-type host galaxies in the higher mass range., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; Comments are welcome!

We explore the potential of precision cosmological data to study non-minimal dark sectors by updating the cosmological constraint on the mirror twin Higgs model (MTH). The MTH model addresses the Higgs little hierarchy problem by introducing dark sector particles. In this work, we perform a Bayesian global analysis that includes the latest cosmic shear measurement from the DES three-year survey and the Planck CMB and BAO data. In the early Universe, the mirror baryon and mirror radiation behave as dark matter and dark radiation, and their presence modifies the Universe's expansion history. Additionally, the scattering between mirror baryon and photon generates the dark acoustic oscillation process, suppressing the matter power spectrum from the cosmic shear measurement. We demonstrate how current data constrain these corrections to the $\Lambda$CDM cosmology and find that for a viable solution to the little hierarchy problem, the proportion of MTH dark matter cannot exceed about $30\%$ of the total dark matter density, unless the temperature of twin photon is less than $30\%$ of that of the standard model photon. While the MTH model is presently not a superior solution to the observed $H_0$ tension compared to the $\Lambda$CDM+$\Delta N_{\rm eff}$ model, we demonstrate that it has the potential to alleviate both the $H_0$ and $S_8$ tensions, especially if the $S_8$ tension persists in the future and approaches the result reported by the Planck SZ (2013) analysis. In this case, the MTH model can relax the tensions while satisfying the DES power spectrum constraint up to $k \lesssim 10~h\rm {Mpc}^{-1}$. If the MTH model is indeed accountable for the $S_8$ and $H_0$ tensions, we show that the future China Space Station Telescope (CSST) can determine the twin baryon abundance with a $10\%$ level precision., Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables. Published in JCAP

Ultralight dark matter (ULDM) is proposed as a theoretical candidate of dark matter particles with masses of approximately $10^{-22}$ eV. The interactions between ULDM particles and standard model particles would cause variations in pulse arrival times of millisecond pulsars, which means that the pulsar timing array (PTA) can be used to indirectly detect ULDM. In this letter, we use the gamma-ray PTA composed of 29 millisecond pulsars observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) to test four ULDM effects, including gravitational effects for generalized ULDM with different Spin-0/1, the fifth-force coupling effect of dark photon, and the modified gravitational effect of the Spin-2 ULDM. The gamma-ray pulsar timing is not affected by the ionized interstellar medium and suffers relatively simple noises, unlike that of the radio band. Our work is the first time that the gamma-ray PTA has been used to search for the ULDM. No significant signals of ULDM are found based on the Fermi-LAT PTA for all four kinds of ULDM models. Constraints on ULDM parameters are set with the 95% confidence level, which provides a complementary check of the nondetection of ULDM for radio PTAs and direct detection experiments., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables; publish as a Letter in Phys. Rev. D

Omega Centauri, the largest known globular cluster in the Milky Way, is believed to be the remains of a dwarf galaxy's core. Giving its potential abundance of dark matter (DM), it is an attractive target for investigating the nature of this elusive substance in our local environment. Our study demonstrates that by observing Omega Centauri with the SKA for 1000 hours, we can detect synchrotron radio or Inverse Compton (IC) emissions from the DM annihilation products. It enables us to constrain the cross-section of DM annihilation down to $\sim {\rm 10^{-30}~cm^3~s^{-1}}$ for DM mass from several $\rm{GeV}$ to $\rm{100~GeV}$, which is much stronger compared with other observations. Additionally, we explore the axion, another well-motivated DM candidate, and provide stimulated decay calculations. It turns out that the sensitivity can reach $g_{\rm{a\gamma\gamma}} \sim 10^{-10} ~\rm{GeV^{-1}}$ for $2\times 10^{-7} ~\rm{eV} < m_a < 2\times 10^{-4} ~\rm{eV}$., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures

GRB 230307A is one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts detected so far. With the excellent observation of GRB 230307A by Fermi-GBM, we can reveal the details of prompt emission evolution. As found in high-time-resolution spectral analysis, the early low-energy spectral indices ($\alpha$) of this burst exceed the limit of synchrotron radiation ($\alpha=-2/3$), and gradually decreases with the energy flux ($F$). A tight $E_{\rm p}\propto F^{0.54}$ correlation anyhow holds within the whole duration of the burst, where $E_{\rm p}$ is the spectral peak energy. Such evolution pattern of $\alpha$ and $E_{\rm p}$ with intensity is called ``double tracking". For the $\alpha-F$ relation, we find a log Bayes factor $\sim$ 210 in favor of a smoothly broken power-law function over a linear function in log-linear space. We call this particular $\alpha-F$ relation as broken ``$\alpha$-intensity", and interpret it as the evolution of the ratio of thermal and non-thermal components, which is also the evolution of the photosphere. GRB 230307A with a duration of $\sim 35~\rm s$, if indeed at a redshift of $z=0.065$, is likely a neutron star merger event (i.e., it is intrinsically ``short"). Intriguingly, different from GRB 060614 and GRB 211211A, this long event is not composed of a hard spike followed by a soft tail, suggesting that the properties of the prompt emission light curves are not a good tracer of the astrophysical origins of the bursts. The other possibility of $z=3.87$ would point toward very peculiar nature of both GRB 230307A and its late time thermal-like emission., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJL

A group of massive galaxies at redshifts of $z\gtrsim 7$ have been recently detected by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which were unexpected to form so early within the framework of standard Big Bang cosmology. In this work, we propose that this puzzle can be explained by the presence of some primordial black holes (PBHs) with a mass of $\sim 1000 M_\odot$. These PBHs, clothed in dark matter halo and undergoing super-Eddington accretion, serve as seeds for the early galaxy formation with masses of $\sim 10^{8}-10^{10}~M_\odot$ at high redshift, thus accounting for the JWST observations. Using a hierarchical Bayesian inference framework to constrain the PBH mass distribution models, we find that the Lognormal model with $M_{\rm c}\sim 750M_\odot$ is preferred over other hypotheses. These rapidly growing BHs are expected to emit strong radiation and may appear as high-redshift compact objects, similar to those recently discovered by JWST. Although we focuse on PBHs in this work, the bound on the initial mass of the seed black holes remains robust even if they were formed through astrophysical channels., Comment: Accepted by Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy

Precise measurements of the stellar orbits around Sagittarius A* have established the existence of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the Galactic centre (GC). Due to the interplay between the SMBH and dark matter (DM), the DM density profile in the innermost region of the Galaxy, which is crucial for the DM indirect detection, is still an open question. Among the most popular models in the literature, the theoretical spike profile proposed by Gondolo and Silk (1999; GS hereafter) is well adopted. In this work, we investigate the DM spike profile using updated data from the Keck and VLT telescopes considering that the presence of such an extended mass component may affect the orbits of the S-stars in the Galactic center. We examine the radius and slope of the generalized NFW spike profile, analyze the Einasto spike, and discuss the influence of DM annihilation on the results. Our findings indicate that an initial slope of $\gamma \gtrsim 0.92$ for the generalized NFW spike profile is ruled out at a 95% confidence level. Additionally, the spike radius $R_{\rm sp}$ larger than 21.5 pc is rejected at 95% probability for the Einasto spike with $\alpha=0.17$, which also contradicts the GS spike model. The constraints with the VLT/GRAVITY upper limits are also projected. Although the GS NFW spike is well constrained by the Keck and VLT observation of S2, an NFW spike with a weak annihilation cusp may still be viable, as long as the DM annihilation cross section satisfies $\left< \sigma v \right> \gtrsim 7.7\times 10^{-27}~{\rm cm^3\,s^{-1}} (m_{\rm DM}/100~{\rm GeV})$ at 95% level., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Spin and mass properties provide essential clues in distinguishing the origins of coalescing black holes (BHs). With a dedicated semiparametric population model for the coalescing binary black holes (BBHs), we identify two distinct categories of BHs among the GWTC-3 events, which is {favored over the one population scenario by} a logarithmic Bayes factor ($\ln\mathcal{B}$) of 7.5. One category, with a mass ranging from $\sim 25M_\odot$ to $\sim 80M_\odot$, is distinguished by the high spin magnitudes ($\sim0.75$) and consistent with the hierarchical merger origin. The other category, characterized by low spins, has a sharp mass cutoff at $\sim 40M_\odot$, which is natural for the stellar-collapse origin and in particular the pair-instability explosion of massive stars. We infer the local hierarchical merger rate density as $0.46^{+0.61}_{-0.24}~{\rm Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1}}$. Additionally, we find that a fraction of the BBHs has a cosine-spin-tilt-angle distribution concentrated preferentially around $1$, and the fully isotropic distribution for spin orientation is disfavored by a $\ln\mathcal{B}$ of -6.3, suggesting that the isolated field evolution channels are contributing to the total population., Comment: Main text: 6 pages and 4 figures; Supplementary: 26 pages, 31 figures, and 4 tables; this version has been accepted by Phys.Rev.Lett; doi: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.051401

New long-lived particles produced at the colliders may escape from conventional particle detectors. Using satellites or ground telescopes, we can detect the photons generated from the annihilation of the star-captured dark matter into a pair of long-lived particles. When the propagation length of these long-lived particles surpasses the interplanetary distance between the Sun and Jupiter, it becomes unfeasible to detect such dark matter signals originating from the Sun or Jupiter on Earth. Our analysis of the dark matter-induced photons produced by prompt radiation, inverse Compton scattering, and synchrotron radiation mechanisms reveals that a decay length of about $10^{-3}$ pc for long-lived particles is required for maximum detectability. We investigate the parameters that allow the long-lived particle's lifetime to be consistent with Big Bang nucleosynthesis while also allowing it to escape the confines of our solar system. The Sirius system is proposed as a promising target for the indirect detection of such long-lived particles. Utilizing the prompt, inverse Compton scattering, and synchrotron radiation, upper limits on the dark matter-proton spin-independent and spin-dependent cross section are estimated with the Fermi-LAT null-signal observation and the capabilities of the upcoming Square Kilometre Array radio telescope., Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, JCAP published

Hyperluminous optical-ultraviolet fares have been detected in gamma-ray bursts and the luminosity record was held by naked-eye event GRB 080319B. Such fares are widely attributed to internal shock or external reverse shock radiation. Here, with a new method developed to derive reliable photometry from saturated sources of Swift/UVOT, we carry out time-resolved analysis of the initial white-band 150s exposure of GRB 220101A, a burst at a redshift of 4.618, and report a rapidly evolving optical-ultraviolet fare with a high absolute AB magnitude of -39.4$\pm$0.2. In contrast to GRB 080319B, the temporal behaviour of this new fare does not trace the gamma-ray activity. Instead of either internal shocks or reverse shock, this extremely energetic optical-ultraviolet fare is most likely to originate from the refreshed shocks induced by the late-ejected extremely energetic material catching up with the earlier-launched decelerating outflow. This finding reveals the diverse origins of the extremely energetic optical-ultraviolet fares and demonstrates the necessity of high-time-resolution observations at early times., Comment: Published in Nature Astronomy, the definitive version is available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-023-02005-w

The temporal behavior of the very dim optical afterglow of GRB 080503 is at odds with the regular forward shock afterglow model and a sole kilonova component responsible for optical emission has been speculated in some literature. Here we analyze the optical afterglow data available in archive and construct time-resolved spectra. The significant detection by Keck-I in {\it G/R} bands at $t\sim 3$ day, which has not been reported before, as well as the simultaneous Gemini-North {\it r} band measurement, are in favor of a power-law spectrum that is well consistent with the optical to X-ray spectrum measured at $t\sim 4.5$ day. However, for $t\leq 2$ day, the spectra are thermal-like and a straightforward interpretation is a kilonova emission from a neutron star merger, making it, possibly, the first detection of a very early kilonova signal at $t\sim 0.05$ day. A non-thermal nature of optical emission at late times ($t\sim 2$ day), anyhow, can not be ruled out because of the large uncertainty of the {\it g}-band data. We also propose to classify the neutron star merger induced optical transients, according to the temporal behaviors of the kilonova and the non-thermal afterglow emission, into four types. GRB 080503 would then represent the first observation of a sub-group of neutron star merger driven optical transients (i.e., Type IV) consisting of an early blue kilonova and an adjacent non-thermal afterglow radiation., Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 15 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables

Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory has detected $0.2-13$ TeV emission of GRB 221009A within 2000 s since the trigger. Here we report the detection of a 400 GeV photon, without accompanying prominent low-energy emission, by Fermi Large Area Telescope in this direction with a 0.4 days' delay. Given an intergalactic magnetic field strength of about $4 \times 10^{-17}$ G, which is comparable to limits from TeV blazars, the delayed 400 GeV photon can be explained as the cascade emission of about 10 TeV gamma rays. We estimate the probabilities of the cascade emission that can result in one detectable photon beyond 100 GeV by Fermi Large Area Telescope within $0.3-1$ days is about 2$\%$ whereas it is about 20.5$\%$ within $0.3-250$ days. Our results show that Synchrotron Self-Compton explanation is less favored with probabilities lower by a factor of about $3-30$ than the cascade scenario., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Nature Communications, in press

Precise measurements of the boron-to-carbon and boron-to-oxygen ratios by DAMPE show clear hardenings around $100$ GeV/n, which provide important implications on the production, propagation, and interaction of Galactic cosmic rays. In this work we investigate a number of models proposed in literature in light of the DAMPE findings. These models can roughly be classified into two classes, driven by propagation effects or by source ones. Among these models discussed, we find that the re-acceleration of cosmic rays, during their propagation, by random magnetohydrodynamic waves may not reproduce sufficient hardenings of B/C and B/O, and an additional spectral break of the diffusion coefficient is required. The other models can properly explain the hardenings of the ratios. However, depending on simplifications assumed, the models differ in their quality in reproducing the data in a wide energy range. The models with significant re-acceleration effect will under-predict low-energy antiprotons but over-predict low-energy positrons, and the models with secondary production at sources over-predict high-energy antiprotons. For all models high-energy positron excess exists., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Published version

Hawking's area theorem is one of the fundamental laws of black holes (BHs), which has been tested at a confidence level of $\sim 95\%$ with gravitational wave (GW) observations by analysing the inspiral and ringdown portions of GW signals, independently. In this work, we propose to carry out the test in a new way with the hierarchical triple merger (i.e., two successive BH mergers occurred sequentially within the observation window of GW detectors), for which the properties of the progenitor BHs and the remnant BH of the first coalescence can be inferred from the inspiral portions of the two mergers. As revealed in our simulations, the BH area law can be well confirmed for some plausible hierarchical triple merger events detectable in LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA/LIGO-India's O4/O5 runs. Our proposed method provides significant facilitation for testing the area law and complements previous methods., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, published in MNRAS

The origins of coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) detected by the advanced LIGO/Virgo are still under debate, and clues may be present in the joint mass-spin distribution of these merger events. Here we construct phenomenological models containing two sub-populations to investigate the BBH population detected in gravitational wave observations. We find that our models can explain the GWTC-3 data rather well, and several constraints to our model are required by the data: first, the maximum mass for the component with a stellar-origin, $m_{\rm max}$, is $39.1^{+2.4}_{-2.7}M_{\odot}$ at 90\% credibility; second, about $15\%$ of the mergers happen in dynamical environments, in which $7-16\%$ of events are hierarchical mergers, and these BHs have an average spin magnitude significantly larger than the first-generation mergers, with ${\rm d}\mu_{\rm a} > 0.4 $ at $99\%$ credibility; third, the dynamical component BHs tend to pair with each other with larger total mass and higher mass ratio. An independent analysis focusing on spins is also carried out, and we find that the spin amplitude of component BHs can be divided into two groups according to a division mass $m_{\rm d} = 46.1^{+5.6}_{-5.1}M_{\odot}$. These constraints can be naturally explained by current formation channels, and our results suggest that some of the observed events were likely from AGN disks., Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures. Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

The multi-messenger data of neutron star merger events are promising for constraining the Hubble constant. So far, GW170817 is still the unique gravitational wave event with multi-wavelength electromagnetic counterparts. In particular, its radio and X-ray emission have been measured in the past $\sim 3-5$ years. In this work, we fit the long-lasting X-ray, optical, and radio afterglow light curves of GW170817/GRB 170817A, including the forward shock radiation from both the decelerating relativistic GRB outflow and the sub-relativistic kilonova outflow (though whether the second component contributes significantly is still uncertain), and find out a relatively large viewing angle ($\sim 0.5\, \rm rad$). Such a viewing angle has been taken as a prior in the gravitational wave data analysis, and the degeneracy between the viewing angle and the luminosity distance is broken. Finally, we have a Hubble constant $H_0=72.57^{+4.09}_{-4.17}\, \rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$, which is more consistent with that obtained by other local measurements. If rather similar values are inferred from multi-messenger data of future neutron star merger events, it will provide critical support to the existence of the Hubble tension., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We investigate the neutron star (NS) equation of state (EOS) by incorporating multi-messenger data of GW170817, PSR J0030+0451, PSR J0740+6620, and state-of-the-art theoretical progresses, including the information from chiral effective field theory ($\chi$EFT) and perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) calculation. Taking advantage of the various structures sampling by a single-layer feed-forward neural network model embedded in the Bayesian nonparametric inference, the structure of NS matter's sound speed $c_{\rm s}$ is explored in a model-agnostic way. It is found that a peak structure is common in the $c_{\rm s}^2$ posterior, locating at $2.4-4.8\rho_{\rm sat}$ (nuclear saturation density) and $c_{\rm s}^2$ exceeds ${c^{2}}/{3}$ at 90\% credibility. The non-monotonic behavior suggests evidence of the state deviating from hadronic matter inside the very massive NSs. Assuming the new/exotic state is featured as it is softer than typical hadronic models or even with hyperons, we find that a sizable ($\geq 10^{-3}M_\odot$) exotic core, likely made of quark matter, is plausible for the NS with a gravitational mass above about $0.98M_{\rm TOV}$, where $M_{\rm TOV}$ represents the maximum gravitational mass of a non-rotating cold NS. The inferred $M_{\rm TOV} = 2.18^{+0.27}_{-0.13}M_\odot$ (90\% credibility) is well consistent with the value of $2.17^{+0.15}_{-0.12}M_\odot$ estimated independently with GW170817/GRB 170817A/AT2017gfo assuming a temporary supramassive NS remnant formed after the merger. PSR J0740+6620, the most massive NS detected so far, may host an exotic core with a probability of $\approx 0.36$., Comment: 8+5 pages, 6+5 figures, published in Science Bulletin

Ultralight bosonic dark matter is expected to be able to form a cloud surrounding the supermassive black hole (SMBH) in the Galactic center. With increasing precision of the observations of the stellar kinematics around the SMBH, tiny effects from such a dark matter cloud, including its gravitational perturbation and the direct coupling with the ordinary matter may be detectable. In this work, we search for possible evidence of the scalar cloud using accurate orbital measurements of the S2 star around Sgr~A*. We solve the first order Post-Newtonian equation, considering simultaneously the extended mass distribution of the scalar cloud and the frequency shift induced by the additional coupling via Higgs portal or photon portal interaction. Furthermore, we also investigate the impact of an astrophysical power-law component from the gas and stellar remnants. We find that the astrometric and spectroscopic data of the S2 star are well consistent with the scenario of a point-like mass of Sgr~A*. We thus derive upper limits of the coupling of the new interaction and the extended mass, with and without the contribution from the astrophysical component. The limits of the Higgs/photon coupling and the extended mass of the scalar cloud are the most stringent ones for the scalar mass window between $3.2\times 10^{-19}$~eV and $1.6\times 10^{-18}$~eV., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, published at PRD

We introduce a new nonparametric representation of the neutron star (NS) equation of state (EoS) by using the variational autoencoder (VAE). As a deep neural network, the VAE is frequently used for dimensionality reduction since it can compress input data to a low-dimensional latent space using the encoder component and then reconstruct the data using the decoder component. Once a VAE is trained, one can take the decoder of the VAE as a generator. We employ 100,000 EoSs that are generated using the nonparametric representation method based on \citet{2021ApJ...919...11H} as the training set and try different settings of the neural network, then we get an EoS generator (trained VAE's decoder) with four parameters. We use the mass\textendash{}tidal-deformability data of binary neutron star (BNS) merger event GW170817, the mass\textendash{}radius data of PSR J0030+0451, PSR J0740+6620, PSR J0437-4715, and 4U 1702-429, and the nuclear constraints to perform the joint Bayesian inference. The overall results of the analysis that includes all the observations are $R_{1.4}=12.59^{+0.36}_{-0.42}\,\rm km$, $\Lambda_{1.4}=489^{+114}_{-110}$, and $M_{\rm max}=2.20^{+0.37}_{-0.19}\,\rm M_\odot$ ($90\%$ credible levels), where $R_{1.4}$/$\Lambda_{1.4}$ are the radius/tidal-deformability of a canonical $1.4\,\rm M_\odot$ NS, and $M_{\rm max}$ is the maximum mass of a non-rotating NS. The results indicate that the implementation of the VAE techniques can obtain the reasonable results, while accelerate calculation by a factor of $\sim$ 3\textendash10 or more, compared with the original method., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, published in ApJ