title: Optical search for extraterrestrial intelligence with Air Cerenkov telescopes.
abstract: We propose using large Air Cerenkov telescopes (ACTs) to search for optical, pulsed signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. Such dishes collect tens of photons from a nanosecond-scale pulse of isotropic equivalent power of tens of solar luminosities at a distance of 100 pc. The field of view for giant ACTs can be on the order of 10 square degrees, and they will be able to monitor 10-100 stars simultaneously for nanosecond pulses of about 6th magnitude or brighter. Using the Earth's diameter as a baseline, orbital motion of the planet could be detected by timing the pulse arrivals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel. eichler@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eichler
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Beskin
mesh_terms: D001256:Astronomy / Q000295:instrumentation; D003142:Communication; D018559:Exobiology; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D007360:Intelligence; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation