The new generation lunar gravitational wave detectors: sky map resolution and joint analysis

The new generation lunar gravitational wave detectors: sky map resolution and joint analysis | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The new generation lunar gravitational wave detectors: sky map resolution and joint analysis Xiaolin Zhang, Chengye Yu, Haoran Li, Sobhan Kazempour, Mingqiu Li, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8481790/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Lunar-based gravitational-wave interferometry is a fascinating endeavor, and was proposed as a promising approach to bridge the observational gap between space-borne and ground-based detectors. In this work, we adopt the Fisher-matrix method to examine the angular-resolution performance of the newly proposed Crater Interferometry Gravitational-wave Observatory (CIGO) on the lunar crater rim near the north pole, together with TianQin and LISA, for monochromatic sources in the 0.1–10Hz band. We find that above 0.1Hz, CIGO achieves better localization accuracy than the other two space-based missions and dominates the combined detector network’s performance, provided that lunar noise mitigation is achieved in the 0.1–2.87 Hz frequency range. We further explore an upgraded Tetrahedron configuration, TCIGO, with a fourth station at the bottom of a crater, which forms a regular tetrahedral constellation on the lunar surface. The result shows that TCIGO yields a five-fold improvement in angular-resolution capability over CIGO and gets better sky coverage across the target frequency band. Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science Physical sciences/Physics Earth and environmental sciences/Planetary science Earth and environmental sciences/Space physics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 19 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 19 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 13 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 Jan, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 05 Jan, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 05 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 05 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 30 Dec, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8481790","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":569931866,"identity":"a90354ba-3cd4-49f1-9447-525af8311fee","order_by":0,"name":"Xiaolin Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaolin","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":569931869,"identity":"dbef76d6-4f08-4f3a-8b85-c11425788285","order_by":1,"name":"Chengye Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing Institute of 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