Alien civilizations can survive on the power of black holes, and science explains how

Posted:

19 before 2021 15:34 GMT

One study reports the use of a giant satellite structure called a Dyson sphere that could be deployed around an inhabited world to redirect the energy generated by black holes.

If there is any extraterrestrial civilization that has been technologically advanced, it must consume a lot of energy. Following this hypothesis, more than half a century ago, the Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashov proposed an attempt to detect from Earth signs of high energy consumption in the universe, and thus discover the existence of an alien civilization. a New study He applies this idea to the hypothetical scenario that extraterrestrial intelligence can redirect black hole energy to its advantage.

Calculations by an international team of researchers indicate that if aliens reached a certain level of technological sophistication, they would need at least 400,000,000,000,000,000,000 megawatts of power, preferably light. To collect and harness this massive amount of energy, they would have to deploy a Giant Structure the name of the thing dyson field Scientists believe (named after physicist Freeman Dyson).

The study evaluates any of the available energy sources around black holes It can provide more light to feed life and eliminate it will be Accumulation disk, among other alternatives such as the cosmic microwave background and Hawking radiation. Of the six total options, only relativistic jets emerging from the black hole as it engulfs other space objects would extract more energy, but this would only be possible if Dyson’s space-filled ball were capable of doing so. It also uses kinetic energy, not just light energy.

The results of the study, published in the upcoming September issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, “indicate that for a stellar-mass black hole (…) the accretion disk can provide a luminosity hundreds of times greater than the main sequence of the star.” This is equivalent to 100,000 times the luminosity of the sun, which is enough to maintain a type II civilization on the Kardashov scale (human on the threshold of type I).

The calculations were made for models of black holes accumulating between 5 and 20 solar masses and also for a giant 4 million times the mass of the Sun, such as Sagittarius A*The black hole at the center of our galaxy. Scientists believe a field of satellites can efficiently collect energy in all cases, led by Taiwanese astrophysicist Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao of National Tsing Hua University.

The team also asks a question Whether it can be detected by Earth technology Dyson balls built around black holes. The authors estimate that: Within our galaxy, multiple propagation of energy-gathering satellites can be detected through “residual” heat at ultraviolet, optical and infrared wavelengths. This detection can be made by telescopes such as Hubble and a wide-field infrared scanning explorer or thanks to ongoing research projects such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

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