📻 DRAFT RESEARCH PROPOSAL · RADIO TECHNOSIGNATURE · MEERKAT / SKA
The southern-sky counterpart to the FAST-SETI globular cluster survey — a dedicated narrowband beacon search at Omega Centauri using MeerKAT, filling the gap left by FAST's northern latitude, while simultaneously expanding the MSP population census · Working draft · April 2026
The OCS Macro Transcension Hypothesis predicts a Phase 5 civilisation that is electromagnetically silent by design — computing at thermodynamic limits near the IMBH, producing no radio leakage. However, this does not exclude all radio signatures. A Phase 2 or early Phase 3 civilisation in transition — still operating communications infrastructure before fully compressing inward — would produce conventional radio emissions. Additionally, early-phase probes arriving at OC and using radar/ranging systems would produce narrowband Doppler-shifted signals.
More conservatively: even if the OCS hypothesis is entirely wrong, OC as the nearest massive globular cluster with a confirmed IMBH candidate deserves the most thorough technosignature characterisation of any such system. The FAST survey established that dedicated GC searches are now scientifically publishable and technically viable. OC is the logical next target.
MeerKAT has already discovered 13 new MSPs in OC (Chen et al. 2023), bringing the total to 18 (now 19 after the TRAPUM 2026 discovery of J1326−4728S) — the densest known MSP population. A dedicated radio monitoring program simultaneously:
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Frequency coverage | L-band: 856–1712 MHz; S-band: 1.75–3.5 GHz (dual-band) |
| Spectral resolution | 1 Hz resolution using commensal high-resolution spectrometer backend |
| Pointing | OC core (RA 13h 26m 47.24s, δ −47° 28′ 46.5″); full primary beam (~1°) |
| Integration per session | 3–4 hours (comparable to FAST-SETI program) |
| Total program | ~20 sessions over 2 years = ~70 hours |
| Sensitivity | Incoherent ~60-antenna array sum over the full ~1° beam: EIRP_min ≈ 4×10¹⁵ W at 5.49 kpc over 70 h (below the FAST-SETI ~10¹⁶ W limits at its closest clusters); coherent tied-array follow-up beam: ≈ 5×10¹⁴ W over an arcseconds-scale beam |
| RFI mitigation | On-off source cadence; baseline subtraction; doppler-drift search (turboSETI or equivalent); BLUSE-style simultaneous coherent multi-beam candidate cross-rejection (anti-coincidence beams plus a reduced-baseline subarray) against LEO-constellation downlinks, which dominate the false-candidate budget |
| Significance threshold | SNR > 15 for candidate; scintillation-aware confirmation: multiple re-observation epochs spaced by at least the refractive timescale, with significance computed under exponential-intensity statistics (Cordes, Lazio & Sagan 1997); a single-epoch non-detection demotes rather than kills a candidate |
All sessions use MeerKAT's standard UHF + L-band pulsar timing backends simultaneously with the narrowband spectrometer. The data stream feeds both the technosignature search pipeline (high-spectral-resolution) and the standard pulsar search pipeline (high-time-resolution). New MSP discoveries from the same observing program directly inform the companion MeerKAT/SKA Pulsar Timing Array proposal.
| Result | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Null — no narrowband signals above threshold | First dedicated radio technosignature upper limit for OC; EIRP limit placed; closes this channel at current MeerKAT sensitivity |
| Narrowband signal surviving multi-beam cross-rejection and scintillation-aware multi-epoch confirmation, Doppler-consistent with OC distance | Technosignature candidate — requires independent telescope confirmation (Parkes, ATCA, future SKA), spectral characterisation, and multi-wavelength follow-up |
| New MSPs discovered | Advances OC pulsar census independent of technosignature result; feeds companion timing proposal |
| Year | Milestone | Deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MeerKAT time allocation; pipeline adaptation from FAST-SETI methodology; RFI baseline | Proposal approved; pipeline documentation |
| 1 | First 10 sessions; narrowband search; RFI characterisation | Preliminary EIRP upper limits |
| 2 | Full 20-session program; MSP discoveries; candidate verification | Final technosignature limits; new MSP discoveries |
| 2 | Publication | Submitted to AJ (following Huang et al. precedent) |
| Item | Cost (USD) |
|---|---|
| Graduate RA (2 years, radio astronomy + SETI methods) | 90,000 |
| MeerKAT observing time (~70 hr) | 10,000 |
| HPC (turboSETI / doppler drift search + pulsar search) | 15,000 |
| Travel + publications | 10,000 |
| Total | ~$125,000 (2 yr) |