Side Influences on the Operation of Space-Based Interferometers, as Inferred from LLR Data
Processing the data of lunar laser ranging (LLR) points to the effect of anomalous increase in the lunar semimajor axis (with an excessive rate about 1.3 cm/yr), which cannot be attributed to the well-known tidal exchange of angular momentum between the Earth and Moon. The nature of this phenomenon is not quite clear yet, but one of the possible explanations is that it is a manifestation of the "residual" Hubble expansion, caused by some forms of an unclumped "dark matter" or "dark energy". If this is the case, a similar effect will reveal itself also in operation of space-based interferometers with sufficiently long arms (10^7 km or greater, e.g., LISA and ASTROD) and, therefore, should be taken into account in processing the data on gravitational-wave signals.