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Research       Upcoming & past seminars

Seminar: Dynamics and Phenomenology of Ultralight Bosons Around Compact Objects

ABSTRACT

Ultralight bosons in the vicinity of compact objects can form gravitationally bound states, some of which undergo exponential growth by extracting rotational energy from black holes or through relaxation from ambient waves. These bound states can attain field amplitudes approaching the Planck scale, giving rise to phenomena analogous to those in early-universe cosmology and to observational signatures far stronger than those expected from local dark matter detection, ranging from electromagnetic features accessible through black hole imaging to gravitational wave imprints of the surrounding environment. In the case of accreting axion clouds, the field can accumulate into approximately spherical configurations with amplitudes near the decay constant, exhibiting either Bosenova collapse or saturation depending on the growth rate and axion mass. The resulting emission flux exhibits discrete spectral features determined by the axion potential, opening the possibility of probing ultraviolet axion models through terrestrial detection of these fluxes.

 

BIOGRAPHY

Yifan Chen is a tenure-track fellow at the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China, his master’s degree from École Polytechnique and Université Paris-Saclay (France), and his PhD from Sorbonne University (France). He subsequently held postdoctoral positions at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen (Denmark). His research spans particle physics, gravitational waves and black holes, as well as terrestrial experiments probing fundamental physics.

Event Details
Speaker
Prof. Yifan CHEN

Assistant Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 


Date & Time
01 Apr 2026 @ 2 PM

Venue
G5-214, Yeung Kin Man Academic Building, CityUHK

Chair
Prof. Yiming ZHONG
yimzhong@cityu.edu.hk