Perhaps they are everywhere? Undetectable distributed quantum computation and communication for alien civilizations can be established using thermal light from stars

TL;DR

The paper demonstrates that thermal light from stars can be used for undetectable distributed quantum computation and communication, leveraging photon entanglement and classical communication, potentially hiding such activities from external observers.

Contribution

It introduces a method for using natural thermal light for distributed quantum computation that is undetectable by external observers, combining entanglement distribution with classical communication.

Findings

Thermal light can distribute useful entanglement for quantum computation.

Distributed quantum computation can be performed with linear optics and photon counting.

Such communication can be made indistinguishable from natural noise.

Abstract

We show that free-space diffraction of photons distributes highly useful entanglement: the receivers of the propagated modes can do a distributed quantum computation using only linear optics and photon counting. The distributed computation requires classical communication between receivers, however, similar to standard measurement-based computation, that communication is of purely random outcomes and so can be indistinguishable from noise. The speculation in the title arises from the further observation that the natural way for a circumspect civilization to hide their photonic entanglement distribution is to use the thermal light already being emitted from the various stars they visit. This requires them knowing the number of photons in the modes they have chosen to use, and as such they would need to perform a quantum non-demolition measurement of photon number. Because the thermal light they are measuring is diagonal in the number basis even this process can be rendered in principle indiscernible to those of us excluded from the conversation.