Lunar Gravitational-Wave Detection

Marica Branchesi, Maurizio Falanga, Jan Harms*, Karan Jani, Stavros Katsanevas, Philippe Lognonné, Francesca Badaracco, Luigi Cacciapuoti, Enrico Cappellaro, Simone Dell’Agnello, Sébastien de Raucourt, Alessandro Frigeri, Domenico Giardini, Oliver Jennrich, Taichi Kawamura, Valeriya Korol, Martin Landrø, Josipa Majstorović, Piyush Marmat, Paolo MazzaliMarco Muccino, Ferdinando Patat, Elena Pian, Tsvi Piran, Severine Rosat, Sheila Rowan, Simon Stähler, Jacopo Tissino

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

A new era of lunar exploration has begun bringing immense opportunities for science as well. It has been proposed to deploy a new generation of observatories on the lunar surface for deep studies of our Universe. This includes radio antennas, which would be protected on the far side of the Moon from terrestrial radio interference, and gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, which would profit from the extremely low level of seismic disturbances on the Moon. In recent years, novel concepts have been proposed for lunar GW detectors based on long-baseline laser interferometry or on compact sensors measuring the lunar surface vibrations caused by GWs. In this article, we review the concepts and science opportunities for such instruments on the Moon. In addition to promising breakthrough discoveries in astrophysics and cosmology, lunar GW detectors would also be formidable probes of the lunar internal structure and improve our understanding of the lunar geophysical environment.

Original languageEnglish
Article number67
JournalSpace Science Reviews
Volume219
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

Keywords

  • Gravitational waves
  • Laser interferometry
  • Lunar science
  • Seismometers

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