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Sub-Femto-g Free Fall for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatories: LISA Pathfinder ResultsWe report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in free fall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.2 +/- 0.1 fm s(exp -2)/square root of Hz, or (0.54 +/- 0.01) x 10(exp -15) g/square root of Hz, with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20 mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60 mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.8 +/- 0.3) fm square root of Hz, about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f less than or equal to 0.5 mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12 fm s(exp -2)/square root of Hz down to 0.1 mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA.
Document ID
20170003535
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Armano, M.
(European Space Agency. ESA Tracking Station Madrid, Spain)
Audley, H.
(Oak Ridge Associated Universities Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Auger, G.
(Universite Paris Diderot Paris, France)
Baird, J. T.
(Imperial Coll. of London London, United Kingdom)
Bassan, M.
(Rome Univ. Rome, Italy)
Binetruy, P.
(Universite Paris Diderot Paris, France)
Born, M.
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut Golm, Germany)
Bortoluzzi, D.
(Trento Univ. Italy)
Brandt, N.
(Airbus Defence and Space Bremen, Germany)
Thorpe, J. I.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
April 17, 2017
Publication Date
June 7, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Physical Review Letters
Publisher: American Physical Society
Volume: 116
Issue: 23
ISSN: 0031-9007
e-ISSN: 1079-7114
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN41716
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNH06CC03B
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
space science
optical metrology
acceleration
small forces

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