Abnormal space radio signals. Astronomers about extraterrestrial life

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The arXiv.org repository now has a preprint of an article about the first ever detection of a repetitive fast radio burst with a stable period of activity of 16 days. FRB 180916. J0158 + 65 emits powerful beams of radio waves with enviable regularity, which has given rise to rumors about the artificial origin of the source. "Lenta.ru" tells whether it is really worth assuming that mysterious signals from space are sent by alien civilizations.

Unexplained Signals

Fast radio bursts are mysterious phenomena in themselves. Scientists do not know exactly what causes them, although there are plausible (and not very plausible) explanations for this phenomenon. One of the exotic hypotheses, which even some serious researchers are in no hurry to abandon, is that FRBs (especially those that are repeated) are signs of the astro-engineering activity of technologically advanced civilizations located in other galaxies. However, most astrophysicists are inclined to the version about the natural origin of fast radio bursts.

The problem is that a fast radio burst is generated by a phenomenon that simultaneously releases a colossal amount of energy. Single flares are often cited as neutron star mergers, giant star explosions, or active black holes. With repetitive radio bursts, the situation is more complicated, since giant cosmic cataclysms can rarely repeat in the same place at relatively short intervals. Recent studies suggest that one of the possible sources of such signals are plerions - neutron pulsar stars surrounded by a nebula. The stellar wind of pulsars interacts with the interstellar medium and generates powerful radio emission. Another "culprit" may be magnetars - neutron stars with a monstrously strong magnetic field.

Alien activity

However, the discovery of a 16-day FRB that “works like a clock” has once again led people to debate the alien origins of radio signals. The 16-day cycle consists of four days of intermittent bursts and 12 days of silence.

So far, there are only guesses that this may be, but the temporary lack of an exhaustive explanation of this phenomenon is not an argument in favor of aliens.

Moreover, there are arguments in favor of the fact that these cannot be alien civilizations.

In 2017, some physicists suggested that fast radio bursts are radiation leaks from the propulsion systems of alien ships. Others have hypothesized that FRB is a one-way communication system between space civilizations in different galaxies. According to physicist Paul Ginsparg of Cornell University (USA), these explanations are not excluded by the available data.

Thus, a group of American scientists put forward a hypothesis according to which FRBs arise during the acceleration of giant, but relatively light sails of light, on which aliens direct beams of light. The calculated optimal frequency of the beam is similar to the frequencies found in ultrafast radio bursts, and the diameter of the emitter is comparable in scale to a large rocky planet.

Ubiquitous outbreaks

However, the main and main problem for these hypotheses is the diversity of the places where the sources are located and the distances to them. Those FRBs that have been localized are located at a distance of hundreds of millions to billions of light years from Earth. According to astronomer Seth Shostak of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) Institute, this reason alone is enough to reject the assumption that fast radio bursts are artificial.

Shostak asked a rhetorical question: how could there be so many technologically advanced civilizations in the Universe that send the same signal? It wasn't long after the Big Bang that the aliens could coordinate their actions by sending messages to each other and start using the same technology - even if they found a reason for it. To admit that outbreaks are of artificial origin, at least about a hundred alien species must evolve technology to a high enough level to produce a signal so powerful that it can be detected on Earth (which it was clearly not intended to).

For comparison: humanity only 125 years ago developed a technology with which you can send radio waves into space. That is, any radio signal from Earth has traveled no further than 125 light years from Earth. It weakens as it moves away, so at a large enough distance it will become too weak to be detected.

In addition, hypothetical alien civilizations would have to develop their technologies at the right time in order for all their signals to reach Earth in the same few years.

The disappointing truth

To date, scientists have no reliable evidence of the existence of alien civilizations.

This is paradoxical if we assume that the mind should appear where there are conditions for the emergence of complex life. However, it is known that out of all the many species on Earth, only man has a developed intellect. According to evolutionary concepts, human intelligence developed as a result of a number of random factors, that is, it was not an inevitable result of the evolution of living organisms - it should not at all lead to the emergence of intelligent beings. This is considered the main argument against Drake's equations, according to which there are many civilizations in the Milky Way alone.

Even seemingly inexplicable anomalies found in space objects - for example, in the interstellar asteroid Oumuamua - are, it turns out, natural. According to one FRB astronomer, the best argument against the artificial origin of fast radio bursts is that these signals all have different strange properties: some are wide, others are narrow, some are polarized, and so on. If they really were the exhaust from spaceships, it is unlikely that a good engine would generate signals, for example, with polarization. However, pulsar radiation has a similar variety of properties, which indicates the natural origin of the signals. In addition, since FRB emits a colossal amount of energy that can destroy planets, this method is very impractical to use. In any case, it is too redundant for communication on the scale of one galaxy.

This does not mean that it makes no sense to consider an alien hypothesis when an anomalous cosmic phenomenon is detected. Scientists are exploring a variety of possibilities that could aid in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. For example, high-energy phenomena that do not fit into existing patterns may indeed be related to artificial activity, although the likelihood of this is rather small. Such exotic ideas can also interest the public in science or give impetus to the development of new generation tools. However, reliable evidence should always come first.