Global warming as a detectable thermodynamic marker of Earth-like extrasolar civilizations: the case for a telescope like Colossus

Earth-like civilizations generate heat from the energy that they utilize. The thermal radiation from this heat can be a thermodynamic marker for civilizations. Here we model such planetary radiation on Earth-like planets and propose a strategy for detecting such an alien unintentional thermodynamic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of astrobiology 2015-07, Vol.14 (3), p.401-410
Main Authors: Kuhn, Jeff R., Berdyugina, Svetlana V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrobiology
Biomarkers
Climate change
Earth
Global warming
Optics
Space telescopes
Thermal radiation
Thermodynamics
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Summary:Earth-like civilizations generate heat from the energy that they utilize. The thermal radiation from this heat can be a thermodynamic marker for civilizations. Here we model such planetary radiation on Earth-like planets and propose a strategy for detecting such an alien unintentional thermodynamic electromagnetic biomarker. We show that astronomical infrared (IR) civilization biomarkers may be detected within an interestingly large cosmic volume using a 70 m-class or larger telescope. In particular, the Colossus telescope with achievable coronagraphic and adaptive optics performance may reveal Earth-like civilizations from visible and IR photometry timeseries’ taken during an exoplanetary orbit period. The detection of an alien heat signature will have far-ranging implications, but even a null result, given 70 m aperture sensitivity, could also have broad social implications.
ISSN:1473-5504
1475-3006
1574-3006
DOI:10.1017/S1473550414000585