6533b7defe1ef96bd1276975
RESEARCH PRODUCT
GrailQuest and HERMES: hunting for gravitational wave electromagnetic counterparts and probing space-time quantum foam
F. ScalaSilvia PiranomonteYupeng XuPiero MalcovatiSamuel Pliego-caballeroAngelo Francesco GambinoChiara FerruglioFabrizio FioreM. RapisardaGiovanni Della CasaG. ZanottiAndrea VacchiStefano SilvestriniLorenzo AmatiSimone PirrottaGiuseppe BertuccioAlessandro MaselliAndrás PálM. FioriniSalvatore CapozzielloD. MilankovichMile KarlicaIrina RashevskayaA. AnitraMarco GrassiBarbara NegriFilippo FronteraMargherita PiccininAlexander RashevskyDaniele OttolinaSimonetta PuccettiN. ZampaClaudio LabantiA. GuzmánBorja Lopez FernandezLuciano BurderiE. DemenevUgo Lo CiceroG. DililloC. GuidorziAndrea SantangeloP. NogaraGiovanni La RosaA. PasqualeMasanori OhnoMarco BarberaRoberto BertaccinAlessandro RiggioNorbert WernerNorbert WernerMelania Del SantoRaffaele PiazzollaJakub RipaJakub RipaF. MeleFilippo AmbrosinoMassimo Della ValleMichele BechiniIvan TroisiJ. PrinettoTian-xiang ChenMarco FerociJiewei CaoC. TenzerLingjun WangM. CitossiGiancarlo GhirlandaLara NavaPierluigi BelluttiDavid SelcanFrancesco RussoA. MongePavel EfremovSilvia ZaneF. CeraudoUros KosticGiuseppe SottileAndrea SannaFabrizio FerrandiM. PerriA. GombocR. IariaG. SciarroneMarco CinelliY. EvangelistaGiuseppe PucaccoNa GaoTiziana Di SalvoM. GandolaTomaz RotovnikEnrico CostaDejan GacnikGábor GalgócziGianluigi ZampaMariafelicia De LaurentisPaolo LunghiMichele FioritoArianna MancaRiccardo CampanaF. FuschinoAndrea ColagrossiAurora ClericiS. CurzelAlessandro PapittoFabrizio AmarilliE. VirgilliGianluca MorganteGiovanni Amelino-cameliasubject
PhysicsCubeSatsGamma-Ray BurstsPhotonGravitational Wave counterparts010308 nuclear & particles physicsGravitational waveSpace timeQuantum gravityAstronomyTriangulation (social science)01 natural sciencesSettore FIS/05 - Astronomia E AstrofisicaAll-sky monitorObservatoryX-rays0103 physical sciencesQuantum gravityNano-satellitesTemporal triangulationGamma-ray burstQuantum foam010303 astronomy & astrophysicsdescription
GrailQuest (Gamma-ray Astronomy International Laboratory for Quantum Exploration of Space-Time) is an ambitious astrophysical mission concept that uses a fleet of small satellites whose main objective is to search for a dispersion law for light propagation in vacuo. Within Quantum Gravity theories, different models for space-time quantization predict relative discrepancies of the speed of photons w.r.t. the speed of light that depend on the ratio of the photon energy to the Planck energy. This ratio is as small as 10-23 for photons in the γ- ray band (100 keV). Therefore, to detect this effect, light must propagate over enormous distances and the experiment must have extraordinary sensitivity. Gamma-Ray Bursts, occurring at cosmological distances, could be used to detect this tiny signature of space-time granularity. This can be obtained by coherently combine a huge number of small instruments distributed in space to act as a single detector of unprecedented effective area. This is the first example of high-energy distributed astronomy: a new concept of modular observatory of huge overall collecting area consisting in a fleet of small satellites in low orbits, with sub-microsecond time resolution and wide energy band (keV-MeV). The enormous number of collected photons will allow to effectively search these energy dependent delays. Moreover, GrailQuest will allow to perform temporal triangulation of impulsive events with arc-second positional accuracies: an extraordinary sensitive X-ray/Gamma all-sky monitor crucial for hunting the elusive electromagnetic counterparts of Gravitational Waves, that will play a paramount role in the future of Multi-messenger Astronomy. A pathfinder of GrailQuest is already under development through the HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) project: a fleet of six 3U cube-sats to be launched by the end of 2022.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-01 |