No type III civilizations found in the observable universe.

Sensitive telescopes of the new generation allow astronomers to measure the level of background infrared radiation, which should be an indicator of type III civilization on the Kardashev scale . The power consumption of such a civilization is comparable to the power of the galaxy, about 4 · 10 ³⁷ watts. In theory, it should glow brightly in the middle of the infrared part of the spectrum, emitting a large amount of waste heat.

Earlier, a group of astronomers led by Dr. Jason Wright from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) processed a list of 100,000 objects and compiled a list of several hundred galaxies with an unusually high level of radiation in the middle of the infrared spectrum.

It was assumed that these galaxies can still be home to advanced civilizations. The only problem is that a similar spectrum is also inherent in natural astrophysical processes, namely, thermal radiation from the "warm" cosmic dust.
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Professor Michael Garrett from Leiden University (Netherlands) decided to test this theory and studied about 50 galaxies from the list not only in the infrared spectrum, but also in other radio bands. The results were disappointing: in his opinion, in the absolute majority of them, the high level of IR radiation is best explained by natural astrophysical processes. In particular, they correspond to the well-known correlation rule of mid-infrared radio correlation. The detected radio emission corresponds to what should be in the presence of a given level of average IR, based on the known correlation.

“A study by our colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania has already shown that such galaxies are extremely rare, but our analysis showed that the situation is actually much worse,” explains Professor Garrett. - Apparently, the advanced Kardashev civilizations of the third type do not exist in the observable universe. This means that we can sleep in peace - the invasion of aliens does not seem possible at all! ”

If we reject the jokes, the professor paid special attention to those several galaxies that still do not fit into the framework of the known correlation. According to the scientist, they should be investigated additionally in order to surely prove the natural causes of the “anomaly”.

However, the absence of radiation in the middle of the infrared part of the spectrum does not guarantee the absence of a highly developed civilization. This is still possible, although difficult to implement, says Professor Garrett: “In fact, it is extremely unusual and alarming to see that type III civilizations do not seem to exist. This is not at all what we would have predicted, based on the current picture of the physical structure of the world, which explains the behavior of the universe so well. Apparently, we lack something. Perhaps such civilizations are so energy efficient that they almost do not emit waste heat. But it is difficult to implement from the point of view of modern physics. ”

The technique that the professor used in his work is applicable to the search for type II civilizations. They have not yet learned how to use the energy of the entire galaxy, but have mastered the central star of the planetary system (energy consumption is about 4 · 10 ²⁶ W), for example, using the Dyson sphere. These civilizations are much more advanced than human civilization, which did not grow to type I on the Kardashev scale. Now we are approximately at the level of technological development 0.72 .


Land. Level 0.72 on the Kardashev scale

The scientific article by Michael Garrett was published on September 15, 2015 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics ( pdf ).