Aliens Might Be Talking, but Our Ears Aren't Quantum Enough to Hear Them, a Scientist Says
In a study published back in 2020 in the journal Physical Review D, University of Edinburgh physicist Arjun Berera determined that quantum communication—that is, communication that leverages photon qubits rather than the more classical radio waves we use today—could maintain what’s known as coherence over interstellar distances. This idea got Berera’s colleague Lantham Boyle, a fellow theoretical physicist at the University of Edinburgh, to start pondering if aliens throughout our galaxy (and beyond) could be using communication technologies outside of the classical realm (specifically quantum communication) that we simply can’t hear.
This curiosity eventually led to the writing of a paper, which has been uploaded to the pre-print server arXiv, titled “On Interstellar Quantum Communication and the Fermi Paradox.” In the paper, Boyle sets out to determine if an institute like the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) could somehow incorporate quantum communication detection as part of their never-ending search for interstellar beings. While the answer to that question is technically yes, it’s practically a very strong, no-bones-about-it “no.”
The problem is the size of the dish we’d need to construct in order to hear this quantum convo. For example, Boyle calculated that interstellar quantum communication would need to use wavelengths of at least 26.5 centimeters in order to avoid quantum depolarization due to the cosmic microwave background (CMB). That’s all well and good, but that means that to communicate quantumly with Alpha Centauri—the nearest star to our own—we’d need a diffraction-limited telescope with a diameter of roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles), which is an area larger than the city of London. To put it mildly, SETI doesn’t have that kind of budget.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/d...tion-seti/
In a study published back in 2020 in the journal Physical Review D, University of Edinburgh physicist Arjun Berera determined that quantum communication—that is, communication that leverages photon qubits rather than the more classical radio waves we use today—could maintain what’s known as coherence over interstellar distances. This idea got Berera’s colleague Lantham Boyle, a fellow theoretical physicist at the University of Edinburgh, to start pondering if aliens throughout our galaxy (and beyond) could be using communication technologies outside of the classical realm (specifically quantum communication) that we simply can’t hear.
This curiosity eventually led to the writing of a paper, which has been uploaded to the pre-print server arXiv, titled “On Interstellar Quantum Communication and the Fermi Paradox.” In the paper, Boyle sets out to determine if an institute like the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) could somehow incorporate quantum communication detection as part of their never-ending search for interstellar beings. While the answer to that question is technically yes, it’s practically a very strong, no-bones-about-it “no.”
The problem is the size of the dish we’d need to construct in order to hear this quantum convo. For example, Boyle calculated that interstellar quantum communication would need to use wavelengths of at least 26.5 centimeters in order to avoid quantum depolarization due to the cosmic microwave background (CMB). That’s all well and good, but that means that to communicate quantumly with Alpha Centauri—the nearest star to our own—we’d need a diffraction-limited telescope with a diameter of roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles), which is an area larger than the city of London. To put it mildly, SETI doesn’t have that kind of budget.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/d...tion-seti/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
