FAST Telescope Searches for Technosignatures from Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) was utilized to search for narrowband radio technosignatures emanating from the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. Observations spanned from October 2025 to January 2026, targeting specific dates related to Mars' closest approach, perihelion, Earth's closest approach, and the object's departure. The search covered a frequency range of 1.05-1.45 GHz, employing the 'bliss' pipeline to identify frequency-drifting signals. Signal hits were grouped into events based on beam, frequency, and drift rate matching, followed by filtering using cluster analysis and drift rate cut-offs. Events were characterized by their signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), structure tensor, and principal component analysis (PCA). Despite these efforts, no credible narrowband radio technosignatures were detected. This null result places constraints on the presence of transmitters exceeding 2.862 x 10^-3 W. A Bayesian inference framework was introduced to constrain the existence probability and characteristic power of hypothetical transmitters, utilizing physically motivated priors. The study contributes to the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence by expanding the scope to include interstellar objects and refining methodologies for signal detection and analysis. The absence of detectable signals, while disappointing, provides valuable data for refining future search strategies and theoretical models of extraterrestrial communication.

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