Catalogues Working Group 

Members 

Chairs 

Astrid Lamberts, Nikolaos Karnesis 

LST 

Astrid Lamberts, Nikolaos Karnesis, Neil Cornish, Chiara Caprini, Stephen Taylor, Jon Gair, Dierdre Shoemaker, Krista Lynne Smith 

External experts 

Arianna Renzini, Natalie Webb, Jonah Kanner, Marta Volonteri, John Baker, Eleonora Castelli 

Alumni 

Gijs Nelemans (2025) 

Directives 

Determine the content (source parameters) and format of the Level 3 science catalogue, which is required to include gravitational wave candidates with detection confidence, estimated astrophysical parameters,  strain time series, the overall status of the instrument, and the residual Level 1 datastream with candidate sources removed. The WG is working on identifying functional priorities and design features for data visualisation to enable preliminary analysis and catalogue cross-matching; these will lead into detailed descriptions of tools to be developed for interfacing with the data that will be provided with the data releases. One of the goals is easy accessibility for all scientists requires considerations of accessibility issues for scientists with no GW speciality.  

FAQs

Figures of Merit WG 

Members 

Chairs 

Antoine Petiteau, Alberto Sesana 

LST

Chiara Caprini, Jonathan Gair, Nikolaos Karnesis, Valeriya Korol, Antoine Petiteau, Elena Maria Rossi, Alberto Sesana, Alberto Vecchio, William Joseph Weber 

External experts 

Stas Babak, Riccardo Buscicchio, Michael Katz, Maude Le Jeune, Alberto Mangiali, Andrea Sartirana, Lorenzo Speri, Michele Armano 

Directives 

The Figures of Merit (FoM) are a set of metrics designed to quantify the mission’s ability to meet its science goals, creating a direct link from instrument specs to science objectives. They provide a key tool for the Performance & Operations team, particularly during the development phase when technical or financial constraints may require modifications to the instrument design. The FoM enable such changes to be assessed in terms of their impact on the scientific return of the mission. They also allow consideration for points of failure during the mission and scientific consequences. For this reason, ESA has commissioned the LST to define and implement the FoM. 

Status 

The group is currently reviewing the existing set of FoM, both a static and interactive site, prepared during earlier stages of the mission definition by the LISA Consortium. The immediate task is to update and streamline these metrics, and to produce a consolidated document with the final version of the FoM (LST version). The main goal is to deliver and maintain an FoM Tool for the Performance & Operations team, understanding how to best achieve this is also being considered by the WG. 

FAQs 

Science Topical Panels WG 

Members 

Chairs 

Elena Maria Rossi, Stephen Taylor 

LST

Chiara Caprini, Anna Heffernan, Erin Kara, Alberto Sesana, Joey Shapiro Key, Alberto Vecchio, William Joseph Weber 

Directives 

The goal of the Science Topical Panel (STP) WG is to determine the nature of STPs during the Early Release Science Time of the LISA mission, defined as approximately the first 12 months of data collection after a 3-month period of in-orbit commissioning in the  Science Management Plan. The STP WG discusses potential panel topics, team composition (including chairs), required expertise, member responsibilities, interaction with the LISA Collaboration and the LISA Consortium, and how all of these issues feed into the solicitation and timeline procedure for topics and members, as well as the publication policy. The goal of the WG is to generate a reduced set of proposed actions that encapsulate different scenarios for broader LST discussion.  

Status 

The STP WG has produced and presented a draft document to the full LST that describes several possible procedures which lead to the formation of STPs. Further streamlining of this document, taking into consideration feedback from the LST, is currently in progress. In addition, an avenue for receiving feedback from the scientific community is being developed. 

FAQs 

Alerts WG 

Members

Chairs 

Zoltan Haiman, Valeriya Korol

LST   

Catia Grimani, Anna Heffernan, Nikolaos Karnesis, Astrid Lamberts, Antoine Petiteau, Deirdre Shoemaker, Krista Lynne Smith, Alberto Vecchio 

Directives 

The goals of the Alerts WG are to provide inputs and specifications to the DDPC for developing a pipeline for issuing alerts, design recommendations for SOC on when and how to operate this pipeline and issue alerts, and connect with to communities outside LISA to ensure awareness and lead-time needed for triggered EM observations. 

Status  

The Alerts WG was created at the F2F meeting in Thessaloniki, where the goals have been outlined, along with a list of possible tasks, which need to be further specified in meetings over the coming months. 

  

FAQs 

Authorship WG 

Members

Chairs 

Neil Cornish, Jonathan Gair 

LST 

Neil Cornish,  Jonathan Gair, Guido Müller, Gijs Nelemans, Elena Maria Rossi 

Directives 

To create a set of criteria as well as a procedure to populate the heritage and member author lists as described in the Science Management Plan. The heritage author lists those who have made a significant contribution to the mission and has no expiration date. The member author list comprises people working on the mission at the time of science operations and has a roll-off period of 2 years. 

Status 

To-date, a survey has been done among the LST members and information has been collected on criteria used by other missions / instruments for authorship. Descriptions of the member and heritage author lists have been formulated and discussed with the full LST.  Based on this feedback, the description of the heritage list has been organized under the two categories, "Founders" and "Builders".  Next up, drafts will be created for the criteria for membership and selection procedure. 

FAQs 

Communications WG 

Members 

Chairs 

Anna Heffernan, Krista Lynne Smith 

LST

Ann Hornschemeier Cardiff, Jonathan Gair, Anna Heffernan, Gijs Nelemans, Joey Shapiro Key, Krista Lynne Smith, Valeriya Korol. 

Directives 

The Comms WG, chaired by AH and KLS, aims to ensure smooth communications, both internal and external, formally and informally (via mutual members). Internal connects the different WGs, LST members, and project scientists. External refers to interested entities, including the Distributed Data Processing Centre (DDPC), NASA Science Ground Segment (NSGS), Lisa Consortium, Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC) and other such stakeholders. Several lines of external communication have been established:  

  • The LST has an official email (LISAScienceTeam@esa.int), moderated by AH and KLS. 

  • A FAQ list has been created, which will go live on the ESA LISA website shortly (with other prepared material). 

  • The structure and provided information of the ESA LST website was developed by the Comms WG in collaboration with the ESA project team. 

  • Close ties to the Consortium communications is set up via shared members VK and JSK. 

  • Living slides have been created for use by LST members to minimise repetitive work and unify messaging when presenting on LISA and LST. 

  • Several talks have been given by LST members updating the community at meetings and conferences, both in person and online. 

  • We are connected with the communication teams of the LISA Consortium, ESA and NASA to contribute to the overall communication strategy. 

Internal links are being supported by streamlining interactions between the various WGs in reporting and presenting their progress and deliverables to both other LST members and the scientific community; this includes a response to questions document that ensures consistent messaging about mission timelines, outcomes, authorship, etc. 

FAQs