SETI: The transmission rate of radio communication and the signal's detection

The transmission rate of communication between radio telescopes on Earth and extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) is here calculated up to distances of 1000 light years. Both phase-shift-keying (PSK) and frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulation schemes are considered. It is shown that M-ary FSK is advantageous in terms of energy. Narrow-band pulses scattered over the spectrum sharing a common drift rate can be the probable signals of ETI. Modern SETI spectrum analyzers are well suited to searching for these types of signals. Such signals can be detected using the Hough transform which is a dedicated tool for detecting patterns in an image. The time-frequency plane representing the power output of the spectrum analyzer during the search for ETI gives an image from which the Hough transform (HT) can detect signal patterns with frequency drift.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Acta Astronautic

On leading spiral arms in close pairs of galaxies

It is explained why one can observe a leading spiral pattern in close pairs of galaxies where the direction of the orbital momentum of the satellite is opposite to the direction of the spin of the spiral galaxy

Tropospheric limitations on the accuracy of phase measurement of coordinates in astronomy

The effect of tropospheric fluctuation on the accuracy of phase measurements of coordinates is discussed. The nature of the averaging of the tropospheric effects, if N coordinate measurements of duration T with period mu are made, is investigated. Various averaging modes depending on the relation of the various time parameters are investigated. Equations taking into account the correlations between individual observations are presented. It is shown that the correlation interval between the individual observations is always greater than the fluctuation period of tropospheric inhomogeneities typical for a given baseline

Phase locking of coupled lasers with many longitudinal modes

Detailed experimental and theoretical investigations on two coupled fiber lasers, each with many longitudinal modes, reveal that the behavior of the longitudinal modes depends on both the coupling strength as well as the detuning between them. For low to moderate coupling strength only longitudinal modes which are common for both lasers phase-lock while those that are not common gradually disappear. For larger coupling strengths, the longitudinal modes that are not common reappear and phase-lock. When the coupling strength approaches unity the coupled lasers behave as a single long cavity with correspondingly denser longitudinal modes. Finally, we show that the gradual increase in phase-locking as a function of the coupling strength results from competition between phase-locked and non phase-locked longitudinal modes.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, submitted to opt. let