In 2015, Russian-Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner and his non-profit organization, Breakthrough Initiatives, introduced the biggest Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) job. Known as Breakthrough Listen, this SETI effort relies on the most powerful radio telescopes in the world and advanced analytics to search for prospective evidence of technological activity (aka.
In 2018, they partnered with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) Collaboration, a ground-based system of gamma-ray telescopes running at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) atop Mt. Hopkins in southern Arizona. In a recent paper, the VERITAS Collaboration shared the results of the first year of their look for “optical technosignatures” (from 2019 to 2020). Their results are an important evidence of idea showing how future look for extraterrestrial civilizations can integrate optical pulses into their technosignature catalog.
The VERITAS Collaboration is a global effort that consists of researchers from the FLWO, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute, the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) proving ground, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and numerous universities and research institutes. A preprint of their paper, titled “A VERITAS/Breakthrough Listen Search for Optical Technosignatures,” just recently appeared online.
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View of the FLWO basecamp and the VERITAS range. Credit: VERITAS/UofArizona
For the previous sixty years, beginning with Project Ozma, the search for ETI has been nearly specifically focused on trying to find evidence of radio transmissions. Over the last few years, researchers have been expanding the search to think about other potential technosignatures, that include directed-energy interactions, radio and optical leakage from technological civilizations, infrared emissions from megastructures, spectral evidence for industrial toxins in exoplanet environments, and even spacecraft or debris in our Solar System.
These and other potential examples of extraterrestrial innovation were laid out in NASA Technosignature Workshop Report released in 2018. Including the VERITAS range, which consists of 4 12-meter (~ 40 ft) Cherenkov optical reflectors for gamma-ray astronomy, has actually permitted Breakthrough Listen to expand its look for optical technosignatures– particularly, for nanosecond optical pulses noticeable over interstellar distances. Gregory Foote, a Ph.D. candidate with the Department of Physics and Astronomyat the University of Delaware (UD) and a co-author on the VERITAS paper, discussed to Universe Today by means of email:
” While radio technosignatures have been traditionally searched for– we dont know which waveband the signal will originate from or whether it will be pulsed or consistent, so it makes sense to search in as various ways as possible. The technosignature that we are trying to find, a pulsed laser, can (in concept) be easily detected and transferred over a distance of 1000 light-years utilizing existing innovation. VERITAS itself allows us to look for these pulsed lasers utilizing some of the largest telescopes on the world.”
Finished in 2007, the VERITAS variety successfully complements NASAs Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FRGST)– and the Large Area Telescope (LAT) cooperation, of which Fermi is a partner– due to its larger collection location and greater sensitivity to gamma rays. In fact, VERITAS segmented mirror telescopes– comparable to the James Webb Space Telescopes (JWST) main mirror– have the highest level of sensitivity of any telescopes in the very-high-energy (VHE) band, with an optimum sensitivity of 100 giga-electronvolts (Gev) to 10 tera-electronvolts (TeV).
The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. Credit: Green Bank Observatory/NRAO
These capabilities were checked as the Collaboration group browsed through the Breakthrough Listen target catalog for signs of high-energy optical pulses. Said Foote:
” We began with the Breakthrough Listen target catalog released in 2017, then removed anything which was inadequate for VERITAS operation. We ended up observing 136 targets, as there were a couple of observations that included multiple items.”
The group then computed which targets from the Breakthrough Listen catalog were observed by VERITAS throughout the very same period. “Unfortunately, we did not discover proof for this technosignature from these targets in any of the observations we evaluated.”
While their analysis did not find evidence of any nanosecond optical pulses, the research study has supplied an essential proof-of-concept that will notify future searches. It has actually likewise established limits on the number of stars that could be hosting sending civilizations, assisting narrow these searches and increasing the likelihood of future detections. Beyond that, stated Foote, this study might have significant ramifications for existing gamma-ray observatories and planned ones. This includes the Panoramic All-sky All-time Near InfraRed and Optical Technosignature Finder (PANOSETI), which will conduct collaborated observations with the Veritas Observatory:
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In a recent paper, the VERITAS Collaboration shared the results of the first year of their search for “optical technosignatures” (from 2019 to 2020). Their outcomes are an essential proof of idea showing how future searches for extraterrestrial civilizations can integrate optical pulses into their technosignature catalog.
” I believe the biggest effect on the wider field is that this technosignature can be browsed for by piggybacking off of existing gamma-ray observatories, consisting of VERITAS, and ones which have yet to be developed.
” I think the greatest influence on the broader field is that this technosignature can be looked for by piggybacking off of existing gamma-ray observatories, consisting of VERITAS, and ones which have yet to be developed. This also goes the other way too, as observatories being purpose-built for this technosignature, like PANOSETI, can have some gamma-ray science piggyback off of it. This is a distinct intersection between fields which hasnt been greatly explored until now.”
Including the VERITAS selection, which consists of 4 12-meter (~ 40 feet) Cherenkov optical reflectors for gamma-ray astronomy, has actually enabled Breakthrough Listen to broaden its search for optical technosignatures– particularly, for nanosecond optical pulses detectable over interstellar distances. VERITAS itself enables us to browse for these pulsed lasers using some of the biggest telescopes on the world.”