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Alternative standard frequencies for interstellar communication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2017

C. Sivaram
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560 034, India
Kenath Arun*
Affiliation:
Christ Junior College, Bangalore 560 029, India
O. V. Kiren
Affiliation:
St. Josephs Indian Composite PU College, Bangalore 560 001, India
*
Author for correspondence: Kenath Arun, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

The 21 cm hydrogen line is considered a favourable frequency by the SETI programme in their search for signals from potential extraterrestrial (ET) civilizations. The Pioneer plaque, attached to the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft, portrays the hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen and used the wavelength as a standard scale of measurement. Although this line would be universally recognized and is a suitable wavelength to look for radio signals from ETs, the presence of ubiquitous radiation from galactic hydrogen could make searches a little difficult. In this paper, we suggest several alternate standard frequencies, which are free of interference from atomic or molecular sources and is independent of any bias.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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