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

Matthew Evans; Rana X Adhikari; Chaitanya Afle; Stefan W. Ballmer; Sylvia Biscoveanu; Ssohrab Borhanian; Duncan A. Brown; Yanbei Chen; Robert Eisenstein; Alexandra Gruson; Anuradha Gupta; Evan D. Hall; Rachael Huxford; Brittany Kamai; Rahul Kashyap; Jeff S. Kissel; Kevin Kuns; Philippe Landry; Amber Lenon; Geoffrey Lovelace; Lee McCuller; Ken K. Y. Ng; Alexander H. Nitz; Jocelyn Read; B. S. Sathyaprakash; David H. Shoemaker; Bram J. J. Slagmolen; Joshua R. Smith; Varun Srivastava; Ling Sun; Salvatore Vitale; Rainer Weiss

arXiv · 2109.09882

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

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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.

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Matthew Evans, Rana X Adhikari, Chaitanya Afle, Stefan W. Ballmer, Sylvia Biscoveanu, Ssohrab Borhanian, Duncan A. Brown, Yanbei Chen, Robert Eisenstein, Alexandra Gruson, Anuradha Gupta, Evan D. Hall, Rachael Huxford, Brittany Kamai, Rahul Kashyap, Jeff S. Kissel, Kevin Kuns, Philippe Landry, Amber Lenon, Geoffrey Lovelace, Lee McCuller, Ken K. Y. Ng, Alexander H. Nitz, Jocelyn Read, B. S. Sathyaprakash, David H. Shoemaker, Bram J. J. Slagmolen, Joshua R. Smith, Varun Srivastava, Ling Sun, Salvatore Vitale, Rainer Weiss. 2021-09-20. A Horizon Study for Cosmic Explorer: Science, Observatories, and Community. https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.09882

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