NASA DARES: Possibilities for SETI at High Energy

High-energy SETI pushes astrobiology to its limits, testing the most fundamental needs of life and the most extreme limits of technology.

It has lagged behind the rest of the field, but the increased respectability of SETI could spark interest in the coming years.

This white paper reviews the case for SETI in X-rays, gamma rays, and neutrinos, including rationales, challenges, and possible technosignatures, and suggests future strategies for observational work.

Why Do SETI At High Energy?

Because it is there, of course – and for all we know, so is evidence that we are not alone. SETI researchers often compare the possible space of observational programs to a haystack, likening technosignatures to the proverbial needle [31]. The high-energy bands are an entire side of the metaphorical barn that has been scarcely explored.

Astrobiology has been haunted by the question of whether life necessarily resembles Earth life. High-energy astronomy probes some of the most extreme environments out there and, perhaps, some of the most exotic forms of life imaginable. High-energy SETI is about pushing astrobiology to its limits, testing the most fundamental needs of life.

Postulated technosignatures can require extreme speculation about fanciful technologies that may never be possible, but in the end we have few certain insights into the motivations and forms of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). Goals we scarcely comprehend can lead them to places we would otherwise never think to look.

There are some positive reasons why technosignatures may lurk in the high end of the spectrum. High-energy radiation emanates from locations with a huge amount of power crammed into a small space, for example. Compact objects like neutron stars could be excellent places for ETIs to operate if they can reach them and brave the hostile environments.

High-energy SETI has lagged behind the rest of the field even as it has blossomed over the past decade, but the heightened respectability of SETI could spark interest in the coming years. The extant literature has been mainly theoretical, sporadic proposals of possible technosignatures with little observational follow-up, but in many cases, we simply need to take existing data and do the search. Ohio State University is hosting the first workshop on the topic in June 2025.

Brian C. Lacki, Stephen DiKerby

Comments: White paper submitted for 2025 NASA DARES RFI, 5 pages
Subjects: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
Cite as: arXiv:2506.16351 [astro-ph.HE] (or arXiv:2506.16351v1 [astro-ph.HE] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16351
Focus to learn more
Submission history
From: Brian Lacki
[v1] Thu, 19 Jun 2025 14:29:12 UTC (21 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16351

Astrobiology, SETI,