PSETI Seminar: Searching for Technosignatures with Gamma-ray light buckets.

From Macy Huston October 27th, 2022

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Jamie Holder
October 27, 2022

Abstract:
Pulsed lasers provide a realistic method for communicating over interstellar distances. Using current-day technology, the intensity of the laser emission could be thousands of times brighter than the light from the host system star for the brief (~nanosecond) duration of the pulse. Searching for such emission requires a large optical light collector, coupled with fast photosensors and read-out electronics, and a method to discriminate these pulses from the large background due to Cherenkov emission from particle air showers in the Earth's atmosphere. Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, designed to study astrophysical gamma-ray sources at TeV energies, have similar requirements. I will describe the use of the VERITAS Cherenkov telescope array as an optical technosignature observatory, and discuss results from a survey of Breakthrough Listen targets. I will also discuss the potential for further synergies between ground-based gamma-ray astronomy and optical technosignature searches.

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PSETI Seminar: Searching for Technosignatures with Gamma-ray light buckets.

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