Scientists have conducted an extensive search for technosignatures in the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanet system, a promising candidate for finding intelligent life beyond Earth. The study, published on the arXiv preprint server, sheds light on the challenges and insights gained from this pioneering effort.
TRAPPIST-1: A Cosmic Oasis
The TRAPPIST-1 star system is of immense interest to both astronomers and astrobiologists. This tight configuration of planets is particularly exciting because it has seven Earth-sized worlds, three of which have the right combination of conditions to support liquid water. These qualities, plus the fact that TRAPPIST-1 is nearby and might be geologically active, make it a good candidate for further study in the search for alien life.
But the harsh environment around red dwarf stars such as TRAPPIST-1 poses an interesting challenge. The stars tend to emit strong flaring and high-energy radiation that could be dangerous for complex life. However, if life can appear in such a luxurious environment the probability to evolve it (intelligence) could be higher than in other places of the Universe.
Hunting for Technosignatures
The new research was conducted by a group of researchers, who set out to hunt for any faint technosignatures — signs of technology — coming from the TRAPPIST-1 system. The scientists based their calculations on the assumption that if there is a technological civilization in this confined system, it could populate adjacent worlds and engage with each other through communication networks.
To achieve this, the team searched for emissions that could be able to take place in a high fraction of PPO events that would connect the planets by radio signals (interactive diagram) during planet-planet occultation [2] transits. If they exist, they would be the most obvious and easily identifiable technosignatures in the system.
The researchers used the 2. seconds per hour telescopes of Delta Telescope Array to collect and analyse data TRAPPIST-1 for a total of 28 hours. These 11,000 candidate signals that were stronger than expected of natural emissions had been filtered out. Additional analysis brought the field of signals to ~2,200 that were observed during PPO events.
Conclusion
Although no clear signs of life in the TRAPPIST-1 system were detected during the study, it is a major step forward in our quest to discover technosignatures — signals or properties produced by advanced alien technologies — beyond Earth. These results will be used to further refine & enhance the future searches — we are one step closer to the answer of the ultimate question: “Are we alone in this Universe?
