A Horizon Study for Cosmic Explorer: Science, Observatories, and Community

Authors :: Evans, Matthew
Adhikari, Rana X
Afle, Chaitanya
Ballmer, Stefan W.
Biscoveanu, Sylvia
Borhanian, Ssohrab
Brown, Duncan A.
Chen, Yanbei
Eisenstein, Robert
Gruson, Alexandra
Gupta, Anuradha
Hall, Evan D.
Huxford, Rachael
Kamai, Brittany
Kashyap, Rahul
Kissel, Jeff S.
Kuns, Kevin
Landry, Philippe
Lenon, Amber
Lovelace, Geoffrey
McCuller, Lee
Ng, Ken K. Y.
Nitz, Alexander H.
Read, Jocelyn
Sathyaprakash, B. S.
Shoemaker, David H.
Slagmolen, Bram J. J.
Smith, Joshua R.
Srivastava, Varun
Sun, Ling
Vitale, Salvatore
Weiss, Rainer
Publication Year :: 2021
Abstract: This Horizon Study describes a next-generation ground-based gravitational-wave observatory: Cosmic Explorer. With ten times the sensitivity of Advanced LIGO, Cosmic Explorer will push gravitational-wave astronomy towards the edge of the observable universe ($z \sim 100$). The goals of this Horizon Study are to describe and evaluate design concepts for Cosmic Explorer; to plan for the United States' leadership in gravitational-wave astronomy; and to envisage the role of Cosmic Explorer in the international effort to build a "Third-Generation" (3G) observatory network that will make discoveries transformative across astronomy, physics, and cosmology.<br />Comment: 173 pages