Pioneer anomaly: What can we learn from LISA?
arXiv:gr-qc/0509021
Abstract
The Doppler tracking data from two deep-space spacecraft, Pioneer 10 and 11, show an anomalous blueshift, which has been dubbed the "Pioneer anomaly". The effect is most commonly interpreted as a real deceleration of the spacecraft - an interpretation that faces serious challenges from planetary ephemerides. The Pioneer anomaly could as well indicate an unknown effect on the radio signal itself. Several authors have made suggestions how such a blueshift could be related to cosmology. We consider this interpretation of the Pioneer anomaly and study the impact of an anomalous blueshift on the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a planned joint ESA-NASA mission aiming at the detection of gravitational waves. The relative frequency shift (proportional to the light travel time) for the LISA arm length is estimated to 10E-16, which is much bigger than the expected amplitude of gravitational waves. The anomalous blueshift enters the LISA signal in two ways, as a small term folded with the gravitational wave signal, and as larger term at low frequencies. A detail analysis shows that both contributions remain undetectable and do not impair the gravitational-wave detection. This suggests that the Pioneer anomaly will have to be tested in the outer Solar system regardless if the effect is caused by an anomalous blueshift or by a real force.
19 pages, 4 figures. Talk given by D. Defrere at the conference "Lasers, Clocks, and Drag-Free", ZARM, Bremen, Germany, 30 May - 1 June 2005
References in corpus (28)
- Study of the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11
- Indication, from Pioneer 10/11, Galileo, and Ulysses Data, of an Apparent Anomalous, Weak, Long-Range Acceleration
- Bounding the mass of the graviton using gravitional-wave observations of inspiralling compact binaries
- Estimating spinning binary parameters and testing alternative theories of gravity with LISA
- Time Delay Interferometry with Moving Spacecraft Arrays
- Data Combinations Accounting for LISA Spacecraft Motion
- A tensor-vector-scalar framework for modified dynamics and cosmic dark matter
- Geometric Time Delay Interferometry
- Fundamentals of the LISA Stable Flight Formation
- Comment on ``Indication, from Pioneer 10/11, Galileo and Ulysses Data, of an Apparent Anomalous, Weak, Long-Range Acceleration''
- Improved bounds on non-luminous matter in solar orbit
- Conventional Forces can Explain the Anomalous Acceleration of Pioneer 10
- Using Early Data to Illuminate the Pioneer Anomaly
- Independent Confirmation of the Pioneer 10 Anomalous Acceleration
- A Prosaic Explanation for the Anomalous Accelerations Seen in Distant Spacecraft
- Adiabatic Berry Phase and Hannay Angle for Open Paths
- The Pioneer anomaly as acceleration of the clocks
- The Pioneer riddle, the quantum vacuum and the acceleration of light
- A Mission to Explore the Pioneer Anomaly
- The "Pioneer effect" as a manifestation of the cosmic expansion in the solar system
- The Pioneer's Anomalous Doppler Drift as a Berry Phase
- The Pioneer's acceleration anomaly and Hubble's constant
- The Pioneer anomaly: the measure of a topological phase defect of light in cosmology
- Testing for the Pioneer anomaly on a Pluto exploration mission
- Fundamental Physics with the Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity
- Options for a nondedicated mission to test the Pioneer anomaly
- Reducing the flexing of the arms of LISA
- Comments on the Quantum Vacuum and the Light Acceleration