Time-Delay Interferometry for ASTROD-GW

Abstract: In the detection of gravitational waves in space, the arm lengths between spacecraft are not equal due to their orbital motion. Consequently, the equal arm length Michelson interferometer used in Earth laboratories is not suitable for space. To achieve the necessary sensitivity for space gravitational wave detectors, laser frequency noise must be suppressed below secondary noise sources such as optical path noise and acceleration noise. To suppress laser frequency noise, time-delay interferometry (TDI) is employed to match the two optical paths and retain gravitational wave signals. Since planets and other solar system bodies perturb the orbits of spacecraft and affect TDI performance, we simulate the time delay numerically using the CGC2.7 ephemeris framework. To examine the feasibility of TDI for the ASTROD-GW mission, we devised a set of 10-year and a set of 20-year optimized mission orbits for the three spacecraft starting on June 21, 2028, and calculated the path mismatches in the first- and second-generation TDI channels. The results demonstrate that all second-generation TDI channels meet the ASTROD-GW requirements. A geometric approach is used in the analysis and synthesis of both first-generation and second-generation TDI to clearly illustrate the construction process.