Modeling Indications of Technology in Planetary Transit Light Curves -- Dark-side illumination

TL;DR

This paper explores how extraterrestrial civilizations might use orbiting mirrors to illuminate dark sides of planets, affecting transit light curves, and discusses the detectability of such engineering efforts with future telescopes like JWST.

Contribution

It introduces a model for detecting planetary-scale mirror fleets around exoplanets through transit light curve analysis, a novel approach to identifying extraterrestrial engineering.

Findings

Mirror fleets could alter transit light curves in detectable ways with JWST.

Such engineering efforts are undetectable by Kepler but feasible for JWST.

Modeling shows potential for discovering extraterrestrial technology via transit observations.

Abstract

We analyze potential effects of an extraterrestrial civilization's use of orbiting mirrors to illuminate the dark side of a synchronously rotating planet on planetary transit light curves. Previous efforts to detect civilizations based on side effects of planetary-scale engineering have focused on structures affecting the host star output (e.g. Dyson spheres). However, younger civilizations are likely to be less advanced in their engineering efforts, yet still capable of sending small spacecraft into orbit. Since M dwarfs are the most common type of star in the solar neighborhood, it seems plausible that many of the nearest habitable planets orbit dim, low-mass M stars, and will be in synchronous rotation. Logically, a civilization evolving on such a planet may be inspired to illuminate their planet's dark side by placing a single large mirror at the L2 Lagrangian point, or launching a fleet of small thin mirrors into planetary orbit. We briefly examine the requirements and engineering challenges of such a collection of orbiting mirrors, then explore their impact on transit light curves. We incorporate stellar limb darkening and model a simplistic mirror fleet's effects for transits of Earth-like (R = 0.5 to 2 R_Earth) planets which would be synchronously rotating for orbits within the habitable zone of their host star. Although such an installation is undetectable in Kepler data, JWST will provide the sensitivity necessary to detect a fleet of mirrors orbiting Earth-like habitable planets around nearby stars.