Possibility of Direct Measurement of the Acceleration of the Universe Using 0.1 Hz Band Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Antenna in Space

Abstract

It may be possible to construct a laser interferometer gravitational wave antenna in space with $h_{rms}\sim 10^{-27}$ at $ f\sim 0.1{\rm Hz}$ in this century. We show possible specification of this antenna which we call DECIGO. Using this antenna we show that 1) typically $ 10^5$ ($10^4\sim 10^6$) chirp signals of coalescing binary neutron stars per year may be detected with S/N $\sim 10^4$. 2) We can directly measure the acceleration of the universe by ten years observation of binary neutron stars. 3) The stochastic gravitational waves of $\Omega_{GW}\gsim 10^{-20}$ predicted by the inflation may be detected by correlation analysis for which effects of the recent cosmic acceleration would become highly important. Our formula for phase shift due to accelerating motion might be also applied for binary sources of LISA.