1. Fundamental Physics at ESA J. Clavel ESA Science Directorate

2. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 2 Overview  Two dedicated missions in the Science Directorate  LISA Pathfinder  LISA  Missions with aspects of FP in the Science Directorate  Gaia  Planck  Mission concepts under assessment  Fundamental Physics Explorer  Minor contributions to nationally led missions  Microscope (CNES)  Missions in other Directorates but supported through Science Directorate  ACES (led by Human Spaceflight)

3. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 3 ACES

4. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 4 ACES mission  ESA mission conducted by Human Spaceflight  To be installed on the ISS (Columbus module)  Payload  Cs fountain clock (PHARAO)  Hydrogen maser (SHM)  Microwave link  Mission goals:  Test of a new generation of space clocks  Precise and accurate time and frequency transfer  Fundamental physics tests  Status: payload development  Launch: 2010

5. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 5 Microscope  CNES-led mission to investigate the equivalence principle  Target sensitivity 10 -15  Room-temperature experiment  Measurement principle:  compare the effect of gravity on two masses of different material  2 differential accelerometers in free-fall (PtRh/PtRh and Ti/PtRh)

6. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 6 Microscope  ESA contributes μN thrusters (FEEP)  ONERA: inertial sensor development  Development status  Satellite PDR February 2006  Launch  May 2010

7. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 7 Planck  Measuring the CMB with unprecedented accuracy  T/T = 2 × 10 -6 (about 10 times better than WMAP)  Angular resolution 5 arcmin (about 3 times better than WMAP)  Wide frequency coverage (30–857 GHz).  Payload  Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) Intensity and polarization at 33 GHz, 44 GHz and 70 GHz Cryogenic detectors (20 K)  High Frequency Instrument (HFI) Bolometric measurements (intensity and polarisation) at 6 frequencies at 100 – 857 GHz Detector temperature 0.1 K

8. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 8 Planck  Fundamental physics with Planck  Nature of Dark Energy and Dark Matter  Tests of & constraints on inflation  Baryogenesis  String theory  Status  Payload flight models under test, delivery to ESA July/August 2006  Launch  Foreseen Q1 2008 (joint launch with Herschel on Ariane 5)

9. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 9 Gaia – Taking a census of the galaxy  Astrometric mission to measure positions, distances, and space motions of stars in our galaxy  About a 10 9 stars up to magnitude 20  median parallax errors: 7 μas at 10 mag; 20-25 μas at 15 mag; 200–300 μas at 20 mag  Distance accuracy: between 1% and 10%  Velocity accuracy: between 0.5 km/s and 10 km/s  Status  Implementation phase  Launch  December 2011

10. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 10 Gaia science objectives  Galaxy origin and formation;  Physics of stars and their evolution;  Galactic dynamics and distance scale;  Solar System census;  Large-scale detection of all classes of astrophysical objects including brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, and planetary systems;  Fundamental physics

11. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 11 Fundamental Physics with Gaia  Determine PPN parameters  |1-  | < 5×10 -7  |1-  |< 3×10 -4  Solar quadrupol moment J 2 to 10 -7 –10 -8  Variability of the gravitational constant  t G/G to 10 -12 –10 -13 yr -1  Constraints on gravitational wave energy at frequencies between 10 -12 Hz and 4×10 -9 Hz  Constraints on  M and   from quasar microlensing

12. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 12 LISA PF  Precursor to LISA  Demonstrating critical technologies for LISA  Drag-free  Micro-Newton Thrusters  Interferometry  Single spacecraft in Lissajous type orbit around L1  Mission duration 6 months  Mission status:  Mission PDR successful in February 2006  Flight hardware delivery Summer 2007  Launch in Q4 2009

13. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 13 LISA PF  Payload  Payload consists of a European contribution Two gravitational reference sensors Interferometric measurement system Drag free control system μN thruster  US contribution Disturbance reduction system – descoped! Drag free control system and μN thruster

14. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 14 LISA PF Inertial Sensor

15. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 15 LISA PF IMS

16. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 16 LISA  Mission to detect and observe gravitational waves and their sources  Joint ESA/NASA mission  Europe: Payload, Payload integration, propulsion module  NASA: Payload, Payload integration, Spacecraft, launcher, operations  Science operations will be conducted jointly  Technological challenges  Interferometric measurements to picometer accuracy  Drag-free technology  Low frequency stability  Definition/Development: 2010 after completion of LISA PF  Launch date ~2017 (present planning assumption)

17. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 17  Cluster of 3 spacecraft in a heliocentric orbit  Spacecraft shield the test masses from external forces (solar wind, radiation pressure)  Allows measurement of amplitude and polarisation of GW LISA mission concept

18. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 18  Cluster of 3 spacecraft in a heliocentric orbit  Trailing the Earth by 20° (50 million kilometers)  Reducing the influence of the Earth-Moon system on the orbits  Keeping the communication requirements (relatively) standard LISA mission concept

19. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 19  Cluster of 3 spacecraft in a heliocentric orbit  Trailing the Earth by 20° (50 million kilometers)  Equilateral triangle with 5 million kilometers arm length  Results in easily measurable pathlength variations  Orbit is still stable enough to allow for mission duration larger than 5 years LISA mission concept

20. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 20 LISA Science Goals  Merging supermassive black holes  Merging intermediate- mass/seed black holes  Gravitational captures  Galactic and verification binaries  Cosmological backgrounds and bursts NASA/CXC/MPE/S. Komossa et al. K. Thorne (Caltech) NASA, Beyond Einstein  Determine the role of massive black holes in galaxy evolution  Make precision tests of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity  Determine the population of ultra- compact binaries in the Galaxy  Probe the physics of the early universe

21. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 21 Call for CV Mission Proposals (1)  First of 3 Calls (TBC) for implementation of CV2015-2025  Available budget for a ~2016 launch: ~320 M€ (1 effective budget year)  The Call will nevertheless be fully open:  No a priori size restriction, but clear cost guidelines  Mission could be a small/medium size S/M mission (≤320 M€ cost to ESA) a large ESA alone L mission (≤650 M€ cost to ESA)  Selection of L mission will serve for long term technological development for mission launch in  2020  Up to 2 S/M (depending on size) + 1 L missions will eventually be implemented

22. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 22 Schedule of Call for proposals  Call for mission proposals released 10 June 2006  Letters of Intent due 30 June 2006  Briefing to proposers at ESTEC July 2006  Mission proposals due December 2006  WG select 3 S-M & 3 L missions for study phase February 2007 All dates to be confirmed!

23. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 23 LISA

24. Backup slides

25. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 25 ACES Mission Objectives I ACES Mission Objectives ACES performancesScientific background and recent results Test of a new generation of space clocks Cold atoms in micro-gravity Study of cold atom physics in microgravityEssential for the development of atomic quantum sensors for space applications (optical clocks, atom interferometers, atom lasers) Test of the space cold atom clock PHARAO Frequency instability: < 3∙10 -16 at 1 day Inaccuracy: ~ 10 -16 Short term frequency instability evaluated by direct comparison to SHM. Long term instability and systematic frequency shifts measured by comparison to ultra-stable ground clocks. Frequency instability: optical clocks surpass PHARAO by one or more orders of magnitude. Inaccuracy: at present, cesium fountain clocks are the most accurate frequency standards. Test of the space hydrogen maser SHM Frequency instability: < 2.1∙10 -15 at 1000 s < 1.5∙10 -15 at 10000 s Medium term frequency instability evaluated by direct comparison to ultra-stable ground clocks. Long term instability determined by on-board comparison to PHARAO in FCDP. Performances of state-of-the-art masers Maser  y (1000 s)  y (10000 s) GALILEO3.2∙10 -14 1.0∙10 -14 EFOS C2.0∙10 -15

26. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 26 ACES Mission Objectives II ACES Mission Objectives ACES performancesScientific background and recent results Precise and accurate time and frequency transfer Test of the time and frequency link MWL Time transfer stability: < 0.3 ps at 300 s < 7 ps at 1day < 23 ps at 10 days At present, no time and frequency transfer link has performances comparable with MWL. Time and frequency comparisons between ground clocks Common view comparisons with an uncertainty level below 1 ps per ISS pass. Non common view comparisons at an uncertainty level of - 2 ps for   1000 s - 5 ps for  10000 s - 20 ps for  1 day Existing T&F links Time stability (1day) Time accuracy (1day) Frequency accuracy (1day) GPS-DB2 ns3-10 ns4∙10 -14 GPS-CV1 ns1-5 ns2∙10 -14 GPS-CP0.1 ns1-3 ns2∙10 -15 TWSTFT0.1-0.2 ns1 ns2-4∙10 -15 Absolute synchronization of ground clocks Absolute synchronization of ground clock time scales with an uncertainty of 100 ps. These performances will allow time and frequency transfer at an unprecedented level of stability and accuracy. The development of such links is mandatory for space experiments based on high accuracy frequency standards. Contribution to atomic time scales Comparison of primary frequency standards with accuracy at the 10 -16 level.

27. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 27 ACES Mission Objectives III ACES Mission Objectives ACES performancesScientific background and recent results Fundamental physics tests Measurement of the gravitational red shift Absolute measurement of the gravitational red-shift at an uncertainty level < 50 ∙ 10 -6 after 300 s and < 2 ∙ 10 -6 after 10 days. Space-to-ground clock comparison at the 10 -16 level, will yield a factor 30 improvement on previous measurements (GPA experiment). Search for time drifts of fundamental constants Time variations of the fine structure constant  at a precision level of  -1  d  / dt < 1  10 -16 year -1 Search for violations of special relativity Search for anisotropies of the speed of light at the level  c / c ~ 10 -10. Measurements relying on the time stability of SHM, PHARAO, MWL, and ground clocks over one ISS pass. ACES results will improve previous measurements (GPS-based measurements, GPA experiment, measurements based on the Mössbauer effect) by at least one order of magnitude.

28. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 28 S-M Missions schedule Assessment phases Jan 2007 – Dec 2008  Internal assessment phase in 2007  Competitive industrial assessment in 2008  Emphasis on payload, cost and risks Presentation to Working Groups for prioritisation April 2009 SSAC recommendation for selection April 2009 Selection of 2 missions May 2009 Preparation & release of ITT Jun-Dec 2009 Start of industrial Definition Phase Jan 2010 SPC approval for development phase 1 mission Jun 2011 Launch Mid-end 2016

29. From Quarks to Cosmos – Airlie - 22 May 2006 Page 29 L Missions schedule Study and Technology development phase Jan 2007 – Jun 2010 WG review and prioritisation Sep 2010 SSAC recommendation for 1 L mission Oct 2010 Start Technology consolidation Phase Apr 2011 Start Definition Phase Apr 2013 Start Implementation phase Apr 2015 L Mission Launch ≥2020