Looking for gravitational waves with orbital dynamics: GUEST mission and the $μ$Hz band of Gravitational Waves

`Adding colour'' to the gravitational-wave sky by probing unexplored frequency bands has the potential to unveil new and unexpected phenomena in the Universe. The microhertz band, between pulsar timing arrays and LISA, is a particularly attractive target: it should host the extension of the signal recently found by pulsar timing arrays (if it is generated by a family of sources of gravitational waves), and it may harbour signals from the early Universe, primordial black holes or dark matter. In these proceedings, we review how the orbits of gravitationally bound systems act as resonant detectors of microhertz gravitational waves and ultra-light dark matter. We then describe GUEST (Gravitational Universe Exploration with Satellite Tracking), a mission concept recently proposed to the ESA F-class call, consisting of two dense passive spheres covered with retroreflectors, placed in highly eccentric Earth orbits and tracked by a global laser-ranging network.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
arXiv (Cornell University)
Published
2026-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2610.39881
Primary Topic
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
Type
preprint
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preprint

Looking for gravitational waves with orbital dynamics: GUEST mission and the $μ$Hz band of Gravitational Waves

Diego Blas
arXiv (Cornell University)
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
preprint

Looking for gravitational waves with orbital dynamics: GUEST mission and the $μ$Hz band of Gravitational Waves

Diego Blas
preprint en

Abstract

`Adding colour'' to the gravitational-wave sky by probing unexplored frequency bands has the potential to unveil new and unexpected phenomena in the Universe. The microhertz band, between pulsar timing arrays and LISA, is a particularly attractive target: it should host the extension of the signal recently found by pulsar timing arrays (if it is generated by a family of sources of gravitational waves), and it may harbour signals from the early Universe, primordial black holes or dark matter. In these proceedings, we review how the orbits of gravitationally bound systems act as resonant detectors of microhertz gravitational waves and ultra-light dark matter. We then describe GUEST (Gravitational Universe Exploration with Satellite Tracking), a mission concept recently proposed to the ESA F-class call, consisting of two dense passive spheres covered with retroreflectors, placed in highly eccentric Earth orbits and tracked by a global laser-ranging network.

arXiv (Cornell University)
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
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