Beyond LISA: Exploring Future Gravitational Wave Missions

TL;DR

This paper evaluates future gravitational wave missions like ALIAS, LISAS, and BBO, analyzing their capabilities and scientific goals, especially in black hole research and gravitational wave background detection.

Contribution

It introduces extensions to existing missions, ALIAS and LISAS, and assesses BBO's initial deployment, highlighting their enhanced scientific potential.

Findings

ALIAS significantly advances intermediate mass black hole studies

LISAS extends LISA's capabilities for detailed source analysis

BBO's initial deployment can detect the gravitational wave background

Abstract

The Advanced Laser Interferometer Antenna (ALIA) and the Big Bang Observer (BBO) have been proposed as follow on missions to the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Here we study the capabilities of these observatories, and how they relate to the science goals of the missions. We find that the Advanced Laser Interferometer Antenna in Stereo (ALIAS), our proposed extension to the ALIA mission, will go considerably further toward meeting ALIA's main scientific goal of studying intermediate mass black holes. We also compare the capabilities of LISA to a related extension of the LISA mission, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna in Stereo (LISAS). Additionally, we find that the initial deployment phase of the BBO would be sufficient to address the BBO's key scientific goal of detecting the Gravitational Wave Background, while still providing detailed information about foreground sources.