Abstract

The present work reports on a feasibility study commissioned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences of China to explore various possible mission options to detect gravitational waves in space alternative to that of the eLISA/LISA mission concept. Based on the relative merits assigned to science and technological viability, a few representative mission options descoped from the ALIA mission are considered. A semi-analytic Monte Carlo simulation is carried out to understand the cosmic black hole merger histories and the possible scientific merits of the mission options in probing the light seed black holes and their coevolution with galaxies in early Universe. The study indicates that, by choosing the armlength of the interferometer to be three million kilometers and shifting the sensitivity floor to around one-hundredth Hz, together with a very moderate improvement on the position noise budget, there are certain mission options capable of exploring light seed, intermediate mass black hole binaries at high redshift that are not readily accessible to eLISA/LISA, and yet the technological requirements seem to within reach in the next few decades for China.

Details

Title
Descope of the ALIA mission
Author
Gong, Xuefei 1 ; Yun-Kau Lau 2 ; Xu, Shengnian 1 ; Amaro-Seoane, Pau 3 ; Bai, Shan 4 ; Bian, Xing 5 ; Cao, Zhoujian 6 ; Chen, Gerui 7 ; Chen, Xian 3 ; Ding, Yanwei 8 ; Peng, Dong 1 ; Gao, Wei 5 ; Heinzel, Gerhard 9 ; Li, Ming 8 ; Li, Shuo 10 ; Liu, Fukun 11 ; Luo, Ziren 12 ; Shao, Mingxue 13 ; Spurzem, Rainer 14 ; Sun, Baosan 15 ; Tang, Wenlin 5 ; Wang, Yan 9 ; Xu, Peng 16 ; Yu, Pin 17 ; Yuan, Yefei 18 ; Zhang, Xiaomin 7 ; Zhou, Zebing 15 

 Institute of Applied Mathematics, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China 
 Institute of Applied Mathematics, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China; Morningside Center of Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China; State Key Laboratory of Scientific and Engineering Computing, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China; State Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China 
 Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert Einstein Institut), Am Mfühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany 
 Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Frobelstieg 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany 
 Institute of Applied Mathematics, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China 
 Institute of Applied Mathematics, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China; State Key Laboratory of Scientific and Engineering Computing, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China; State Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China 
 College of Applied Sciences, Beijing University of Technology, 100 Pingleyuan, Beijing 100124, China 
 Dongfanghong Small Satellite Company, F12 Shenzhou Building, No.31 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Beijing 100081, China 
 Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert Einstein Institut), Callinstraße 38, D-30167 Hannover, Germany 
10  National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Road, Beijing 100012, China 
11  Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University, No.5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871, China; The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871, China 
12  Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Beisihuanxi Road, Beijing 100190, China 
13  Morningside Center of Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China 
14  National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Road, Beijing 100012, China; The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871, China; Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie, Universität Heidelberg, Mönchhofstrasse 12-14, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany 
15  School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430074, China; Center for Gravitational Experiments, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430074, China 
16  Morningside Center of Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China; Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.55 Zhongguancun Donglu, Beijing 100190, China 
17  Mathematical Science Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China 
18  Center for Astrophysics, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 Jinzhai Road, Hefei 230026, China 
Publication year
2015
Publication date
May 2015
Publisher
IOP Publishing
ISSN
17426588
e-ISSN
17426596
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2576352193
Copyright
© 2015. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.