Related papers: The interaction between stray electrostatic fields…
DC electric fields can combine with test mass charging and thermal dielectric voltage noise to create significant force noise acting on the drag-free test masses in the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) gravitational wave mission.…
We report on electrostatic measurements made on board the European Space Agency mission LISA Pathfinder. Detailed measurements of the charge-induced electrostatic forces exerted on free-falling test masses (TMs) inside the capacitive…
The low-frequency resolution of space-based gravitational wave observatories such as LISA (Laser Interferometry Space Antenna) hinges on the orbital purity of a free-falling reference test mass inside a satellite shield. We present here a…
For space-borne gravitational wave detectors,such as LISA and TianQin ,the disturbance caused by the coupling of test masses and the external magnetic fields is one of the main sources of the residual acceleration noise. Although the…
LISA Pathfinder is the technological demonstrator space mission for the future gravitational waves observatory in space eLISA, with the aim of measure the differential acceleration between free-falling test masses orbiting in the same…
A torsion pendulum allows ground-based investigation of the purity of free-fall for the LISA test masses inside their capacitive position sensor. This paper presents recent improvements in our torsion pendulum facility that have both…
LISA Pathfinder was a mission designed to test key technologies required for gravitational wave detection in space. Magnetically driven forces play a key role in the instrument sensitivity in the low-frequency regime, which corresponds to…
This paper discusses force noise in LISA and LISA Pathfinder arising from the interaction of patch potentials on the test mass and surrounding electrode housing surfaces with their own temporal fluctuations. We aim to estimate the…
Context. The LISA space observatory will explore the sub-Hz spectrum of gravitational wave emission from the Universe. The space environment, where will be immersed in, is responsible for charge accumulation on its free falling test masses…
In classical mechanics, a natural way to simplify a many-body problem is to ``replace'' some of the elements of the composite system with surrogate \textit{force fields}. In the realm of quantum mechanics, however, such a description is…
The presence of free charge on isolated proof-masses, such as those within space-borne gravitational reference sensors, causes a number of spurious forces which will give rise to associated acceleration noise. A complete discusssion of each…
We have developed a torsion pendulum facility for LISA gravitational reference sensor ground testing that allows us to put significant upper limits on residual stray forces exerted by LISA-like position sensors on a representative test mass…
We report on residual gas damping of the motion of a macroscopic test mass enclosed in a nearby housing in the molecular flow regime. The damping coefficient, and thus the associated thermal force noise, is found to increase significantly…
It has been recently shown that randomly charged surfaces can exhibit long range electrostatic interactions even when they are net neutral. These forces depend on the specific realization of charge disorder and thus exhibit sample to sample…
In force sensing experiments intended to measure non-Newtonian gravitational signals electrostatic patch potentials can give rise to spurious forces, torques, and noise. Undesired patch-induced interactions can lead to systematic effects…
Electrostatic charge control of isolated free-falling test masses is a key enabling technology for space-based gravitational missions. Contact-free electrostatic charge control can be achieved using photoelectron emission from metal…
We report test results searching for an effect of electrostatic charge on weight. For conducting test objects of mass of order 1 kilogram, we found no effect on weight, for potentials ranging from 10 V to 200 kV, corresponding to charge…
The LISA Pathfinder mission will demonstrate the technology of drag-free test masses for use as inertial references in future space-based gravitational wave detectors. To accomplish this, the Pathfinder spacecraft will perform drag-free…
In a recent Letter [arXiv:1004.0874], Volpe et al. describe experiments on a colloidal particle near a wall in the presence of a gravitational field for which they study the influence of noise on the measurement of force. Their central…
Variations in the electrostatic surface potential between the proof mass and electrode housing in the space-based gravitational wave mission LISA is one of the largest contributors of noise at frequencies below a few mHz. Torsion balances…