Effect of Earth-Moon's gravity on TianQin's range acceleration noise

Abstract

TianQin is a proposed space gravitational-wave detection mission using circular high Earth orbits. The geocentric concept has raised questions about the disturbing effect of the nearby gravity field of the Earth-Moon system on the highly-sensitive intersatellite ranging measurements. Here we examine the issue through high precision numerical orbit simulation with detailed gravity-field models. By evaluating range accelerations between distant free-falling test masses, the study shows that the majority of the Earth-Moon's gravity disturbances are not in TianQin's detection frequency band above $10^{-4}$ Hz, and hence present no showstoppers to the mission.

7 pages, 4 figures, to match the accepted version by Phys. Rev. D