Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Lunar gravitational-wave (GW) detectors relying on the measurement of the response of the Moon to GWs are susceptible to a seismic background, which might pose a fundamental sensitivity limitation. The Lunar Gravitational-wave Antenna (LGWA) was conceived as an array of accelerometers with the idea that data can be processed to distinguish between a GW signal and the seismic background. As a result, the seismic noise of the GW measurement would be mitigated. However, so far, no quantitative assessment of the mitigation of the seismic background has been provided. In this article, we derive the analytical expressions for the optimal squared signal-to-noise ratio considering two seismic stations in an isotropic, random, Gaussian seismic field. Our numerical analysis reveals that the capacity to mitigate the seismic noise critically depends on the distance between the two stations relative to the seismic-correlation length. We demonstrate that optimal placement of the two stations can yield significant improvements in the equivalent seismic noise amplitude spectrum density (ASD), approximately a factor of 2.3 at 0.3 Hz, compared to the measurement with a single station. The equivalent ASD of the seismic noise also exhibits distinct oscillatory and mitigation features arising from the Bessel-function structure of the noise correlation.
DOI: 10.1103/sgyq-p8tz
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1955392377, G308919342
OpenAlex ID: W7157984282
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