Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: The main goal of the LISA Pathfinder (LPF) mission is to fully characterize the acceleration noise models and to test key technologies for future space-based gravitational-wave observatories similar to the eLISA concept. The data analysis team has developed complex three-dimensional models of the LISA Technology Package (LTP) experiment onboard the LPF. These models are used for simulations, but, more importantly, they will be used for parameter estimation purposes during flight operations. One of the tasks of the data analysis team is to identify the physical effects that contribute significantly to the properties of the instrument noise. A way of approaching this problem is to recover the essential parameters of a LTP model fitting the data. Thus, we want to define the simplest model that efficiently explains the observations. To do so, adopting a Bayesian framework, one has to estimate the so-called Bayes factor between two competing models. In our analysis, we use three main different methods to estimate it: the reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo method, the Schwarz criterion, and the Laplace approximation. They are applied to simulated LPF experiments in which the most probable LTP model that explains the observations is recovered. The same type of analysis presented in this paper is expected to be followed during flight operations. Moreover, the correlation of the output of the aforementioned methods with the design of the experiment is explored.
Institutions: Institute of Space Sciences, Université Paris Diderot, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal, Animal Health Research Center, European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre, Leibniz University Hannover, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, Institute of Geophysics, University of Trento, Astrophysique Relativiste, Théories, Expériences, Métrologie, Instrumentation, Signaux, European Space Research and Technology Centre, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Observatoire de Paris, Laboratoire AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G7180067306, G8207893294
OpenAlex ID: W2164764096