This paper contains an argument for X-ray SETI. I will admit that I was skeptical when I read the abstract – after all, X-ray photons are much higher energy than radio photons and thus the typical logic of energy efficiency (of the transmitter) does not apply.
The paper speaks about the “streetlight effect” – an observational bias that causes you to “look where the light is good” aka. to search where it’s easiest (cheapest, already available data, good quality data given your technology, etc. etc. etc.). So, to try to preempt the gradual growing of our “streetlight” and cut to the chase, so to speak, the authors wanted to derive a physical optimum instead of just looking at the current technological “sweet spot”.
In this paper, the authors only considered photons, which is a choice that I’ll comment on at the end of this post.
They decide that a minimum wavelength for communication is probably about an atomic width; they adopt 1 nm as their order of magnitude value. The choice of this wavelength is dictated by how smooth we could possibly make a physical receiver surface.
The actual focusing of wavelengths of this scale is typically done with X-ray grazing mirrors that involve multiple mirrors in the design, but they are expensive to build. Because of this, the authors also discuss as-of-yet unknown alloys that could be used in a single mirror design and focusing with EM fields (not possible now, needs too much energy, but maybe in the future?).
The authors make the point that the advantage of X-rays is the amount of data that you can send and the tightness of the beam that you can create (both functions of the shorter wavelength). With a tighter beam, the pointings that you choose have to be proportionally more precise, even down to having to account for a planet’s position around a star.
Another benefit of the 1 nm wavelength choice is that it works at all distances, even when extinction is considered. Gamma rays are even better in this regard (they are barely extinct by anything), but they also would require instrument precisions that exceed the physical limitations described in the early part of the paper.
Finally, if you assume that each photon carries 1 bit of information, the authors find that you can get reasonable data rates in the megabit per second-year range, which would be sufficient for substantial communications. They propose searching for intentional communications in the existing Newton-XMM X-ray data. They note, however, that we have the technology to create pulses that are orders of magnitude shorter than we can detect with current technology, and that the time domain constraint might make us miss potential signals.
A Few Final Thoughts
- “Ephemerides sharing is likely to be a small but significant component of all interstellar communications” – how best to share ephemerides in a general way, with the least assumptions possible (Schelling Points?) might be an interesting topic in CETI.
- Choosing to look at only photons is a fair choice, but I can’t help but wonder if this is analogous to placing a physical constraint on the giant wheat triangle proposed by Gauss by setting it at an Earth diameter. It’s a physical limit for the method, but it means nothing if the method itself is (in hindsight) quaint/silly/outdated. Maybe photons will be a quaint/silly/outdated mode three centuries from now, and this is just a pointless thought experiment. I have a little bit more faith in EM communication than that, but it is something to consider.