Space Based Gravitational Wave Astronomy Beyond LISA
Abstract
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will open three decades of gravitational wave (GW) spectrum between 0.1 and 100 mHz, the mHz band. This band is expected to be the richest part of the GW spectrum, in types of sources, numbers of sources, signal-to-noise ratios and discovery potential. When LISA opens the low-frequency window of the gravitational wave spectrum, around 2034, the surge of gravitational-wave astronomy will strongly compel a subsequent mission to further explore the frequency bands of the GW spectrum that can only be accessed from space. The 2020s is the time to start developing technology and studying mission concepts for a large-scale mission to be launched in the 2040s. The mission concept would then be proposed to Astro2030. Only space based missions can access the GW spectrum between 10 nHz and 1 Hz because of the Earths seismic noise. This white paper surveys the science in this band and mission concepts that could accomplish that science. The proposed small scale activity is a technology development program that would support a range of concepts and a mission concept study to choose a specific mission concept for Astro2030. In this white paper, we will refer to a generic GW mission beyond LISA as bLISA.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1907.11305,
title = {Space Based Gravitational Wave Astronomy Beyond LISA},
author = {John Baker and Simon F. Barke and Peter L. Bender and Emanuele Berti and Robert Caldwell and John W. Conklin and Neil Cornish and Elizabeth C. Ferrara and Kelly Holley-Bockelmann and Brittany Kamai and Shane L. Larson and Jeff Livas and Sean T. McWilliams and Guido Mueller and Priyamvada Natarajan and Norman Rioux and Shannon R Sankar and Jeremy Schnittman and Deirdre Shoemaker and Jacob Slutsky and Robin Stebbins and Ira Thorpe and John Ziemer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.11305},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Astro2020 APC White Paper Primary Thematic Science Area: Multi-Messenger Astronomy and Astrophysics Secondary Areas: Cosmology and Fundamental Physics, Galaxy Evolution, Formation and Evolution of Compact Objects