🌅 DRAFT RESEARCH PROPOSAL · GAMMA-RAY MULTI-MESSENGER · FERMI-LAT / CTAO-SOUTH

Fermi-LAT / CTAO-South Gamma-Ray Search for Technosignature Emission from Omega Centauri

A dedicated long-baseline high-energy and very-high-energy gamma-ray monitoring program targeting Omega Centauri as a multi-messenger counterpart to neutrino searches, testing the "democratic emission" prediction of the Dvali-Osmanov framework · Working draft · April 2026

1. Scientific Rationale

1.1 The Democratic Emission Test

Scope note (2026-09-25, P0-15.3): the Dvali & Osmanov (2023) paper, "Black holes as tools for quantum computing by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations" (Int. J. Astrobiology 22, 617–640), applies its "democratic emission" prediction to artificial microscopic black holes (kugelblitz-style engineered objects) only; it explicitly excludes natural astrophysical black-hole production, and its reference instruments are neutrino/Cherenkov facilities (IceCube, MAGIC-class), not Fermi-LAT or CTA. The predictions below are therefore restricted to the transient kugelblitz-burst framing the source supports; the steady-state discussion that follows is this proposal's own extrapolation and is labelled as such.

Within that framing the framework makes a specific, testable prediction: any neutrino burst from an engineered microscopic black hole should be accompanied by a contemporaneous gamma-ray flash of similar energy flux (democratic emission across Standard Model species). A spatially coincident neutrino + gamma-ray detection would dramatically increase the significance of any finding; a neutrino excess without a gamma-ray counterpart would argue against the democratic-emission explanation of that event (per-event inference, not a falsification of the framework).

Proposal extrapolation, beyond the source: steady-state Bekenstein-limited computation would also produce a persistent gamma-ray point source at OC coordinates. Fermi-LAT's ~18-year all-sky dataset provides the deepest existing constraint on any such source. This steady-state channel is not a prediction of Dvali & Osmanov (2023), and a null result here cannot falsify that framework — it only constrains this proposal's own extrapolation.

1.2 Existing Constraints and the Gap

Omega Centauri has been studied in gamma rays primarily in the context of dark matter annihilation and MSP population modeling. Fermi-LAT has detected diffuse emission potentially associated with OC's millisecond pulsars. However, no dedicated technosignature-motivated point-source analysis focused on OC has been published. The IceCube and KM3NeT proposals mention Fermi-LAT as a cross-check; this proposal makes the gamma-ray channel the primary search.

1.3 Why CTAO-South Is Ideal

OC's declination (δ ≈ −47°) places it in the optimal field of view for CTAO-South (La Serena, Chile). At TeV energies, CTAO-South will achieve sensitivity of ~10⁻¹³ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹ at 1 TeV — approximately an order of magnitude better than current IACTs — with angular resolution <0.05° enabling precise source localisation within OC's core.

2. Observation Strategy

2.1 Fermi-LAT: ~18-Year Archival + Ongoing Monitoring

Known complication: OC's MSP population contributes a cumulative GeV signal that must be carefully modelled. The technosignature search targets any excess above the MSP model, or any spectral component inconsistent with curvature radiation from millisecond pulsars.

2.2 CTAO-South: Targeted Deep Observations

2.3 Multi-Messenger Coincidence Protocol

The core scientific value of this proposal is the simultaneous requirement: a technosignature candidate requires independent detection in at least two messenger channels. The protocol:

1. Fermi-LAT and CTAO-South run continuous monitoring; alerts distributed via AMON/GCN infrastructure
2. Any >3σ gamma-ray excess triggers a request for KM3NeT/ARCA and IceCube event lists within ±500s
3. Conversely, any KM3NeT/IceCube neutrino alert triggers a Fermi-LAT temporal analysis and CTAO-South ToO observation
4. A joint significance is computed using Fisher's method across the two channels, requiring p < 5×10⁻⁷ post-trials for any claim

3. Spectral Energy Distribution Modelling

For any detected emission, a broadband SED will be constructed using:

• Fermi-LAT: 0.1–300 GeV butterfly spectrum
• CTAO-South: 0.1–100 TeV differential flux points
• KM3NeT/IceCube: neutrino flux upper limits or detections (same epoch)
• ATCA/MeerKAT radio limits (Mahida et al. 2025)
• JWST NIRCam/MIRI infrared limits (Chen et al. 2025)

Any broadband SED consistent with the Dvali-Osmanov democratic spectrum (flat ν F_ν across decades in energy) would be highly anomalous compared to known astrophysical sources and would warrant immediate follow-up.

4. Interpretation Framework

Section restructured 2026-09-25 (P0-15.3): a gamma-ray null cannot falsify the Dvali-Osmanov framework, whose democratic-emission prediction concerns transient kugelblitz bursts; the former "steady-state channel closed" row is therefore withdrawn.

5. Work Plan

6. Budget

7. References