Fast radio bursts, of course, held some interest for scientists working on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, until the cause was determined to be nature-made rather than a technosignature. And now a group of researchers has published a paper in the Physical Review D that talks about looking for quantum messages.

I know it sounds a little Ant-Man-ish, but quantum communication is an up-and-coming field. Messages sent using this method could be more secure. Per the new paper with co-authors Argun Berera and Jaime Calderón Figueroa, X-ray photons could potentially traverse the distance of the Milky Way without losing their quantum state, which happens when quantum particles interact with their surroundings.

And that brings us to another rather Ant-Man term: quantum teleportation. This process occurs when a distant particle transfers its properties to another particle. Scientists could use both the quantum signals and the more classical, narrowband signals to look for simultaneous communications as technosignatures.

Again, this is all theoretical, and now we need experimentalists and engineers to figure out the actual method for detecting quantum signals.

More Information

Aliens could send quantum messages to Earth, calculations suggest (Science News)

“Viability of quantum communication across interstellar distances,” Arjun Berera and Jaime Calderón-Figueroa, 2022 June 28, Physical Review D