Searching for Gravitational Waves with a Geostationary Interferometer

Abstract

We analyze the sensitivities of a geostationary gravitational wave interferometer mission operating in the sub-Hertz band. Because of its smaller armlength, in the lower part of its accessible frequency band ($10^{-4}-2\times 10^{-2}$ Hz) our proposed Earth-orbiting detector will be less sensitive, by a factor of about seventy, than the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. In the higher part of its band instead ($2\times 10^{-2}-10$ Hz), our proposed interferometer will have the capability of observing super-massive black holes (SMBHs) with masses smaller than $\sim 10^6$ M${}_{\odot }$. With good event rates for these systems, a geostationary interferometer will be able to accurately probe the astrophysical scenarios that account for their formation.

33 pages, 9 eps figures