Pulsar Positioning System: A quest for evidence of extraterrestrial engineering
📝 Abstract
Pulsars have at least two impressive applications. First, they can be used as highly accurate clocks, comparable in stability to atomic clocks; secondly, a small subset of pulsars, millisecond X-ray pulsars, provide all the necessary ingredients for a passive galactic positioning system. This is known in astronautics as X-ray pulsar-based navigation (XNAV). XNAV is comparable to GPS, except that it operates on a galactic scale. I propose a SETI-XNAV research program to test the hypothesis that this pulsar positioning system might be an instance of galactic-scale engineering by extraterrestrial beings (section 4). The paper starts by exposing the basics of pulsar navigation (section 2), continues with a critique of the rejection of the extraterrestrial hypothesis when pulsars were first discovered (section 3). The core section 4 proposes lines of inquiry for SETI-XNAV, related to: the pulsar distribution and power in the galaxy; their population; their evolution; possible pulse synchronizations; pulsar usability when navigating near the speed of light; decoding galactic coordinates; directed panspermia; and information content in pulses. Even if pulsars are natural, they are likely to be used as standards by ETIs in the galaxy (section 5). I discuss possible objections and potential benefits for humanity, whether the research program succeeds or not (section 6).
💡 Analysis
Pulsars have at least two impressive applications. First, they can be used as highly accurate clocks, comparable in stability to atomic clocks; secondly, a small subset of pulsars, millisecond X-ray pulsars, provide all the necessary ingredients for a passive galactic positioning system. This is known in astronautics as X-ray pulsar-based navigation (XNAV). XNAV is comparable to GPS, except that it operates on a galactic scale. I propose a SETI-XNAV research program to test the hypothesis that this pulsar positioning system might be an instance of galactic-scale engineering by extraterrestrial beings (section 4). The paper starts by exposing the basics of pulsar navigation (section 2), continues with a critique of the rejection of the extraterrestrial hypothesis when pulsars were first discovered (section 3). The core section 4 proposes lines of inquiry for SETI-XNAV, related to: the pulsar distribution and power in the galaxy; their population; their evolution; possible pulse synchronizations; pulsar usability when navigating near the speed of light; decoding galactic coordinates; directed panspermia; and information content in pulses. Even if pulsars are natural, they are likely to be used as standards by ETIs in the galaxy (section 5). I discuss possible objections and potential benefits for humanity, whether the research program succeeds or not (section 6).
📄 Content
Pulsar Positioning System Pulsar Positioning System: A quest for evidence of extraterrestrial engineering Clément Vidal Center Leo Apostel Vrije Universiteit Brussel Krijgskundestraat 33, 1160 Brussels, Belgium http://www.clemvidal.com , contact@clemvidal.com v2.0, 15 Oct 2017, to appear in the International Journal of Astrobiology Abstract: Pulsars have at least two impressive applications. First, they can be used as highly accurate clocks, comparable in stability to atomic clocks; secondly, a small subset of pulsars, millisecond X-ray pulsars, provide all the necessary ingredients for a passive galactic positioning system. This is known in astronautics as X-ray pulsar-based navigation (XNAV). XNAV is comparable to GPS, except that it operates on a galactic scale. I propose a SETI-XNAV research program to test the hypothesis that this pulsar positioning system might be an instance of galactic-scale engineering by extraterrestrial beings (section 4). The paper starts by exposing the basics of pulsar navigation (section 2), continues with a critique of the rejection of the extraterrestrial hypothesis when pulsars were first discovered (section 3). The core section 4 proposes lines of inquiry for SETI-XNAV, related to: the pulsar distribution and power in the galaxy; their population; their evolution; possible pulse synchronizations; pulsar usability when navigating near the speed of light; decoding galactic coordinates; directed panspermia; and information content in pulses. Even if pulsars are natural, they are likely to be used as standards by ETIs in the galaxy (section 5). I discuss possible objections and potential benefits for humanity, whether the research program succeeds or not (section 6). Keywords: SETI, XNAV, space navigation, pulsars, global navigation satellite system, directed panspermia. Contents 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………….2 2 Pulsar navigation……………………………………………………………………………………..4 2.1 Normal and millisecond pulsars……………………………………………………………………………….4 2.2 Pulsar behavior……………………………………………………………………………………………………..7 2.3 Navigation with pulsars………………………………………………………………………………………….8 3 Dismissing the dismiss……………………………………………………………………………13 3.1 Too much energy…………………………………………………………………………………………………14 3.2 Not unique………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14 3.3 Not a planet…………………………………………………………………………………………………………15 3.4 Not narrow-band………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 3.5 Natural model……………………………………………………………………………………………………..16 1 Pulsar Positioning System 4 The SETI-XNAV quest…………………………………………………………………………..19 4.1 Galactic distribution……………………………………………………………………………………………..20 4.2 Power distribution………………………………………………………………………………………………..21 4.3 Population synthesis……………………………………………………………………………………………..22 4.4 Evolutionary tracks………………………………………………………………………………………………23 4.5 Synchronization…………………………………………………………………………………………………..24 4.6 Navigability near the speed of light………………………………………………………………………..25 4.7 Decoding galactic coordinates……………………………………………………………………………….25 4.8 Directed panspermia: navigation and propulsion………………………………………………………26 4.9 Information content………………………………………………………………………………………………28 5 Pulsars as standards………………………………………………………………………………..30 5.1 Frequency window standard………………………………………………………………………………….30 5.2 Pulse window standard…………………………………………………………………………………………30
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