Calibrating the system dynamics of LISA Pathfinder
Abstract
LISA Pathfinder (LPF) was a European Space Agency mission with the aim to test key technologies for future space-borne gravitational-wave observatories like LISA. The main scientific goal of LPF was to demonstrate measurements of differential acceleration between free-falling test masses at the sub-femto-g level, and to understand the residual acceleration in terms of a physical model of stray forces, and displacement readout noise. A key step toward reaching the LPF goals was the correct calibration of the dynamics of LPF, which was a three-body system composed by two test-masses enclosed in a single spacecraft, and subject to control laws for system stability. In this work, we report on the calibration procedures adopted to calculate the residual differential stray force per unit mass acting on the two test-masses in their nominal positions. The physical parameters of the adopted dynamical model are presented, together with their role on LPF performance. The analysis and results of these experiments show that the dynamics of the system was accurately modeled and the dynamical parameters were stationary throughout the mission. Finally, the impact and importance of calibrating system dynamics for future space-based gravitational wave observatories is discussed.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1806.08581,
title = {Calibrating the system dynamics of LISA Pathfinder},
author = {M. Armano and H. Audley and J. Baird and P. Binetruy and M. Born and D. Bortoluzzi and E. Castelli and A. Cavalleri and A. Cesarini and A. M. Cruise and K. Danzmann and M. de Deus Silva and I. Diepholz and G. Dixon and R. Dolesi and L. Ferraioli and V. Ferroni and E. D. Fitzsimons and M. Freschi and L. Gesa and F. Gibert and D. Giardini and R. Giusteri and C. Grimani and J. Grzymisch and I. Harrison and G. Heinzel and M. Hewitson and D. Hollington and D. Hoyland and M. Hueller and H. Inchauspé and O. Jennrich and P. Jetzer and N. Karnesis and B. Kaune and N. Korsakova and C. J. Killow and J. A. Lobo and I. Lloro and L. Liu and J. P. López-Zaragoza and R. Maarschalkerweerd and D. Mance and N. Meshksar and V. Martín and L. Martin-Polo and J. Martino and F. Martin-Porqueras and I. Mateos and P. W. McNamara and J. Mendes and L. Mendes and M. Nofrarias and S. Paczkowski and M. Perreur-Lloyd and A. Petiteau and P. Pivato and E. Plagnol and J. Ramos-Castro and J. Reiche and D. I. Robertson and F. Rivas and G. Russano and J. Slutsky and C. F. Sopuerta and T. Sumner and D. Texier and J. I. Thorpe and D. Vetrugno and S. Vitale and G. Wanner and H. Ward and P. Wass and W. J. Weber and L. Wissel and A. Wittchen and P. Zweifel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.08581},
year = {2018}
}