TianQin: a space-borne gravitational wave detector

TianQin is a proposal for a space-borne detector of gravitational waves in the millihertz frequencies. The experiment relies on a constellation of three drag-free spacecraft orbiting the Earth. Inter-spacecraft laser interferometry is used to monitor the distances between the test masses. The experiment is designed to be capable of detecting a signal with high confidence from a single source of gravitational waves within a few months of observing time. We describe the preliminary mission concept for TianQin, including the candidate source and experimental designs. We present estimates for the major constituents of the experiment’s error budget and discuss the project’s overall feasibility. Given the current level of technological readiness, we expect TianQin to be flown in the second half of the next decade.

• Publication year

  2015

• Venue

  Classical and Quantum Gravity

• Publication date

  2015-12-07

• Fields of study

  Physics, Engineering

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1088/0264-9381/33/3/035010arXiv 1512.02076
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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