2026/03/19 by Jian-Kang Li, Zhen-Zhao Tao, Tong-Jie Zhang · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life #astro-ph.IM
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae8025
arxiv published 2026/03/19 · arxiv updated 2026/07/24
3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar object passing through the Solar System. In this work, we conduct narrowband radio technosignature search toward 3I/ATLAS using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) L-band multibeam receiver from October 2025 to January 2026 on 4 separate dates (i.e. Mars closest, perihelion, Earth closest and a post-Earth-closest epoch, respectively). We carry out frequency-drifting signal searching with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) over 10 within 1.05-1.45 GHz via bliss pipeline. These signal hits are grouped into event by beam, frequency and drift rate matching. The events are then filtered by cluster analysis and drift rate cut-off. We also characterized the events by their significance in SNR, structure tensor as well as principal component analysis (PCA). No credible narrowband radio technosignature are detected from 3I/ATLAS after visual inspections. The null results place constraints on the presence of transmitters above 2.862× 10-3 W. We further introduce a Bayesian inference framework to assess the occurrence probability of hypothetical transmitters while accounting for uncertainty in their characteristic transmitter power through physically motivated priors.