2025/12/18 by Patat, F., Piranomonte, S., Benetti, S. +10
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.16264
openalex publication_date 2025/12/18 · openalex created_date 2025/12/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The coming decades will see gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy expand decisively into the mHz-Hz frequency range, opening access to a population of compact binaries that are currently invisible or only detectable moments before merger. The Lunar Gravitational Wave Antenna (LGWA) concept is designed to probe this gap, enabling continuous observation of compact binaries over months to years prior to coalescence, and detecting sources inaccessible to both space-based mHz detectors and current ground-based >10 Hz facilities. This new GW window fundamentally alters the landscape of time-domain multi-messenger astronomy. Rather than reacting to mergers after the fact, LGWA enables predictive, scheduled electromagnetic (EM) follow-up, transforming how compact-object mergers, their environments, and their astrophysical channels are studied. However, fully exploiting LGWA discoveries requires EM capabilities that do not exist today and are unlikely to be available by the 2030s, particularly for wide-area, rapid, spectroscopically rich follow-up at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. This White Paper identifies the key science cases enabled by LGWA that motivate new ground-based capabilities in the 2040s.