Huan Yang

Research Interests

My current research interest mainly focuses on gravitational wave astrophysics, with strong connection to gravitational wave observations. There are two main themes:

1. Strong-field gravitational astrophysics. The objectives are to unravel physics buried within the data, provide new insights to guide observations and propose methods to improve data quality.
Part of my research projects are related to the dynamics of compact binary and triple (neutron stars and black holes) systems, as well as their associated gravitational-wave emissions. I am also studying electromagnetic counterparts of binary neutron stars or neutron star-black hole mergers, in relation to future multi-messenger observations.

2.Fundamental physics with strongly gravitating systems. The goals are to examine dynamical signatures of modified theories of gravity and develop methods to measure or constrain violationsof General Relativity based on observed gravitational-wave data. As more and more detections are expected in the next a few years, there are unprecedented opportunities to search for "unknown unknowns" in fundamental physics with gravitational waves.

Positions Held

• 2008-2013. PhD: California Institute of Technology. 2013-2016: Postdoc Fellow: Perimeter Institute 2016-2017: Postdoc Fellow: Princeton University 2017- : Assistant Professor: University of Guelph

Awards

• University of Guelph CEPS Assistant Professor Research Excellence Award

Recent Publications

• Zhen Pan, Huan Yang, Probing the Growth of Massive Black Holes with Black Hole-Host Galaxy Spin Correlations, arXiv: 2007.03783, accepted in The Astrophysical Journal
• Huan Yang, Yuan-Chuan Zou, Orbit-Induced Spin Precession as an origin of Periodicity in Periodically-Repeating Fast Radio Bursts, The Astrophysical Journal Letter, 893, L31, 2020, arXiv: 2002.02553
• Zhen Pan, Huan Yang, Porbing Primordial Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background with Multiband Astrophysical Foreground Cleaning, accepted in CQG, arXiv: 1910.09637
• Huan Yang, Beatrice Bonga, Zhipeng Peng, Gongjie LI, Relativistic Mean Motion Resonance, Phys. Rev. D 100, 124056, (2019), arXiv: 1910.07337
• Beatrice Bonga, Huan Yang, Scott Hughes, "Tidal Resonance in Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals", arXiv: 1905.00030, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 101103, (2019)
• Jun Zhang, Huan Yang, "Dynamic Signatures of Black Hole Binaries with Superradiant Clouds", arXiv: 1907.13582, Phys. Rev. D. 101, 043020, (2020)
• Zhen Pan, Huan Yang, "Black Hole Discharge: very-high-energy gamma rays from black hole-neutron star mergers", arXiv: 1905.04775, Phys. Rev. D. 100, 043025, (2019)
• Huan Yang, "Inspiralling Eccentric Binary Neutron Stars: Orbital Motion and Tidal Resonance", arXiv: 1904.11089, Phys. Reev. D. 100,064023, (2019)
• Jun Zhang, Huan Yang. Gravitational floating orbits around hairy black holes. Phys. Rev. D, 99, 064018, (2019).
• Denis Martynov, Haixing Miao, Huan Yang, et al. Exploring the Sensitivity of Gravitational Wave Detectors to Neutron Star Physics", Phys. Rev. D, 99, 102004, (2019)
• Haixing Miao, Denis Martynov, Huan Yang, "Quantum Correlation of Light Mediated by Gravity", arXiv: 1901.05827, Phys. Rev. A 101,063804, 2020
• Alexander Y. Chen, Yajie Yuan, Huan Yang, Physics of Pair Producing Gaps in Black Hole Magnetospheres, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 863:L31, 2018, arXiv: 1805.11039.
• Huan Yang, William E. East, Vasileios Paschalidis, Frans Pretorius, Raissa F. P. Mendes, Evolution of Highly Eccentric Binary Neutron Stars Including Tidal Effects, Phys. Rev. D 98, 044007 (2018), arXiv: 1806.00158
• William E. East, Huan Yang, Magnetosphere of a spinning black hole and the role of the current sheet, Phys. Rev. D 98, 023008 (2018), arXiv: 1805.05952
• Beatrice Bonga, Eric Poisson, Huan Yang, Self-torque and angular momentum balance for a spinning charged sphere, arXiv: 1805.01372
• Huan Yang, Denis Martynov, Testing Gravitational Memory Generation with Compact Binary Mergers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 071102 (2018), arXiv: 1803.02429
• Haixing Miao, Huan Yang, Denis Martynov, Towards the Design of Gravitational-Wave Detectors for Probing Neutron-Star Physics, Phys. Rev. D 98, 044044 (2018), arXiv: 1712.07345
• Emanuele Berti, Kent Yagi, Huan Yang, Nicolás Yunes, Extreme Gravity Tests with Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Coalescences: (II) Ringdown, General Relativity and Gravitation 50 (5), 49, (2018). arXiv: 1801.03587
• Kent Yagi, Huan Yang, Probing Gravitational Parity Violation with Gravitational Waves from Stellar-mass Black Hole Binaries, Phys. Rev. D 97, 104018 (2018), arXiv: 1712.00682
• Huan Yang, Vasileios Paschalidis, Kent Yagi, Luis Lehner, Frans Pretorius, Nicolas Yunes, Gravitational wave spectroscopy of binary neutron star merger remnants with mode stacking, Phys. Rev. D 97, 024049 (2018), arXiv: 1707.00207
• Huan Yang, William E. East, Luis Lehner, Can we distinguish low mass black holes in neutron star binaries?, The Astrophysical Journal 856, 110, (2018), arXiv: 1710.05891
• Zhen Pan, Zhenwei Lyu, Beatrice Bonga, Nestor Ortiz, Huan Yang, Probing Crust Meltdown in Inspiraling Binary Neutron Stars, arXiv: 2003.03330
• Quasinormal modes beyond Kerr, Proceedings of the Sant Cugat Forum on Astrophysics (2014). Session on 'Gravitational Wave Astrophysics.'

Seminars

• Three-body dynamics in Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals, CAPRA meeting, June 2020
• Dynamical Signatures of Binary Black Holes with Superradiant Clouds, Texas Symposium, University of Portsmouth, Dec. 2019
• Three-body dynamics in Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals, Seminar, University of Birmingham, Dec. 2019
• "Path Towards kHz Gravitational-Wave Astronomy", Theory Canada 14, TRIUMF & UBC, June 2019
• "Path Towards kHz Gravitational-Wave Astronomy", Gravitational Wave Advanced Detector Workshop, Elba Island, May 2019
• "Testing General Relativity and the Nature of Gravity", Physics and Astrophysics at the extreme VI, Pisa, May 2019
• "Probing Neutron Star Physics with Gravitational Wave Detections", CRA Seminar, Georgia Tech, March 2019
• Kilo-Herhz Gravitational Wave Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, July 2018
• Gravitational Wave Astronomy: Chapter One, University of Guelph, November 2017
• Gravitational wave spectroscopy of compact binary merger remnants with mode stacking, Lights, Sounds, Action in Strong field Gravity, November 2017