A Simultaneous Dual-site Technosignature Search Using International LOFAR Stations
Journal article, 2023
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence aims to find evidence of technosignatures, which can point toward the possible existence of technologically advanced extraterrestrial life. Radio signals similar to those engineered on Earth may be transmitted by other civilizations, motivating technosignature searches across the entire radio spectrum. In this endeavor, the low-frequency radio band has remained largely unexplored; with prior radio searches primarily above 1 GHz. In this survey at 110-190 MHz, observations of 1,631,198 targets from TESS and Gaia are reported. Observations took place simultaneously with two international stations (noninterferometric) of the Low Frequency Array in Ireland and Sweden. We can reject the presence of any Doppler drifting narrowband transmissions in the barycentric frame of reference, with equivalent isotropic radiated power of 1017 W, for 0.4 million (or 1.3 million) stellar systems at 110 (or 190) MHz. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of using multisite simultaneous observations for rejecting anthropogenic signals in the search for technosignatures.
Author
Owen A. Johnson
University of California
Trinity College Dublin
University College Dublin
Vishal Gajjar
University of California
SETI Institute
E. F. Keane
National University of Ireland
Trinity College Dublin
David J. McKenna
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Trinity College Dublin
Charles Giese
Max Planck Society
Trinity College Dublin
Ben McKeon
National University of Ireland
University of Limerick
Tobia Carozzi
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Cloe Alcaria
Trinity College Dublin
Paul Sabatier University
Aoife Brennan
Trinity College Dublin
National University of Ireland
European Southern Observatory Santiago
Bryan Brzycki
University of California
S. Croft
University of California
SETI Institute
Jamie Drew
NASA Ames Research Center
Richard Elkins
University of California
P. T. Gallagher
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Ruth Kelly
University College London (UCL)
Matt Lebofsky
University of California
D. MacMahon
University of California
Joseph McCauley
Trinity College Dublin
Imke de Pater
University of California
Shauna Rose Raeside
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Dublin City University
A. Siemion
University of California
SETI Institute
S. Pete Worden
NASA Ames Research Center
Astronomical Journal
0004-6256 (ISSN) 1538-3881 (eISSN)
Vol. 166 5 193Onsala space observatory infrastructure
Swedish Research Council (VR) (2017-00648), 2018-01-01 -- 2021-12-31.
Subject Categories
Telecommunications
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.3847/1538-3881/acf9f5