Time Delay Interferometry with Moving Spacecraft Arrays

Details Time Delay Interferometry with Moving Spacecraft Arrays Time Delay Interferometry with Moving Spacecraft Arrays

2003-10-03

arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0310017v2

Phys.Rev. D69 (2004) 082001

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Modified version, which is scheduled to appear on the PRD April 15, 2004 issue

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevD.69.082001

Space-borne interferometric gravitational wave detectors, sensitive in the low-frequency (millihertz) band, will fly in the next decade. In these detectors the spacecraft-to-spacecraft light-travel-times will necessarily be unequal, time-varying, and (due to aberration) have different time delays on up- and down-links. Reduction of data from moving interferometric laser arrays in solar orbit will in fact encounter non-symmetric up- and downlink light time differences that are about 100 times larger than has previously been recognized. The time-delay interferometry (TDI) technique uses knowledge of these delays to cancel the otherwise dominant laser phase noise and yields a variety of data combinations sensitive to gravitational waves. Under the assumption that the (different) up- and downlink time delays are constant, we derive the TDI expressions for those combinations that rely only on four inter-spacecraft phase measurements. We then turn to the general problem that encompasses time-dependence of the light-travel times along the laser links. By introducing a set of non-commuting time-delay operators, we show that there exists a quite general procedure for deriving generalized TDI combinations that account for the effects of time-dependence of the arms. By applying our approach we are able to re-derive the ``flex-free'' expression for the unequal-arm Michelson combinations $X_1$, first presented in \cite{STEA}, and obtain the generalized expressions for the TDI combinations called Relay, Beacon, Monitor, and Symmetric Sagnac.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Time Delay Interferometry with Moving Spacecraft Arrays does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Time Delay Interferometry with Moving Spacecraft Arrays, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Time Delay Interferometry with Moving Spacecraft Arrays will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-571070