Time-delay interferometry noise transfer functions for LISA

Nam, D. Q., Martino, J., Lemière, Y., Petiteau, A., Bayle, J.-B. , Hartwig, O. and Staab, M. (2023) Time-delay interferometry noise transfer functions for LISA. Physical Review D, 108(8), 082004. (doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.108.082004)

Abstract

The Laser Interferometry Space Antenna (LISA) mission is the future space-based gravitational-wave (GW) observatory of the European Space Agency. It is formed by three spacecraft exchanging laser beams in order to form multiple interferometers. The data streams to be used in order to extract the large number and variety of GW sources are time-delay interferometry (TDI) data. One important processing step to produce these data is the TDI on-ground processing, which recombines multiple interferometric on-board measurements to remove certain noise sources from the data, such as laser frequency noise or spacecraft jitter noise. The LISA noise budget is therefore expressed at the TDI level in order to account for the different TDI transfer functions applied for each noise source and thus estimate their real weight on mission performance. In this study, we present an update model for the beams, measurements and TDI, with several approximations to derive the noise transfer functions. The laser locking and noise correlation are taken into account to see their impact in the transfer functions. A methodology for such a derivation has been established in detail, as well as verification procedures against simulated data. It results in a set of transfer functions, which are now used by the LISA project, in particular in its performance model. Using these transfer functions, realistic noise curves for various instrumental configurations are provided to data analysis algorithms and used for instrument design.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work is supported by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the 'Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Universit´e Paris Cit´e, the Institut de la Recherche sur les lois Fondamentales de l’Univers of the Commissariat `a l’Energie Atomique et aux ´energies alternatives' (CEA/IRFU) and the Observatoire de Paris. It was also supported by the Programme National GRAM of CNRS/INSU with INP and IN2P3 co-funded by CNES.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bayle, Dr Jean-Baptiste
• Authors: Nam, D. Q., Martino, J., Lemière, Y., Petiteau, A., Bayle, J.-B., Hartwig, O., and Staab, M.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Physical Review D
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• ISSN: 1550-7998
• ISSN (Online): 1550-2368
• Published Online: 18 October 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright: © 2023 American Physical Society
• First Published: First published in Physical Review D 108(8): 082004
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy