论文标题
“ WOW”信号可以起源于随机重复的信标吗？
Could the "Wow" signal have originated from a stochastic repeating beacon?
论文作者
论文摘要
1977年检测到的著名的“ WOW”信号可以说仍然是有史以来最引人注目的SETI信号。原始的大耳朵数据要求信号在〜3分钟的跨度（双重天线之间的时间差）中打开/关闭，但持续72秒（单光束扫描的持续时间）。结合实质性和负面的随访工作，这些观察结果限制了允许的信号重复时间表的范围，以至于人们可能会质疑信号本身的可信度。先前的工作在很大程度上排除了严格周期性重复源的假设，该假设短于40小时。但是，非周期性的随机中继器在很大程度上尚未探索。在这里，我们使用观察日志的大耳朵采用可能的模拟器来推断该假设下的可能的信号特性。我们发现，最大A-posteriori解决方案的可能性为32.3％，与大耳朵数据高度兼容，信号持续时间为2 $σ$可信的间隔72秒<t <77分钟，平均重复速率0.043 1/days <$λ$ <$λ$ $ <59.8 1/天/天。我们将分析扩展到包括192小时的随后观察结果，从Meta，Hobart和ATA进行了分析，该观察结果将峰值的可能性下降到1.78％，因此在2.4 $σ$级别的张力下，可用数据处于张力。因此，WOW信号不能被排除为具有可用数据的随机中继器，并且我们估计，超过3 $σ$置信度需要62天的累积额外观察结果。
The famous "Wow" signal detected in 1977 remains arguably the most compelling SETI signal ever found. The original Big Ear data requires that the signal turned on/off over the span of ~3 minutes (time difference between the dual antennae), yet persisted for 72 seconds (duration of a single beam sweep). Combined with the substantial and negative follow-up efforts, these observations limit the allowed range of signal repeat schedules, to the extent that one might question the credibility of the signal itself. Previous work has largely excluded the hypothesis of a strictly periodic repeating source, for periods shorter than 40 hours. However, a non-periodic, stochastic repeater remains largely unexplored. Here, we employ a likelihood emulator using the Big Ear observing logs to infer the probable signal properties under this hypothesis. We find that the maximum a-posteriori solution has a likelihood of 32.3%, highly compatible with the Big Ear data, with a broad 2 $σ$ credible interval of signal duration 72 secs < T < 77 mins and mean repeat rate 0.043 1/days < $λ$ < 59.8 1/days. We extend our analysis to include 192 hours of subsequent observations from META, Hobart and ATA, which drops the peak likelihood to 1.78%, and thus in tension with the available data at the 2.4 $σ$ level. Accordingly, the Wow signal cannot be excluded as a stochastic repeater with available data, and we estimate that 62 days of accumulated additional observations would be necessary to surpass 3 $σ$ confidence.
