A Quantitative Assessment of Communicating Extra-Terrestrial Intelligent Civilizations in the Galaxy and the Case of FRB-like Signals

Abstract

A formula is proposed to quantitatively estimate the signal emission rate of Communicating Extra-Terrestrial Intelligent civilizations (CETIs) in the Galaxy. I suggest that one possible type of CETI signal would be brief radio bursts similar to fast radio bursts (FRBs). A dedicated search for FRB-like artificial signals in the Galaxy for decades may pose a meaningful upper limit on the emission rate of these signals by CETIs. The Fermi-Hart paradox is answered in terms of not having enough observing times for this and other types of signals. Whether humans should send FRB-like signals in the far future is briefly discussed.