Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2016
Volume 61, Number 6
Saturday–Tuesday, April 16–19, 2016; Salt Lake City, Utah
Session E12: LISA and LISA pathfinder |
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Sponsoring Units: DAP GGR Chair: John Conklin, University of Florida Room: 250DE |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 3:30PM - 3:42PM |
E12.00001: Accelerated prospective parameter estimation for observing black hole mergers with LISA John Baker, Sylvain Marsat, Philip Graff LISA, a candidate for the European Space Agency's planned L3 gravitational wave mission, is expected to provide tremendous capabilities in observing merging black holes out to very high redshifts with much higher signal-to-noise ratios than are likely with ground-based observations. Understanding precisely how well we may be able to measure these systems requires detailed Bayesian analysis with the best available theoretical waveform predictions and a full treatment of LISA's instrumental response. Highly accurate representations of general relativity's signal predictions, such as those of the Effective-One-Body formalism, are becoming available but these are too slow to compute directly. We address the practical challenge of computing the signals and response both accurately and quickly with frequency-domain reduced order signal models and apt approximation techniques for LISA's instrumental response to achieve millisecond likelihood evaluations. We apply these techniques to study of the impact of higher-harmonics in LISA observations of non-spinning mergers. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 3:42PM - 3:54PM |
E12.00002: Comparing Different Analysis Approaches for the GRACE Follow-On Mission Peter L. Bender The NASA-DLR GRACE Follow-On Mission (GFO) is scheduled for launch in 2017. It will continue the measurements of the GRACE Mission, which has very successfully monitored changes in the Earth's mass distribution since 2002. Some reductions in measurement noise sources are expected, but some empirical parameter correction method will still need to be used to partially correct for satellite acceleration noise. In studies of possible future gravity missions after GFO, quite different assumptions have been made about the length of the data arcs used in the analysis and the nature and numbers of empirical parameters to be estimated. In this talk, the advantages of comparing the different approaches in simulations by analyzing the results along the satellite orbits and at altitude will be discussed. The usual approach is to combine the data arcs over 10 to 30 day periods before solutions for changes in the mass distribution are solved for. But then, the changes in the mass distribution between the times of the different arcs will affect the results. The along track approach is particularly suitable for a suggested analysis method called the ocean calibration approach, where most of the weight in correcting for acceleration noise is given to data collected over the equatorial oceans. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 3:54PM - 4:06PM |
E12.00003: Characterization of the LISA Pathfinder Drag Reduction System Jacob Slutsky The LISA Pathfinder (LPF) mission launched in December 2015 with operations beginning March 2016. LPF is a technology demonstration mission built to prove and fully characterize the performance of the use of drag free test masses as Gravitational Reference Sensors (GRS) for future space based gravitational-wave observatories. As a joint ESA-NASA mission, LPF is comprised of both European and NASA payloads, the LISA Technology Package (LTP) and Disturbance Reduction System (DRS), respectively. DRS includes Colloid Micro-Newton Thruster (CMNT) systems, to precisely maneuver the spacecraft without disturbing the GRS, and a control system that directs spacecraft and test mass actuation. In order to fully characterize DRS/CMNT performance, we have developed a series of experiments, to take place during DRS operations beginning later this year. We have built analysis pipelines, validated on simulated data, to rapidly process experimental data and to identify any performance issues as they occur. European partners have developed the LTP Data Analysis (LTPDA) Matlab extension, and we have adapted and expanded this to DRS missions as the basis of our analysis pipelines. I will discuss the anticipated DRS performance and measurement accuracy, illustrated on simulated data. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 4:06PM - 4:18PM |
E12.00004: ST7-DRS on LISA Pathfinder: Initial Status Curt Cutler, John Ziemer, Phil Barela, Nathaniel Demmons, Charles Dunn, Vlad Hruby, Oscar Hsu, Otfrid Liepack, Peiman Maghami, James O'Donnell, Jacob Slutsky, James Thorpe, Andrew Romero-Wolfe LISA Pathfinder (LPF), a European Space Agency Mission to demonstrate technologies for future space-based gravitational wave observatories, was launched from French Guiana on Dec 3, 2015. A payload on LPF is the NASA-provided ST7 Disturbance Reduction System (ST7-DRS). We will describe the current state of ST7-DRS, including results from the initial on-orbit commissioning and the experimental plan for the ST7-DRS operations in the summer of 2016. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 4:18PM - 4:30PM |
E12.00005: Spurious Acceleration Noise on the LISA Spacecraft Due to Solar Irradiance Brandon Piotrzkowski, Barret Frank, Brett Bolen, Shane Larson The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a configuration of three satellites that will precisely measure the distance between each other in order to detect gravitational waves. Therefore, the stability of LISA satellite configuration will be crucial to its ability to measure gravitational waves, as will understanding the noise introduced in the measured gravitational wave signal from various environmental accelerations. Although solar irradiance will certainly be a large source of noise in the desired frequency band and will attempt to disrupt the satellite configuration, previous research has only considered zeroth order calculations of force by irradiance in static systems. To remedy this, we used a geometric and material based approach to calculate the force on the satellites' solar arrays, the only component facing the sun. Running our simulation of LISA based on irradiance data from the VIRGO (Variability of solar IRadiance and Gravity Oscillations) satellite, we examined the Fourier transform of force to find the associated acceleration noise within in the LISA frequency band due to solar irradiance. This research will help isolate the gravitational wave signal when LISA is flown. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 4:30PM - 4:42PM |
E12.00006: Results from a prototype telescope for a space-based gravitational-wave observatory Shannon Sankar, Jeffrey Livas Space-based gravitational-wave observatories will enable the study of a multitude of astrophysical sources emitting gravitational waves at frequencies between 0.1 mHz and 1Hz. These long-baseline laser interferometers rely on specifically-designed telescopes to efficiently exchange laser beams between spacecraft housing freely floating proof masses. Each telescope simultaneously transmits and receives the laser light at the ends of the million kilometer arms. The telescopes are in the measurement path, and so must be dimensionally stable within the observatory measurement band. Furthermore, simultaneous transmission and reception introduces constraints on the permissible scattered light. We discuss our efforts to design, simulate, construct and measure the performance of a prototype telescope for a future gravitational-wave observatory in space. We also outline key lessons learned from this study. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2016 4:42PM - 4:54PM |
E12.00007: LISA Pathfinder as a micrometeorite instrument James Thorpe The Solar System contains a population of dust and small particles originating from asteroids, comets, and other bodies. These particles have been studied using a number of techniques ranging from in-situ satellite detectors to analysis of lunar microcraters to ground-based observations of zodiacal light. We describe an approach for using the LISA Pathfinder [LPF] mission as an instrument to detect and characterize the dynamics of dust particles in the vicinity of Earth-Sun L1. Launched on Dec. 3rd, 2015, LPF is a dedicated technology demonstrator mission that will validate several key technologies for a future space-based gravitational-wave observatory. The primary science instrument aboard LPF is a precision accelerometer which we show will be capable of sensing discrete momentum impulses as small as 4 × 10-8 N · s. We then estimate the rate of such impulses resulting from impacts of micrometeoroids based on standard models of the micrometeoroid environment in the inner solar system. We find that LPF may detect dozens to hundreds of individual events corresponding to impacts of particles with masses > 10-9 g during LPF’s roughly six-month science operations phase. [Preview Abstract] |
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