SearchLites - Vol 16 No 1

Magazine Overview

Title: SearchLites
Issue: Vol. 16 No. 1, Winter 2010
Publisher: The SETI League, Inc.
Country: USA
Language: English
ISSN: 1096-5599

This issue of SearchLites, the quarterly newsletter of The SETI League, Inc., focuses on the 50th anniversary of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) as a scientific discipline, alongside articles exploring cosmological theories, the practicalities of interstellar communication, and ongoing SETI research and events.

SETI League Marks Fifty Years of SETI Science

The lead article commemorates the 50th anniversary of SETI, dating its scientific origin to the September 19, 1959, publication of the article 'Searching for Interstellar Communications' by Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison in the journal Nature. The article laid out the fundamental precepts of SETI. Today, over 1500 members of The SETI League in 62 countries look back on this seminal work. Cocconi and Morrison were professors at Cornell University, with Morrison later moving to MIT and Cocconi becoming prominent at CERN. The article notes that Frank Drake, at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), was simultaneously setting up Project Ozma, an experiment to survey nearby stars for electromagnetic evidence of technological civilizations, which found none. Despite the lack of definitive evidence to date, SETI technology and strategies continue to improve, and public acceptance grows. The article quotes Cocconi and Morrison: 'The probability of success is difficult to estimate; but if we never search the chance of success is zero.' It also highlights that since NASA's SETI funding was terminated in 1993, The SETI League and other groups have privatized the research, and provides contact information for those interested in joining the search.

The Faraway World: Looking for Dark Matter

This article by Michinao Sakamoto proposes a thought experiment where the universe is composed of real and imaginary parts, leading to a cyclical regeneration from expansion to contraction (Big Crunch). The abstract notes that COBE and WMAP data show normal matter is only 4% of the universe's energy density, with the remainder being dark matter and energy. Sakamoto hypothesizes an 'anti-matter world' with energy converting to matter between galaxies, suggesting a scenario where the universe's expansion will eventually reverse into a contraction and a new Big Bang.

The introduction discusses the mystery of dark matter and dark energy, which constitute 96% of the universe. Sakamoto applies symmetry and cyclicality to the universe's composition, envisioning an 'imaginary space' of anti-matter with imaginary time flow. This leads to a 'binary cyclical theory' where a reduction in the dark portion causes a contraction and regeneration. The 'Two Worlds' section explains that particle pairs were generated during the Big Bang, leading to annihilation or collision. CP symmetry breaking is proposed to have created separate zones for matter and anti-matter, with 'imaginary space' requiring imaginary numbers for description. The Higgs boson is mentioned as existing in both worlds. Black holes are suggested as links between normal and imaginary space, potentially exploding into another universe as 'white holes'.

The 'Cyclic Regeneration' section discusses COBE's suggestion of indefinite expansion but posits a slowdown and contraction leading to a Big Crunch. It suggests dark energy's path to materialization will increase the universe's mass. If this, combined with black hole mass, exceeds a critical density, mutual gravitational forces will cause contraction. This contraction will accelerate until the event horizon is reached, annihilating the temporal wall between worlds. Matter and anti-matter will collide on an unprecedented scale, leading to a Big Crunch and potentially another Big Bang, explaining the Big Bang's energy.

Final thoughts

Sakamoto acknowledges that his scenario is a hypothesis but hopes for verification through future accelerator experiments. He references works by S. Hawking and L. Mlodinow, and a Japanese work by Kobayashi.

IAC Report

This section details the 38th annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Daejon, Korea, from October 12-16, 2009. The Symposium on Extraterrestrial Intelligence featured two sessions: SETI I (Science and Technology), chaired by Claudio Maccone and Seth Shostak, and SETI II (Interdisciplinary Aspects), chaired by Doug Vakoch and H. Paul Shuch. The report mentions the annual Rudolph Pesek Lecture and the Billingham Cutting Edge Lecture. Abstracts are available online. Future IACs are scheduled for Prague (2010), Capetown (2011), and Naples (2012).

Event Horizon

This section lists upcoming conferences and meetings relevant to SETI and astrobiology from January 2010 through April 2013. It includes various symposia, ham radio QSO parties, and annual SETI League membership meetings.

Executive Director Joins Korean SETI Effort

This article reports that on October 8, 2009, during a lecture tour in Korea, Prof. H. Paul Shuch, executive director emeritus of The SETI League, was appointed to the Foreign Advisory Council of the newly formed SETI Korea Society. The Society aims to coordinate SETI observational projects in Korea. Prof. Shuch, who lived in Korea from 1967-1969, met with Prof. Myung-Hyun Rhee of Yonsei University, and they began exploring collaborations. Other potential advisors mentioned include Alexander Zaitsev, Jill Tarter, Frank Drake, Doug Vakoch, Seth Shostak, Claudio Maccone, Dan Werthimer, and Ivan Almar, many of whom are SETI League members.

Billingham Cutting-Edge Lecture

This section describes the annual Billingham Cutting-Edge Lecture, established in 2005 by the SETI Permanent Study Group (SPSG) of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) to showcase breakthrough thinking in SETI. The lecture honors Dr. John Billingham. The 2009 lecture, titled 'How Cosmological Models Should Guide SETI Search Strategies,' was delivered by James N. Gardner, a complexity theorist. Dr. Allen Tough has pledged $4000 US annually for five years to support the lecture.

Guest Editorial: Properties of an Interstellar Beacon

By Jon Lomberg, this editorial discusses the design and detection of interstellar beacons. Lomberg emphasizes that progress in SETI has mainly come from improving receiver sensitivity and bandwidth. He outlines ideal properties for an interstellar beacon: easy to detect, using existing technology, detectable from Earth and space, transmitting across multiple wavelengths, loud/bright, directly beamed, and repeating a pattern with a short interval. The 'haystack' of signal duration and duty cycle are identified as limiting factors for both METI (Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) and SETI. Lomberg argues that brief, powerful, and widely broadcast bursts are more efficient and less inconvenient than continuous signals. He suggests that continuous observation using arrays of small receivers is the best strategy for detecting intermittent beacons. He expresses a lack of concern about METI risks, as current transmissions are likely too short to be detected or confirmed.

Guest Editorial: A Big Waste of Mass

By Nicholas J. Szabo, this editorial questions the strategy of building large space structures to detect artificial compounds like CFCs, suggesting that advanced ETI would likely possess such structures themselves. Szabo proposes searching for artificial surfaces with highly improbable optical properties, such as gold on satellites or skyscraper windows, or artificial molecules in paint. He argues that ETI, being millions of years older, would have converted much of their visible surfaces into artificial ones. He also suggests looking for artificial radiation sources, which would be parts of astrostructures rather than planetary. Szabo concludes that planets are a 'big waste of mass' for housing technologically advanced civilizations.

Ask Dr. SETI ®

Locating my Project Argus Dish

A reader named Rich from Georgia asks for advice on siting a new dish, considering utility lines and trees. Dr. SETI advises maximizing sky coverage by allowing the dish to move in elevation on a north-south arm, suggesting a 'bird-bath mode' if placed among trees.

Lagrangian Points for SETI

Jim (Argonaut) inquires about searching for microwave ET probes at L4/L5 Lagrangian points, suggesting they might be parked there by extraterrestrials. Dr. SETI confirms that this idea has occurred to many and explains that Lagrangian points are points of gravitational equilibrium. For the Earth-Sun system, L4 and L5 are 60 degrees ahead and behind Earth in its orbit. The article notes that a mass ratio exceeding 24.96 is required for stable points.

Why Not Look Locally?

Peter from the UK questions why SETI searches deep space when he believes advanced non-humans are already present in Earth's airspace, suggesting SETI will be seen as backward. Dr. SETI responds by acknowledging the possibility but argues that seeking dialogue with other humans in different regions doesn't preclude seeking ETI elsewhere. He emphasizes playing to individual strengths, with his expertise lying in radio astronomy for distant contact.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue include the historical and ongoing efforts in SETI, the scientific exploration of cosmology and the universe's composition (dark matter, dark energy, cyclical universe theories), the practical challenges and strategies for detecting extraterrestrial intelligence (beacons, observation methods), and the role of amateur and professional scientists in the field. The SETI League's stance is clearly in favor of continued, scientifically rigorous search for extraterrestrial intelligence, emphasizing privatized research and membership support. The editorials also reflect a forward-looking perspective, encouraging new hypotheses and search strategies, while grounding the discussion in scientific principles and observational data.