Alien Communication could be transmitted across the universe by clouds of Satellites strategically positioned around Neutron Stars or Black Holes.
If there are alien civilizations out there, some probably developed interstellar travel, allowing them to easily visit different solar systems. If they have, they surely must have advanced their communication systems, allowing them to exchange data across vast distances.
Now, researchers argue that advanced civilizations in the universe may communicate through neutrino beams transmitted by constellations of satellites around neutron stars or black holes.
Dyson Spheres and Black Holes
The idea of Dyson’s sphere-like megastructures ‘built’ as cosmic beacons depends on where an extraterrestrial civilization might fit on the Kardashev Scale (whether they are a planetary, stellar, or galactic civilization).
In this case, Albert Jackson, a researcher from the technological Triton Systems, suggests that a Type II civilization may be able to enclose a neutron star or a black hole by creating a vast constellation of neutrino-transmitting satellites.
Jackson begins his study – published in arXiv – with a quote from Freeman Dyson’s 1966 essay,
“The Search for Extraterrestrial Technology,” where he summarized his goals: So the first rule of my game is: think of the biggest possible artificial activities with limits set only by the laws of physics and look for those.”
Neutrinos as “Communication stations”
In a previous study, Jackson suggested how advanced civilizations could use smaller black holes as gravitational lenses to send gravitational wave signals through the galaxy to transmit the information.
In another article, he also mentioned how a sufficiently advanced alien civilization might use the same lens type to construct a laser beacon.
The technological requirements would be massive in both cases and most likely require an enormous infrastructure at a stellar scale that humankind can’t even imagine.
Taking this theory one step further, Jackson explores the possibility that neutrinos are used to transmit information since, like gravitational waves, they travel well through the interstellar medium. Neutrinos have several advantages regarding beacons over focused beams of photons (also known as lasers).
As Jackson told Universe Today via e-mail: “Neutrinos arrive almost without attenuation from any source direction; this would have [a] big advantage in the Galactic plane. Photons in wavelengths like the infrared are also good with gas and dust (why the Webb is an IR scope); still, there is some absorption. Neutrinos can travel across the universe almost without absorption.”
As for the process by which such a beacon could be created, Jackson once again refers to Freeman Dyson’s rule about how the most advanced civilizations could create any megastructure.
This rule is simple: “if physics allows it, it may be technologically feasible.”
In the case of a Type II civilization, the engineering requirements would be beyond our comprehension, but the principle remains solid.
The concept takes advantage of a phenomenon known as a gravitational lens, where scientists rely on the presence of a massive intervening object to focus and magnify the light coming from a more distant object.
In this case, the light source would be the neutrinos, and the effect of focusing them would make a stronger beacon signal.
A black hole or a neutron star is a gravitational lens; this lens focuses the neutrinos in an intense beam. When viewed from a distance, this beam is so “adjusted” that one has to place a constellation of neutrino transmitters on the gravitational lens to obtain an approximate isotropic transmitter.
“In this case, the number of “transmitters” is about ten raised to 18 or about a billion times the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy,” explains Jackson.
Like the construction of a Dyson Sphere, this type of engineering project would only be possible for an advanced civilization that has managed to evolve to becoming a Type II civilization; in other words, a civilization that can harness and channel the energy radiated by its own star, which amounts to approximately 4 * 1026 watts of energy, which is several billion times what humanity currently consumes each year.
Implications
Another exciting possibility that arises from this is its implications for SETI. Since a sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial species could communicate through the neutrinos, scientists could use the existing detectors to identify the sources.
In this regard, we could add neutrino beams focused on the list of possible “techno-signatures,” signs of technological activity, that SETI researchers are seeking.
“There are several ‘neutrino telescopes’ worldwide,” Jackson stated. “If an advanced civilization beacon exists, it could produce a very anomalous number of neutrino events, way above the natural sources of neutrinos such [as] the sun or supernova.. this would be an addition to the candidates for signs of advanced technological activity.”
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