Erik Zackrisson Department of Astronomy Oskar Klein Centre

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1 Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Beyond the Milky Way The first Swedish SETI project Erik Zackrisson Department of Astronomy Oskar Klein Centre

2 Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) A Brief History I 1959 Cocconi & Morrison (Nature): Try the hydrogen frequency (1.42 GHz) 1960 Project Ozma 1961 Schwartz & Townes (Nature): Try optical laser 1977 The Wow signal

3 Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) A Brief History II 1984 The SETI Institute Late 1990s Optical SETI becomes popular 1999 SETI@home 2007 Allen Telescope Array 2012 SETI Live

The Fermi Paradox No signals from E.T. despite 50 years of SETI The Milky Way can be colonized in 1% of its current age why are we not already colonized?

4 The Fermi Paradox No signals from E.T. despite 50 years of SETI The Milky Way can be colonized in 1% of its current age why are we not already colonized? Where is everybody? 50+ possible solutions are known (e.g. Brin 1983, Webb 2002)

Berserkers Transmission = Doom Wrong search strategy Try artefacts, Bracewell

5 A Few Possible Explanations Everybody is staying at home and nobody is transmitting Virtual worlds more exciting than space exploration? Berserkers Transmission = Doom Wrong search strategy Try artefacts, Bracewell probes, IR laser, internet, DNA, Dyson spheres Intelligent life is extremely rare Try extragalactic SETI

6 Beyond the Milky Way Carl Sagan: More stars in the Universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth Stars in Milky Way Stars in observable Universe Only a handful of extragalactic SETI projects carried out so far!

7 Earth-like planets in a cosmological context I Millenium simulation + Semi-analytic galaxy models + Metallicity-dependent planet formation The typical Earth-like planet in the local Universe is 3 Gyr older than Earth! Erik Zackrisson, Anders Johansen, Juan González (2014, in prep.)

Earth-like planets in a cosmological context II Earth-like planets around Solar-type stars in the observable Universe: 10

8 Earth-like planets in a cosmological context II Earth-like planets around Solar-type stars in the observable Universe: Comparable to grains of sand on the longest beach in Sweden! Laholmsbuktens strand the longest beach in Sweden (12 km)

9 Supercivilizations The Kardashev scale Based on the amount of energy that a civilization is able to harness Kardashev (1964): Type I, II & III Nicolai Kardashev

Kardashev type I, II, III Power consumption:

insolation on Earth ( 10 17 W) Similar to

W for the Sun) Similar to the luminosity of

10 Kardashev type I, II, III Power consumption: Type I Type II Type III Similar to the Solar insolation on Earth ( W) Similar to the luminosity of their parent star ( W for the Sun) Similar to the luminosity of their home galaxy ( W for the Milky Way)

11 The Dyson Sphere Dimensions envisioned for a Solar system Dyson sphere made by disassembled planets Freeman Dyson

12 Dyson ring Dyson swarm Dyson bubble

13 Luminosity Hunting for Kardashev type III The Tully-Fisher relation Galactic-scale colonization using Dyson sphere Mass unaffected but diminished UV/optical luminosity Very few disk galaxies deviate from the Tully-Fisher relation Kardashev type IIIs must be rare (Annis 1999) HI line width (mass)

14 Luminosity The largests extragalactic SETI project so far! 5000 disk galaxies HI line width (mass) Per Calissendorff (2013, BSc thesis, SU) Erik Zackrisson, Per Calissendorff, Saghar Asadi (2014, in prep.)

15 But what are the outliers? Example I: Edge-on disk incorrectly assigned a lower inclination

16 But what are the outliers? Example II: Two interacting (?) disks incorrectly classified as one object

17 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

18 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

19 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

20 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

21 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

22 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

23 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

24 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

25 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

26 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

27 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

28 Colonization using Dyson spheres Per Calissendorff (2013)

29 Complications Colonization using Dyson spheres Modified surface brightness profile Misinterpreted axial ratios Object not classified as disk galaxy and never enters Tully-Fisher sample?

(<0.5%) Some KIII candidates are clearly due to failed

30 Summary Largest extragalactic Dysonian SETI project yet Star-fed Kardashev type III civilizations extremely rare in disk galaxies (<0.5%) Some KIII candidates are clearly due to failed measurements or misclassifications What are the others? We don t know yet

How can we define intelligence? How common are intelligent civilizations likely to be? Is it even worth trying to communicate?

How can we define intelligence? The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) One possible definition: Civilizations that are at a similar technological level who are willing and able to communicate!