Scanning Beyond SETI

Starry Messages: Searching for Signatures of Interstellar Archaeology
Richard A. Carrigan, Jr.,
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Searching for signatures of cosmic-scale archaeological artifacts such as Dyson spheres or Kardashev civilizations is an interesting alternative to conventional SETI. Uncovering such an artifact does not require the intentional transmission of a signal on the part of the original civilization. This type of search is called interstellar archaeology or sometimes cosmic archaeology. The detection of intelligence elsewhere in the Universe with interstellar archaeology or SETI would have broad implications for science. For example, the constraints of the anthropic principle would have to be loosened if a different type of intelligence was discovered elsewhere. A variety of interstellar archaeology signatures are discussed including non-natural planetary atmospheric constituents, stellar doping with isotopes of nuclear wastes, Dyson spheres, as well as signatures of stellar and galactic-scale engineering. The concept of a Fermi bubble due to interstellar migration is introduced in the discussion of galactic signatures. These potential interstellar archaeological signatures are classified using the Kardashev scale. A modified Drake equation is used to evaluate the relative challenges of finding various sources. With few exceptions interstellar archaeological signatures are clouded and beyond current technological capabilities. However SETI for so-called cultural transmissions and planetary atmosphere signatures are within reach.

NSA Will Use This II

Quantum Computers Could Tackle Enormous Linear Equations

A new algorithm may give quantum computers a new, practical job: quickly solving monster linear equations. Such problems are at the heart of complex processes such as image and video processing, genetic analyses and even Internet traffic control.

...or Internet traffic scanning and analysis, we should add.

The new work, published October 7 in Physical Review Letters, may dramatically expand the range of potential uses for quantum computers.

An earlier version of the article: June 2, 2009

In the new study, Aram Harrow of the University of Bristol in England along with Avinatan Hassidim and Seth Lloyd, both of MIT, propose that large datasets of linear equations could be encoded in quantum forms, such as the spins of nuclei, individual atoms or photons. Such a system would allow quantum computers to handily solve problems made up of billions or even trillions of variables...

...thus raising the encryption bar even further. But, in the same issues of of Physical Review Letters and Science News, we find:

Entangled Photons Make Better Messengers

Quantum communication offers an absolutely secure way to send secret messages, such as encoded military secrets or financial transactions. But quantum information is fragile, quickly destroyed by even slight interactions with the environment.

While a conventional bit of information can have only one value, 0 or 1, a quantum bit, or qubit, exists as a combination of 0 and 1 simultaneously. A qubit stays in this undecided state until something, whether a stray atom or a scientist trying to measure its properties, interacts with it, forcing it into a single state. This collapse of possibilities, known as quantum decoherence, can be detected farther down the line to catch eavesdroppers. But it can also keep qubits from reaching their destination intact.

Fortunately, theorists have shown that some quantum-mechanical systems are immune to certain interactions...

Including eavesdropping?

The Planck Shrinketh

A limit on the variation of the speed of light arising from quantum gravity effects

More bio-quantum mechanics...

Zeno is pro Darwin: Quantum Zeno Effect Suppresses the Dependence of Radical-Ion-Pair Reaction Yields on Exchange and Dipolar Interactions

Author: I. K. Kominis

Abstract: A biochemical quantum sensor of magnetic fields, namely magnetic-sensitive radical-ion-pair reactions, is understood to underlie avian magnetic navigation. It has been recently postulated [O. Efimova and P. J. Hore, Biophys. J. {\bf 94}, 1565 (2008)] that a fine-tuned cancellation of exchange and dipolar interactions in necessary for this magnetic sensor to function at earth's field. We here show that if the basic parameters of the radical-ion-pair are such that the quantum Zeno effect is manifested, the dependence of the magnetic-sensitive reaction yields on molecule-specific exchange and dipolar interactions is almost entirely suppressed. A fundamental quantum effect is thus shown to provide for the robustness of this biochemical sensor.

Scaling Up Entanglement

Perhaps this sort of thing is already taking place in your (human) brain, but the rudiments of a mechanical system of quantum entanglement have been demonstrated with separate, oscillating pairs of beryllium and magnesium ions, as reported by Jost et al in the June 4 edition of Nature...

Entangled mechanical oscillators

NSA Will Use This

In diversionary cloaking, EM waves are scooted around an object (for illustration, see the Skilluminati article, Dreaming 5GW: Invisible War) The disadvantage here however is that the object is in a sense hermetically sealed from the environment, rendered incommunicado by its cloak.

A new method avoids this disadvantage by scattering EM waves in a manner similar to noise-cancellation devices. Says Nader Engheta in Science News, Cloaked Eye Still Sees:

“We are asking the question, ‘Is it possible to put a layer around an object such that when a wave hits the object, the wave scatters less?’ If the cloak is designed properly, the effect is reduced, like a cancelling effect... It puts in balance the object and the cloak.”

Hence, NSA listening posts will go undetected... And bug-detection manufacturers would be wise now to invest in more R&D.

The Meaning of Physical Time
by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.