Effect of solar free oscillations on TianQin’s range acceleration noise

Abstract

Abstract TianQin is a proposed space-based gravitational-wave detector mission to be deployed and operated in high Earth orbits. As a sequel to Zhang et al (2021 Phys. Rev. D 103 062001), we investigate a type of ‘orbital noise’ in TianQin’s range acceleration that is caused by gravitational perturbation associated with solar free oscillations. Frequencies of such oscillations are typically within TianQin’s measurement band of 0.1 mHz–1 Hz, and the disturbance level needs careful assessment. By using high-precision orbit propagation and adding the Sun’s time-variable oblateness J 2 to detailed gravity-field models, we examine the effect in the frequency domain and show that the solar free oscillation noise is expected to be two orders of magnitude lower than the noise requirement on single links and hence has little impact on the mission.