Asteroids for $\mu$Hz gravitational-wave detection

Abstract

A major challenge for gravitational-wave (GW) detection in the $\mu$Hz band is engineering a test mass (TM) with sufficiently low acceleration noise. We propose a GW detection concept using asteroids located in the inner Solar System as TMs. Our main purpose is to evaluate the acceleration noise of asteroids in the $\mu$Hz band. We show that a wide variety of environmental perturbations are small enough to enable an appropriate class of $\sim 10$ km-diameter asteroids to be employed as TMs. This would allow a sensitive GW detector in the band $\text{(few)}\times 10^{-7}\text{Hz}\lesssim f_{\text{GW}}\lesssim \text{(few)}\times 10^{-5}\text{Hz}$, reaching strain $h_c\sim 10^{-19}$ around $f_{\text{GW}}\sim 10\mu$Hz, sufficient to detect a wide variety of sources. To exploit these asteroid TMs, human-engineered base stations could be deployed on multiple asteroids, each equipped with an electromagnetic transmitter/receiver to permit measurement of variations in the distance between them. We discuss a potential conceptual design with two base stations, each with a space-qualified optical atomic clock measuring the round-trip electromagnetic pulse travel time via laser ranging. Tradespace exists to optimize multiple aspects of this mission: for example, using a radio-ranging or interferometric link system instead of laser ranging. This motivates future dedicated technical design study. This mission concept holds exceptional promise for accessing this GW frequency band.

arXiv comment50 pages, 9 figures. Published version

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