Stellar Space Weather May Blur Narrowband Technosignals, Reframing SETI Searches

To the point

Vishal Gajjar and Grayce C. Brown of the SETI Institute say space weather around stars can broaden and weaken ultra-narrow radio signals before they leave their system, making them harder to spot at Earth, and they argue that red dwarfs, being especially active, require adjusting detection thresholds and bandwidths to account for these distortions.

UFO of GOD: The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe
UFO of GOD: The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe
Chris Bledsoe
 After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon
After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon
Greg Eghigian
 In Plain Sight: An investigation into UFOs and impossible science
In Plain Sight: An investigation into UFOs and impossible science
Ross Coulthart
 Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects
Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects
Andy McGrillen
Our recommendations from Amazon
Why no radio signals from aliens? Is space weather to blame?
earthsky.org

Why no radio signals from aliens? Is space weather to blame?

Vishal Gajjar and Grayce C. Brown propose that stellar space weather—solar winds, plasma turbulence, and coronal mass ejections—broadens and weakens narrowband technosignatures before they escape their star, leaving them blurred and harder to distinguish from natural broadband emissions by the time they reach Earth, which implies searches should adjust detection thresholds and bandwidths to account for such distortions and may help explain the persistent non-detections.