Exploring cosmological gravitational wave backgrounds through the synergy of LISA and ET

TL;DR

This paper explores how the combined operation of LISA and ET gravitational wave detectors can enhance the detection and characterization of cosmological stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds across different frequency ranges, revealing early universe features.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-band detection framework and a new SNR optimal method for joint LISA and ET data analysis, improving sensitivity to early universe signals.

Findings

Joint operation improves detection of cosmological GW backgrounds.

Enhanced sensitivity to features of early universe expansion.

Potential to probe squeezed limits of higher order GW correlators.

Abstract

The gravitational wave (GW) interferometers LISA and ET are expected to be functional in the next decade(s), possibly around the same time. They will operate over different frequency ranges, with similar integrated sensitivities to the amplitude of a stochastic GW background (SGWB). We investigate the synergies between these two detectors, in terms of a multi-band detection of a cosmological SGWB characterised by a large amplitude, and a broad frequency spectrum. We develop the notion of integrated sensitivity and propose a novel signal-to-noise (SNR) optimal for characterization of the geometrical properties of the interferometer systems of LISA and ET operating simultaneously. By investigating various examples of SGWBs, such as those arising from cosmological phase transition, cosmic string, primordial inflation, we show that LISA and ET operating together will have the opportunity to assess more effectively the characteristics of the GW spectrum produced by the same cosmological source, but at separate frequency scales. Moreover, the two experiments in tandem can be sensitive to features of early universe cosmic expansion before big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), which affects the SGWB frequency profile, and which would not be possible to detect otherwise, since two different frequency ranges correspond to two different pre-BBN (or post-inflationary) epochs. Besides considering the GW spectrum, we additionally undertake a preliminary study of the sensitivity of LISA and ET to soft limits of higher order tensor correlation functions. Given that these experiments operate at different frequency bands, their synergy constitutes an ideal direct probe of squeezed limits of higher order GW correlators, which can not be measured operating with a single instrument only.