Optical SETI with Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method for optical SETI using imaging Cherenkov telescopes, leveraging their large mirror area and shape-based background discrimination to detect brief extraterrestrial signals.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to optical SETI that utilizes imaging Cherenkov telescopes and shape-based background rejection techniques.

Findings

Effective background discrimination method developed

Potential for using gamma-ray telescopes in optical SETI

Enhanced sensitivity to brief extraterrestrial signals

Abstract

The idea of searching for optical signals from extraterrestrial civilizations has become increasingly popular over the last five years, with dedicated projects at a number of observatories. The method relies on the detection of a brief (few ns), intense light pulse with fast photon detectors. Ground-based gamma-ray telescopes such as the Whipple 10m, providing a large mirror area and equipped with an array of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), are ideal instruments for this kind of observation if the background of cosmic-ray events can be rejected. We report here on a method for searching for optical SETI pulses, using background discrimination techniques based on the image shape.