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One of the controversial mysteries of astronomy is now being studied by artificial intelligence.
A team of researchers from Breakthrough Listen, a SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project led by the University of California at Berkeley, has developed a machine learning algorithm to examine cosmic data and identify radio impulses, strange pulses, and energetic pulses. of distant galaxies. No one knows for sure what causes these radio broadcasts, but theories abound – highly magnetized neutron stars battling black holes for signs of extraterrestrial life.
In a recent study, SETI researchers used an A.I. system identifier to discover dozens of unidentified fast radio bursts from a source 3 billion light-years away. The fast radio bursts were selected from a dataset that had already been analyzed by astronomers.
"Artificial intelligence has undergone very rapid development in recent years and its application in medicine, security, finance and recognition of everyday objects has already reached a certain level of maturity," Gerry Zhang, Ph. D. UC Berkeley. Students who helped develop the new machine learning algorithm told Digital Trends. "Astronomy represents a relatively unexplored area for A.I. The very large volume of data collected by astronomers is a difficult playground for IAs. The radioastronomy data themselves present great challenges and high noise. Learning to apply A.I. to these new data is difficult and fruitful. "
To make this discovery, Zhang and his team used a convolutional neural network, a type of modeled algorithm of the human brain, which was used to find craters on the moon and help detect earthquakes.
In their recent study, the researchers trained their algorithm on simulated signals, teaching the teacher to recognize signs of rapid radio bursts, and then "let the trained network lose data containing the actual signals," Zhang said. The result was the discovery of 72 signals that astronomers had previously missed.
The new discoveries help to decipher the current cosmic mystery of the origin of fast radio bursts. Are they extraterrestrials? Probably not. But it could be. Anyway, it's a mystery that deserves to be explored. Astronomers now need more data and better systems to analyze information.
"Fast radio bursts are one of the most recently discovered unknown signals in astronomy," Zhang said. "With new instruments designed for them online, [they are] should be one of the unknowns that will be resolved in the next five to ten years. "
An article on research has recently been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
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