Mission Design for the TAIJI Mission and Structure Formation in Early Universe

Abstract

Gravitational wave detection in space promises to open a new window in astronomy to study the strong field dynamics of gravitational physics in astrophysics and cosmology. The present article is an extract of a report on a feasibility study of gravitational wave detection in space, commissioned by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The objective of the study is to explore various possible mission options to detect gravitational waves in space alternative to that of the (e)LISA mission concept and look into the requirements on the technological fronts. On the basis of relative merits and balance between science and technological feasibility, a set of representative mission options were studied, and in the end a mission design was recommended as the starting point for research and development in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The mission design was eventually adopted by the current TAIJI mission as the baseline parameters for the project. Subject to technological constraints, the baseline parameters of the TAIJI mission were designed in such a way to optimize the capability of a spaceborne gravitational wave detector to probe high redshift light seed and intermediate-mass black holes and thereby shed important light on the structure formation in early Universe.