Scintillation‐induced Intermittency in SETI

Scintillation-induced Intermittency in Seti

We use scattering theory, simulations, and empirical constraints on interstellar scintillations to discuss the intermittency of radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). The number of ETI sources in the Galaxy has a direct influence on the expected dynamic range of fluxes in a survey, through inverse square-law effects and, equally importantly, by the number of independent statist...

SETI home: Internet Distributed Computing for SETI

Project SETI: Machine Recognition of Squiggles in SETI Signal Data

The singular question, are we alone?, has boggled scientists for centuries. The SETI Institute operates the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to observe star systems for radio signals which may provide evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Signal events that maintain an intensity above an empirically-set threshold across all frequencies are converted into spectrogram images through a sliding-win...

Quantifying SETI

It should come as no surprise to readers of QEX that the scientific Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI, sometimes called the search for the ultimate DX) was initiated by, and is still largely conducted by, radio amateurs. The world’s hams instinctively understand the nature of electromagnetic communications, as well as the nature of the “free space” (or “aether”) that fills the voi...

Evo-SETI: A Mathematical Tool for Cladistics, Evolution, and SETI

The discovery of new exoplanets makes us wonder where each new exoplanet stands along its way to develop life as we know it on Earth. Our Evo-SETI Theory is a mathematical way to face this problem. We describe cladistics and evolution by virtue of a few statistical equations based on lognormal probability density functions (pdf) in the time. We call b-lognormal a lognormal pdf starting at insta...