Improvement of the target sensitivity in DECIGO by optimizing its parameters for quantum noise including the effect of diffraction loss

TL;DR

This paper optimizes DECIGO's parameters to enhance its sensitivity to primordial gravitational waves by considering quantum noise and diffraction loss, aiming to improve detection prospects based on recent observational constraints.

Contribution

It introduces a parameter optimization method for DECIGO that includes diffraction loss effects, improving the design for better primordial GW detection sensitivity.

Findings

Optimized mirror radius for maximum SNR.

Quantified impact of diffraction loss on sensitivity.

Provided a framework for practical DECIGO design improvements.

Abstract

DECIGO is the future Japanese gravitational wave detector in outer space. We previously set the default design parameters to provide a good target sensitivity to detect the primordial gravitational waves (GWs). However, the updated upper limit of the primordial GWs by the Planck observations motivated us for further optimization of the target sensitivity. Previously, we had not considered optical diffraction loss due to the very long cavity length. In this paper, we optimize various DECIGO parameters by maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), for the primordial GWs to quantum noise including the effects of diffraction loss. We evaluated the power spectrum density for one cluster in DECIGO utilizing the quantum noise of one differential Fabry-Perot interferometer. Then we calculated the SNR by correlating two clusters in the same position. We performed the optimization for two cases: the constant mirror-thickness case and the constant mirror-mass case. As a result, we obtained the SNR dependence on the mirror radius, which also determines various DECIGO parameters. This result is the first step toward optimizing the DECIGO design by considering the practical constraints on the mirror dimension and implementing other noise sources.