Yue Zhao is a theoretical particle physicist who focuses on searching for new physics and understanding dark matter. In particular, he is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and he is interested in searching for possible new physics using gravitational wave data. He got his B.S. from Peking University and Ph.D. from Rutgers University.

He did his postdoc at Stanford and U. of Michigan. He joined the Physics & Astronomy Department at the University of Utah in 2018, and he moved to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2025.

Representative Publications 

• Long-baseline quantum sensor network as dark matter haloscope
  Min Jiang, Taizhou Hong, Dongdong Hu, Yifan Chen, Fengwei Yang, Tao Hu, Xiaodong Yang, Jing Shu, Yue Zhao, Xinhua Peng & Jiangfeng Du
  e-Print:2305.00890 [quant-ph]
  Nature Commun. 15 (2024) 1, 3331 (2024)

• Probing the pulsar explanation of the Galactic-Center GeV excess using continuous gravitational-wave searches
  Andrew Miller, Yue Zhao
  e-Print: 2301.10239 [astro-ph.HE]
  Phys.Rev.Lett. 131 (2023) 8, 8

• Stringent constraints on axion-photon coupling with Event Horizon Telescope polarimetric measurements of supermassive black hole M87
  Y. Chen, Y. Liu, R. Lu, Y. Mizuno, J. Shu, X. Xue, Q. Yuan, Y. Zhao
  e-Print: 2105.04572 [hep-ph]
  Nature Astron. 6 (2022) 5, 592-598

• Implications for First-Order Cosmological Phase Transitions from the Third LIGO-Virgo Observing Run
  A. Romero, K. Martinovic, T. Callister, H. Guo, M. Martínez,
  M. Sakellariadou, F. Yang, Y. Zhao
  e-Print: 2102.01714 [hep-ph]
  Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 151301 (2021)

• Constraints on cosmic strings using data from the third Advanced LIGO-Virgo observing run
  LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration
  Author in the paper-writing team
  e-Print: 2101.12248 [gr-qc]
  Phys.Rev.Lett. 126 (2021) 241102

• Ultralight dark matter detection with mechanical quantum sensors
  Daniel Carney, Anson Hook, Zhen Liu, Jacob M. Taylor, Yue Zhao.
  e-Print: arXiv:1908.04797 [hep-ph]
  New J.Phys. 23 (2021) 2, 023041

• Searching for Dark Photon Dark Matter in LIGO O1 Data
  Huai-Ke Guo, Keith Riles, Feng-Wei Yang, Yue Zhao
  e-Print: arXiv:1905.04316 [hep-ph]
  Commun.Phys. 2 (2019) 155

• Probing Axions with Event Horizon Telescope Polarimetric Measurements
  Yifan Chen, Jing Shu, Xiao Xue, Qiang Yuan, Yue Zhao
  e-Print: arXiv:1905.02213 [hep-ph]
  Phys.Rev.Lett. 124 (2020) 6, 061102

• Detecting Axion-like Dark Matter with Linearly Polarized Pulsar Light
  Tao Liu, George Smoot, Yue Zhao
  e-Print: arXiv:1901.10981 [astro-ph.CO]
  Phys.Rev.D 101 (2020) 6, 063012

• Dark Photon Dark Matter Produced by Axion Oscillations
  Raymond T. Co, Aaron Pierce, Zhengkang Zhang, Yue Zhao
  e-Print: arXiv:1810.07196 [hep-ph]
  Phys.Rev. D99 (2019) no.7, 075002

• Searching for Dark Photon Dark Matter with Gravitational Wave Detectors
  Aaron Pierce, Keith Riles, Yue Zhao
  e-Print: arXiv:1801.10161 [hep-ph]
  Phys.Rev.Lett. 121 (2018) no.6, 061102

• Superconducting Detectors for Super Light Dark Matter
  Yonit Hochberg, Yue Zhao, Kathryn M. Zurek
  e-Print: arXiv:1504.07237 [hep-ph]
  Phys.Rev.Lett. 116 (2016) 1, 011301

• A Radio for Hidden-Photon Dark Matter Detection
  S.  Chaudhuri, P. W. Graham, K. Irwin, J. Mardon, S.Rajendran, Y. Zhao
  e-Print: arXiv:1411.7382  [hep-ph]
  Phys.Rev. D92 (2015) 7, 075012

• Explicitly Broken Supersymmetry with Exactly Massless Moduli
  Xi Dong, Daniel Z. Freedman, Yue Zhao
  e-Print: arXiv:1410.2257  [hep-th]
  JHEP 1606 (2016) 090