1. Micrometeoroid Events in LISA Pathfinder
- Author
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Ignacio Mateos, St Drs Operations Team, J. Grzymisch, H. Ward, D. Wealthy, H. Rozemeijer, J. A. Lobo, Gerhard Heinzel, Nicole Pagane, A. Zambotti, S. Paczkowski, Ivan Lloro, Ph. Jetzer, Antoine Petiteau, Paul McNamara, P. Prat, José F. F. Mendes, Daniele Bortoluzzi, N. Brandt, Nikolaos Karnesis, James Ira Thorpe, R. De Rosa, Michael Tröbs, Carlos F. Sopuerta, Michele Armano, L. Mendes, C. Zanoni, Davor Mance, J. O’Donnell, Daniele Vetrugno, B. Johlander, Lluis Gesa, G. Auger, Curt Cutler, John Ziemer, M. Freschi, Henri Inchauspe, A. Schleicher, F. Martin-Porqueras, M. Girard, M. Hewitson, D. Shaul, R. Maarschalkerweerd, Karsten Danzmann, T. J. Sumner, D. Texier, E. D. Fitzsimons, F. Rivas, Daniel Hollington, L. Liu, Oliver Jennrich, Miquel Nofrarías, P. Pivato, A. M. Cruise, W. J. Weber, R. Giusteri, Michael Perreur-Lloyd, John G. Baker, P. Sarra, Tobias Ziegler, N. Korsakova, Aniello Grado, Heather Audley, Peter Wass, Tyson Littenberg, Gudrun Wanner, Sophie Hourihane, Pierre Binétruy, Antonella Cavalleri, L. Di Fiore, R. Gerndt, Jacob Slutsky, Valerio Ferroni, S. Vitale, Christian J. Killow, B. Kaune, C. Trenkel, S. Madden, Diego Janches, Juan Ramos-Castro, D. Hoyland, C. Marrese-Reading, J. Reiche, Rita Dolesi, N. Dunbar, Catia Grimani, P. Barela, C. Dunn, C. García Marirrodriga, A. Wittchen, R. Flatscher, P. Maghami, U. Ragnit, I. Li, Ruggero Stanga, Mauro Hueller, Nate Demmons, S. Javidnia, Petr Pokorny, G. Dixon, J. P. López-Zaragoza, M. Born, A. Cesarini, G. Russano, Ferran Gibert, J. Martino, J. Baird, Massimo Bassan, O. Hsu, Andrew Romero-Wolf, L. Wissel, Ingo Diepholz, M. de Deus Silva, Luigi Ferraioli, Eric Plagnol, V. Martín, Domenico Giardini, M. Caleno, D. I. Robertson, Peter Zweifel, J. Mehta, L. Martin-Polo, I. Harrison, Thorpe, J. I., Slutsky, J., Baker, J. G., Littenberg, T. B., Hourihane, S., Pagane, N., Pokorny, P., Janches, D., Armano, M., Audley, H., Auger, G., Baird, J., Bassan, M., Binetruy, P., Born, M., Bortoluzzi, D., Brandt, N., Caleno, M., Cavalleri, A., Cesarini, A., Cruise, A. M., Danzmann, K., De Deus Silva, M., DE ROSA, Rosario, Di Fiore, L., Diepholz, I., Dixon, G., Dolesi, R., Dunbar, N., Ferraioli, L., Ferroni, V., Fitzsimons, E. D., Flatscher, R., Freschi, M., Garcia Marirrodriga, C., Gerndt, R., Gesa, L., Gibert, F., Giardini, D., Giusteri, R., Grado, A., Grimani, C., Grzymisch, J., Harrison, I., Heinzel, G., Hewitson, M., Hollington, D., Hoyland, D., Hueller, M., Inchauspe, H., Jennrich, O., Jetzer, P., Johlander, B., Karnesis, N., Kaune, B., Korsakova, N., Killow, C. J., Lobo, J. A., Lloro, I., Liu, L., Lopez-Zaragoza, J. P., Maarschalkerweerd, R., Mance, D., Martin, V., Martin-Polo, L., Martino, J., Martin-Porqueras, F., Madden, S., Mateos, I., Mcnamara, P. W., Mendes, J., Mendes, L., Nofrarias, M., Paczkowski, S., Perreur-Lloyd, M., Petiteau, A., Pivato, P., Plagnol, E., Prat, P., Ragnit, U., Ramos-Castro, J., Reiche, J., Robertson, D. I., Rozemeijer, H., Rivas, F., Russano, G., Sarra, P., Schleicher, A., Shaul, D., Sopuerta, C. F., Stanga, R., Sumner, T., Texier, D., Trenkel, C., Trobs, M., Vetrugno, D., Vitale, S., Wanner, G., Ward, H., Wass, P., Wealthy, D., Weber, W. J., Wissel, L., Wittchen, A., Zambotti, A., Zanoni, C., Ziegler, T., Zweifel, P., Barela, P., Cutler, C., Demmons, N., Dunn, C., Girard, M., Hsu, O., Javidnia, S., Li, I., Maghami, P., Marrese-Reading, C., Mehta, J., Romero-Wolf, A., Ziemer, J., AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica, and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- Subjects
Astrofísica ,Solar System ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Meteors ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Planet ,meteoroids ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,0306 Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural) ,Settore FIS/01 ,Physics ,Sistema solar ,education.field_of_study ,Micrometeoroid ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Meteoroids ,instrumentation: miscellaneous ,meteorites, meteors, meteoroids ,Asteroid ,Physical Sciences ,0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics ,Physics::Space Physics ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,miscellaneous [Instrumentation] ,Solar system ,Population ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy & Astrophysics ,meteorites ,0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences ,0103 physical sciences ,meteors ,education ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Science & Technology ,Zodiacal light ,Meteoroid ,instrumentation: miscellaneou ,Astronomy ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,miscellaneous ,meteorites, meteors, meteoroids [instrumentation] ,Pathfinder ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] ,Física::Astronomia i astrofísica [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC] ,Enginyeria electrònica::Instrumentació i mesura [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC] ,ORBITS ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Meteorites - Abstract
The zodiacal dust complex, a population of dust and small particles that pervades the Solar System, provides important insight into the formation and dynamics of planets, comets, asteroids, and other bodies. Here we present a new set of data obtained using a novel technique: direct measurements of momentum transfer to a spacecraft from individual particle impacts. This technique is made possible by the extreme precision of the instruments flown on the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, a technology demonstrator for a future space-based gravitational wave observatory that operated near the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point from early 2016 through Summer of 2017. Using a simple model of the impacts and knowledge of the control system, we show that it is possible to detect impacts and measure properties such as the transferred momentum (related to the particle's mass and velocity), direction of travel, and location of impact on the spacecraft. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic search for impacts during 4348 hours of Pathfinder data. We report a total of 54 candidates with momenta ranging from 0.2$\,\mu\textrm{Ns}$ to 230$\,\mu\textrm{Ns}$. We furthermore make a comparison of these candidates with models of micrometeoroid populations in the inner solar system including those resulting from Jupiter-family comets, Oort-cloud comets, Hailey-type comets, and Asteroids. We find that our measured population is consistent with a population dominated by Jupiter-family comets with some evidence for a smaller contribution from Hailey-type comets. This is in agreement with consensus models of the zodiacal dust complex in the momentum range sampled by LISA Pathfinder., Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, accepted in ApJ
- Published
- 2019