This is an update in my continuing coverage of fast radio bursts or FRBs, a strange phenomenon
that like Boyajian's star likely have natural origins, but the activity of alien civilizations
as an explanation that is scientifically on the table.
For the back story, check out my first video on the subject from January of this year,
link in the description below.
In my first video, I mentioned a possibility that the FRBs could be artificial beams used
to power light sails.
A new paper has come out authored by Manasvi Lingam and Abraham Loeb both of Harvard link
in the description below that fleshes out that possibility and reveals some rather stunning
details on what could be going on here.
Now, the scientists are very cautious in the paper and note that given the strangeness
of FRBs, ideas such as alien technologies being the source are worth considering, but
let's not go overboard.
Now, as usual, FRBs are highly likely to be natural.
We've seen weird radio signals from space before, such as pulsars, that were originally
thought to be alien beacons but turned out to not be.
And, the discovery of an advanced alien species has never happened before so until we see
one we don't have much to go on regarding just how we'll ultimately detect them.
And, given that, any artificial explanation for a phenomenon is going to be very broad.
You can use it to explain just about anything, so great care and skepticism is called for
whenever considering an alien origin for something.
But the reason aliens are on the table regarding FRBs is because there are some very odd coincidences
going with these things as detailed in the paper.
The first has to do with energy.
If an alien civilization were using beams to power light sails it seems likely that
they would harness the power of their star to provide the energy needed.
That means you need a certain surface area to collect up the needed solar energy.
Now, we know that whatever is emitting the FRBs seems to be small, which is one of the
really intriguing aspects of them.
There really aren't a lot of small radio-emitting objects in the universe and while FRBs are
consistent with an artificial origin, they are not consistent with magnetars or pulsars.
That narrows things down a lot.
In the paper, assuming that solar energy is being used and the star is similar to our
sun and the source is within that star's habitability zone, the energy falling on a planet about
twice the size of earth would be enough to power the sail.
So an alien race with a super-earth exoplanet could be the source.
The second is temperature and engineering constraints.
A transmitter of any type is a physical object and cannot escape the laws of nature, no matter
how advanced a species would get.
Metals are metals and will melt if they get too hot.
This puts engineering constraints on how you can build a powerful enough transmitter needed
for solar sails.
As it turns out, whatever is emitting the bursts seems to be consistent with a water-cooled
system once again consistent with a planet about twice the size of earth.
Another thing that might be consistent with an alien source for FRBs is not so much the
surface of a planet, but in orbit around it.
A variant of the Dyson sphere idea, sometimes called a Stapledon-Dyson sphere, would involve
an array of solar collectors arranged in a swarm in orbit of a planet.
Usually we think of the Dyson swarm idea as being a phenomenon around a star itself, but
it doesn't necessarily have to be so, orbiting a planet but pointed at the star would do
as well.
The third coincidence is the sail itself.
Now what sort of solar sail would you get out of this apparatus.
It would have to be meaningful to bother constructing a solar collection apparatus this big.
But, it turns out that you'd get a really impressive sail, actually.
With that available energy, a payload of a million tons is possible.
That's plenty for what you would need for an interstellar sub-light passenger spacecraft,
or even an intergalactic generational type of ship.
In other words, we're talking Battlestar Galactica rather than unmanned small probe territory.
One thing that works against FRBs being of alien origin are the estimates of how frequent
they are and how that impacts the amount of at least Kardashev Type 1 civilizations that
are present in any given galaxy.
The paper establishes an upper limit on that which is quite high, about 10,000 per galaxy,
That seems a bit implausible.
But the researchers also note that number could drop if not all FRBs are of alien origin,
or civilizations could be setting up multiple beams, etc.
One of the problems so far in studying FRBs has been that they tended not to repeat.
Until now.
A repeating fast radio burst known as FRB 121102 has been identified.
It has helped clear up how far away FRBs are, this particular one being very far at 5.5
billion light years away, but the problem is that when you look to see what the source
is, there's nothing there.
Now, it's possible, perhaps even probable, that FRB 121102 is some sort of active galactic
nucleus emitting radio waves but is either too dim to see or obscured somehow.
But it does offer a nice starting point for radio astronomers to get to the bottom of
the phenomenon.
Only time and more observation of FRBs will yield a better picture on just what they are.
Thanks for listening!
I am science fiction author and futurist John Michael Godier currently with a new book coming
it, it's called Supermind and explores the consequences superintelligence, the post-human
age, simulation theory and about every other odd theory I could fit in it and be sure to
check out my other books at your favorite online book retailer and subscribe to my channel
for regular, in-depth explorations into the interesting, weird and unknown aspects of
this amazing universe in which we live.