LISA Pathfinder
Abstract
Since the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the observation of gravitational waves, it is fair to say that the epoch of gravitational wave astronomy (GWs) has begun. However, a number of interesting sources of GWs can only be observed from space. To demonstrate the feasibility of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a future gravitational wave observatory in space, the LISA Pathfinder satellite was launched on December, 3rd 2015. Measurements of the spurious forces accelerating an otherwise free-falling test mass, and detailed investigations of the individual subsystems needed to achieve the free-fall, have been conducted throughout the mission. This overview article starts with the purpose and aim of the mission, explains satellite hardware and mission operations and ends with a summary of selected important results and an outlook towards LISA. From the LISA Pathfinder experience, we can conclude that the proposed LISA mission is feasible.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1903.08924,
title = {LISA Pathfinder},
author = {Michele Armano and Heather Audley and Jonathon Baird and Pierre Binetruy and Michael Born and Daniele Bortoluzzi and Eleanora Castelli and Antonella Cavalleri and Andrea Cesarini and Mike Cruise and Karsten Danzmann and Marcus de Deus Silva and Ingo Diepholz and George Dixon and Rita Dolesi and Luigi Ferraioli and Valerio Ferroni and Ewan Fitzsimons and Mario Freschi and Luis Gesa and Ferran Gibert and Domenico Giardini and Roberta Giusteri and Catia Grimani and Jonathan Grzymisch and Ian Harrison and Gerhard Heinzel and Martin Hewitson and Daniel Hollington and David Hoyland and Mauro Hueller and Henri Inchauspe and Oliver Jennrich and Philippe Jetzer and Nikolaos Karnesis and Brigitte Kaune and Natalia Korsakova and Christian J Killow and Alberto Lobo and Ivan Lloro and Li Liu and Juan-Pedro Lopez-Zaragoza and Rolf Maarschalkerweerd and Davor Mance and Neda Meshksar and V Martın and L Martin-Polo and Joseph Martino and Fernando Martin-Porqueras and Ignacio Mateos and Paul McNamara and Jose Mendes and Luis Mendes and Miquel Nofrarias and Sarah Paczkowski and Michael Perreur-Lloyd and Antoine Petiteau and Paolo Pivato and Eric Plagnol and Jose Ramos-Castro and Jens Reiche and David Robertson and Francisco Rivas and Giuliana Russano and Jacob Slutsky and Carlos Sopuerta and Timothy Sumner and Daniel Texier and Ira Thorpe and Daniele Vetrugno and Stefano Vitale and Gudrun Wanner and Harry Ward and Peter Wass and William Weber and Lennart Wissel and Andreas Wittchen and Peter Zweifel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.08924},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Preprint of an article submitted for consideration in Lepton-Photon 2017 conference proceedings \copyright 2019 copyright World Scientific Publishing Company