• DOI:10.1088/0264-9381/33/3/035010
• Corpus ID: 54833657

TianQin: a space-borne gravitational wave detector

@article{Luo2015TianQinAS,
  title={TianQin: a space-borne gravitational wave detector},
  author={Jun Luo and Li-Sheng Chen and Huizong Duan and Yungui Gong and Shoucun Hu and Jianghui Ji and Qi Liu and Jianwei Mei and Vadim Milyukov and Mikhail Vasil'evich Sazhin and Cheng-Gang Shao and V. Toth and Hairui Tu and Yamin Wang and Yan Wang and Hsien-Chi Yeh and Mingsheng Zhan and Yonghe Zhang and Vladimir E. Zharov and Zebing Zhou},
  journal={Classical and Quantum Gravity},
  year={2015},
  volume={33}
}

• Jun Luo, Li-Sheng Chen, +17 authors Zebing Zhou
• Published 7 December 2015
• Physics
• Classical and Quantum Gravity

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.