Published April 1, 2016 | Version v1
Journal article

On the visible size and geometry of aggressively expanding civilizations at cosmological distances

Creators

  • 1. Department of Physics, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725 (United States)

Description

If a subset of advanced civilizations in the universe choose to rapidly expand into unoccupied space, these civilizations would have the opportunity to grow to a cosmological scale over the course of billions of years. If such life also makes observable changes to the galaxies they inhabit, then it is possible that vast domains of life-saturated galaxies could be visible from the Earth. Here, we describe the shape and angular size of these domains as viewed from the Earth, and calculate median visible sizes for a variety of scenarios. We also calculate the total fraction of the sky that should be covered by at least one domain. In each of the 27 scenarios we examine, the median angular size of the nearest domain is within an order of magnitude of a percent of the whole celestial sphere. Observing such a domain would likely require an analysis of galaxies on the order of a Gly from the Earth

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2016/04/021

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Journal Volume
2016
Journal Issue
04
Journal Page Range
p. 021
ISSN
1475-7516

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
47095820
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
COSMOLOGY; DISTANCE; GALAXIES; GEOMETRY; SPACE; UNIVERSE
Descriptors DEC
MATHEMATICS