Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Space missions to detect the cosmic gravitational-wave background

Neil J Cornish1 and Shane L Larson

Show affiliations


It is thought that a stochastic background of gravitational waves was produced during the formation of the universe. A great deal could be learned by measuring this cosmic gravitational-wave background (CGB), but detecting the CGB presents a significant technological challenge. The signal strength is expected to be extremely weak, and there will be competition from unresolved astrophysical foregrounds such as white dwarf binaries. Our goal is to identify the most promising approach to detecting the CGB. We study the sensitivities that can be reached using both individual, and cross-correlated pairs of space-based interferometers. Our main result is a general, coordinate-free formalism for calculating the detector response that applies to arbitrary detector configurations. We use this general formalism to identify some promising designs for a gravitational background interferometer mission. Our conclusion is that detecting the CGB may not be out of reach.


PACS

98.70.Vc Background radiations

95.55.Ym Gravitational radiation detectors; mass spectrometers; and other instrumentation and techniques

98.80.Bp Origin and formation of the Universe

MSC

85A40 Cosmology (For relativistic cosmology, see 83F05)

Subjects

Instrumentation and measurement

Gravitation and cosmology

Astrophysics and astroparticles

Dates

Issue 17 (7 September 2001)

Received 2 April 2001, in final form 18 May 2001

Published 14 August 2001



  1. Space missions to detect the cosmic gravitational-wave background

    Neil J Cornish and Shane L Larson 2001 Class. Quantum Grav. 18 3473

  2. Shake-off on inner-shell resonances of Ar, Kr and Xe

    P A Heimann et al 1987 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Phys. 20 5005

  3. Higher-order Abel equations: Lagrangian formalism, first integrals and Darboux polynomials

    José F Cariñena et al 2009 Nonlinearity 22 2953

  4. Macroscopic theory of Van der Waals force between dielectrics

    B U Felderhof 1977 J. Phys. C: Solid State Phys. 10 4605

  5. Realization of relativistic reflectors with the use of an electron beam and ionization front

    Wei Yu et al 1993 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 26 2093

  6. Orbital angular momentum in Nelson's stochastic mechanics

    Bruno Apolloni and Diego de Falco 2000 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 33 3225

  7. Rosenfeld functional for non-additive hard spheres

    Matthias Schmidt 2004 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 16 L351

  8. Optimization and performance evaluation of the microPET II scanner for in vivo small-animal imaging

    Yongfeng Yang et al 2004 Phys. Med. Biol. 49 2527

  9. Non-frustrated random spin systems with gauge symmetry

    Yukiyasu Ozeki 1996 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 29 5805

  10. Analytical solution of the Ornstein-Zernike equation for a multicomponent fluid

    M Yasutomi and M Ginoza 2000 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 12 L605

Related review articles

What's this?
View review articles related to this research to gain an insight into the key trends in this subject area. Related review articles are selected based on PACS/MSC codes, and are no more than three years old.

  1. The tensor-vector-scalar theory and its cosmology
  2. The double pulsar system: a unique laboratory for gravity
  3. The gravitational-wave signature of core-collapse supernovae
More

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.