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PreprintarXiv licencearXiv

Identifying Casual SETI Transmissions and Ultra-Faint RFI with Cumulant Imaging

  • Miguel F. Morales
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Abstract

Techniques for identifying radio beacons transmitted by extra-terrestrial civilizations are well advanced. However, the casual broadband emission from standard radio communication is much harder to detect, and counter-intuitively casual Earth radio transmissions are becoming more difficult to identify as we more efficiently utilize the radio spectrum. In this paper we examine the electric-field statistics behind radio communication and re-conceptualize standard radio imaging as the first non-zero cumulant. This leads us to images of the higher cumulants where the natural stochastic emission from astrophysical sources disappears, leaving images of only modulated sources of radio communication. Faint SETI and RFI sources stand out in these cumulant images, enabling identification of faint communication that is undetectable with current techniques.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{morales2026identifying,
  title = {{Identifying Casual SETI Transmissions and Ultra-Faint RFI with Cumulant Imaging}},
  author = {Miguel F. Morales},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.04472},
  eprint = {2609.04472},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04472},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Identifying Casual SETI Transmissions and Ultra-Faint RFI with Cumulant Imaging
AU  - Miguel F. Morales
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/03
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04472
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04472
AB  - Techniques for identifying radio beacons transmitted by extra-terrestrial civilizations are well advanced. However, the casual broadband emission from standard radio communication is much harder to detect, and counter-intuitively casual Earth radio transmissions are becoming more difficult to identify as we more efficiently utilize the radio spectrum. In this paper we examine the electric-field statistics behind radio communication and re-conceptualize standard radio imaging as the first non-zero cumulant. This leads us to images of the higher cumulants where the natural stochastic emission from astrophysical sources disappears, leaving images of only modulated sources of radio communication. Faint SETI and RFI sources stand out in these cumulant images, enabling identification of faint communication that is undetectable with current techniques.
ER  -