No Arabic abstract
In order to attain the requisite sensitivity for LISA, laser frequency noise must be suppressed below the secondary noises such as the optical path noise, acceleration noise etc. In a previous paper (Dhurandhar et al., Class. Quantum Grav., 27, 135013, 2010), we have found a large family of second-generation analytic solutions of time delay interferometry with one arm dysfunctional, and we also estimated the laser noise due to residual time-delay semi-analytically from orbit perturbations due to Earth. Since other planets and solar-system bodies also perturb the orbits of LISA spacecraft and affect the time delay interferometry (TDI), we simulate the time delay numerically in this paper for all solutions with the generation number n leq 3. We have worked out a set of 3-year optimized mission orbits of LISA spacecraft starting at January 1, 2021 using the CGC2.7 ephemeris framework. We then use this numerical solution to calculate the residual optical path differences in the second-generation solutions of our previous paper, and compare with the semi-analytic error estimate. The accuracy of this calculation is better than 1 cm (or 30 ps). The maximum path length difference, for all configuration calculated, is below 1 m (3 ns). This is well below the limit under which the laser frequency noise is required to be suppressed. The numerical simulation in this paper can be applied to other space-borne interferometers for gravitational wave detection with the simplification of having only one interferometer.
The success of LISA Pathfinder in demonstrating the LISA drag-free requirement paved the road of using space missions for detecting low-frequency and middle-frequency GWs. The new LISA GW mission proposes to use arm length of 2.5 Gm (1 Gm = 106 km). The TAIJI GW mission proposes to use arm length of 3 Gm. In order to attain the requisite sensitivity, laser frequency noise must be suppressed to below the secondary noises such as the optical path noise, acceleration noise etc. In previous papers, we have performed the numerical simulation of the time delay interferometry (TDI) for original LISA, ASTROD-GW and eLISA together with a LISA-type mission with a nominal arm length of 2 Gm using the CGC 2.7/CGC2.7.1 ephemeris framework. In this paper, we follow the same procedure to simulate the time delay interferometry numerically for the new LISA mission and the TAIJI mission together with LISA-like missions of arm length 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 Gm. The resulting optical path differences of the second-generation TDI calculated for new LISA, TAIJI, and LISA-like missions or arm length 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6 Gm are well below their respective limits which the laser frequency noise is required to be suppressed. However, for of the first generation X, Y, and Z TDI configurations, the original requirements need to be relaxed by 3 to 30 fold to be satisfied. For the new LISA and TAIJI, about one order of magnitude relaxation would be good and recommended; this could be borne on the laser stability requirement in view of recent progress in laser stability. Compared with X, Y and Z, the X+Y+Z configuration does have a good cancellation of path length differences and could serve as a null string detection check. We compile and compare the resulting differences of various TDI configurations due to the different arm lengths for various LISA-like mission proposals and for the ASTROD-GW mission proposal.
ASTROD-GW (ASTROD [Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices] optimized for Gravitation Wave detection) is an optimization of ASTROD to focus on the goal of detection of gravitation waves. The detection sensitivity is shifted 52 times toward larger wavelength compared to that of LISA. The mission orbits of the 3 spacecraft forming a nearly equilateral triangular array are chosen to be near the Sun-Earth Lagrange points L3, L4 and L5. The 3 spacecraft range interferometrically with one another with arm length about 260 million kilometers. In order to attain the requisite sensitivity for ASTROD-GW, laser frequency noise must be suppressed below the secondary noises such as the optical path noise, acceleration noise etc. For suppressing laser frequency noise, we need to use time delay interferometry (TDI) to match the two different optical paths (times of travel). Since planets and other solar-system bodies perturb the orbits of ASTROD-GW spacecraft and affect the (TDI), we simulate the time delay numerically using CGC 2.7 ephemeris framework. To conform to the ASTROD-GW planning, we work out a set of 20-year optimized mission orbits of ASTROD-GW spacecraft starting at June 21, 2028, and calculate the residual optical path differences in the first and second generation TDI for one-detector case. In our optimized mission orbits for 20 years, changes of arm length are less than 0.0003 AU; the relative Doppler velocities are less than 3m/s. All the second generation TDI for one-detector case satisfies the ASTROD-GW requirement.
The space-based gravitational-wave observatory LISA relies on a form of synthetic interferometry (time-delay interferometry, or TDI) where the otherwise overwhelming laser phase noise is canceled by linear combinations of appropriately delayed phase measurements. These observables grow in length and complexity as the realistic features of the LISA orbits are taken into account. In this paper we outline an implicit formulation of TDI where we write the LISA likelihood directly in terms of the basic phase measurements, and we marginalize over the laser phase noises in the limit of infinite laser-noise variance. Equivalently, we rely on TDI observables that are defined numerically (rather than algebraically) from a discrete-filter representation of the laser propagation delays. Our method generalizes to any time dependence of the armlengths; it simplifies the modeling of gravitational-wave signals; and it allows a straightforward treatment of data gaps and missing measurements.
The future space-based gravitational wave observatory LISA will consist of a constellation of three spacecraft in a triangular constellation, connected by laser interferometers with 2.5 million-kilometer arms. Among other challenges, the success of the mission strongly depends on the quality of the cancellation of laser frequency noise, whose power lies eight orders of magnitude above the gravitational signal. The standard technique to perform noise removal is time-delay interferometry (TDI). TDI constructs linear combinations of delayed phasemeter measurements tailored to cancel laser noise terms. Previous work has demonstrated the relationship between TDI and principal component analysis (PCA). We build on this idea to develop an extension of TDI based on a model likelihood that directly depends on the phasemeter measurements. Assuming stationary Gaussian noise, we decompose the measurement covariance using PCA in the frequency domain. We obtain a comprehensive and compact framework that we call PCI for principal component interferometry, and show that it provides an optimal description of the LISA data analysis problem.
Space-based gravitational wave detectors cannot keep rigid structures and precise arm length equality, so the precise equality of detector arms which is required in a ground-based interferometer to cancel the overwhelming laser noise is impossible. The time-delay interferometry method is applied to unequal arm lengths to cancel the laser frequency noise. We give analytical formulas of the averaged response functions for tensor, vector, breathing and longitudinal polarizations in different TDI combinations, and obtain their asymptotic behaviors. At low frequencies, $fll f_*$, the averaged response functions of all TDI combinations increase as $f^2$ for all six polarizations. The one exception is the averaged response functions of $zeta$ for all six polarizations increase as $f^4$ in the equilateral-triangle case. At high frequencies, $fgg f_*$, the averaged response functions of all TDI combinations for the tensor and breathing modes fall off as $1/f^2$, the averaged response functions of all TDI combinations for the vector mode fall off as $ln(f)/f^2$ , and the averaged response functions of all TDI combinations for the longitudinal mode fall as $1/f$. We also give LISA and TianQin sensitivity curves in different TDI combinations for tensor, vector, breathing and longitudinal polarizations.