A signal discovery step in interstellar communication

Abstract

Prior work using synchronized, geographically spaced radio telescopes, and a radio interferometer, suggests that narrow-bandwidth polarized pulse pair measurements repeatedly falsify a noise-cause hypothesis, given a prior celestial direction of interest. A four-step method was proposed, tested, and reported, using interferometer phase measurements, to seek common celestial directions among pulse pair components, during 92 days of observation. In the work reported here, the proposed four-step signal discovery method is simplified to have a single step. A 123.8 day interferometer experiment provides measurement evidence supporting a hypothesis that the prior direction of interest, and a second direction of interest, are associated with celestial coordinates. Each pointing direction measures statistical power at greater than six standard deviations, with some indications of associated interferometer-induced Right Ascension aliasing. Explanations are proposed and discussed.