Sensitivity limits of space-based interferometric gravitational wave observatories from the solar wind

TL;DR

This paper assesses how solar wind-induced free-electron variations could affect space-based gravitational wave detectors like LISA, finding that under normal conditions, this noise source is less significant than other expected limitations.

Contribution

The study provides a simplified solar plasma model, anchors it with real data, and estimates the impact on LISA's sensitivity, showing it is a minor noise source under typical conditions.

Findings

Free-electron effects are smaller than other noise sources in LISA.

A simplified solar plasma model was developed and validated with real data.

Under normal solar conditions, solar wind noise does not significantly limit LISA.

Abstract

Space-based interferometric gravitational wave instruments such as the ESA/NASA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) observe gravitational waves by measuring changes in the light travel time between widely-separated spacecraft. One potential noise source for these instruments is interaction with the solar wind, in particular the free electrons in the interplanetary plasma. Variations in the integrated column density of free electrons along the laser links will lead to time-of-flight delays which directly compete with signals produced by gravitational waves. In this paper we present a simplified model of the solar plasma relevant for this problem, anchor key parameters of our model using data from the NASA \emph{Wind}/SWE instrument, and derive estimates for the effect in the LISA measurement. We find that under normal solar conditions, the gravitational-wave sensitivity limit from the free-electron effect is smaller than other noise sources that are expected to limit LISA's sensitivity.