Galactic settlement of low-mass stars as a resolution to the Fermi paradox
An expanding civilization could rapidly spread through the galaxy, so the
absence of extraterrestrial settlement in the solar system implies that such
expansionist civilizations do not exist. This argument, often referred to as
the Fermi paradox, typically assumes that expansion would proceed unifor…
[2210.10656] Galactic settlement of low-mass stars as a resolution to the Fermi paradox Global Survey In just 3 minutes help us understand how you see arXiv. TAKE SURVEY Skip to main content We gratefully acknowledge support fromthe Simons Foundation and member institutions. > physics > arXiv:2210.10656 Help | Advanced Search All fields Title Author Abstract Comments Journal reference ACM classification MSC classification Report number arXiv identifier DOI ORCID arXiv author ID Help pages Full text Search open search GO open navigation menu quick links Login Help Pages About Physics > Popular Physics arXiv:2210.10656 (physics) [Submitted on 14 Oct 2022] Title:Galactic settlement of low-mass stars as a resolution to the Fermi paradox Authors:Jacob Haqq-Misra, Thomas J. Fauchez Download PDF Abstract: An expanding civilization could rapidly spread through the galaxy, so the absence of extraterrestrial settlement in the solar system implies that such expansionist civilizations do not exist. This argument, often referred to as the Fermi paradox, typically assumes that expansion would proceed uniformly through the galaxy, but not all stellar types may be equally useful for a long-lived civilization. We suggest that low-mass stars, and K-dwarf stars in particular, would be ideal migration locations for civilizations that originate in a G-dwarf system. We use a modified form of the Drake Equation to show that expansion across all low-mass stars could be accomplished in 2 Gyr, which includes waiting time between expansion waves to allow for a close approach of a suitable destination star. This would require interstellar travel capabilities of no more than ~0.3 ly to settle all M-dwarfs and ~2 ly to settle all K-dwarfs. Even more rapid expansion could occur within 2 Myr, with travel requirements of ~10 ly to settle all M-dwarfs and ~50 ly to settle all K-dwarfs. The search for technosignatures in exoplanetary systems can help to place constraints on the presence of such a "low-mass Galactic Club" in the galaxy today. Comments: Accepted by the Astronomical Journal Subjects: Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) Cite as: arXiv:2210.10656 [physics.pop-ph] (or arXiv:2210.10656v1 [physics.pop-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2210.10656 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Journal reference: AJ (2022) 164: 247 Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ac9afd Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources Submission history From: Jacob Haqq-Misra [view email] [v1] Fri, 14 Oct 2022 23:39:36 UTC (63 KB) Full-text links: Download: PDF PostScript Other formats (license) Current browse context: physics.pop-ph < prev | next > new | recent | 2210 Change to browse by: astro-ph astro-ph.EP astro-ph.SR physics References & Citations NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar a export bibtex citation Loading... Bibtex formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs and how to get involved. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?) About Help contact arXivClick here to contact arXiv Contact subscribe to arXiv mailingsClick here to subscribe Subscribe Copyright Privacy Policy Web Accessibility Assistance arXiv Operational Status Get status notifications via email or slack