Research Seminars @ Illinois

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Tailored for undergraduate researchers, this calendar is a curated list of research seminars at the University of Illinois. Explore the diverse world of research and expand your knowledge through engaging sessions designed to inspire and enlighten.

To have your events added or removed from this calendar, please contact OUR at ugresearch@illinois.edu

Astrophysics, Relativity, and Cosmology Seminar - Andrew Blain (University of Leicester) "WISE, Aliens and Very Luminous Galaxies"

Event Type: Seminar/Symposium
Sponsor: Department of Physics
Location: Rhondale Tso Seminar Room, Loomis 236
Virtual: Join online
Date: Aug 20, 2025 12:00 pm
Speaker: Andrew Blain, University of Leicester
Contact: Deanna Frye
E-Mail: ddebord@illinois.edu
Views: 70
Originating Calendar: Physics - Astrophysics, Relativity, and Cosmology Seminar; The WISE all-sky survey highlighted a population of ultraluminous galaxies with dramatic hot dust emission, amongst the most powerful AGN ever to have existed. Since 2010 these have been investigated extensively, including remarkable views with ALMA and JWST. Also since 2010 there have been claims that the WISE catalog contains potential “Dyson spheres” - signatures of advanced civilizations obscuring a significant fraction of their stars’ light to satisfy their energy needs. This is unlikely, but the lack of civilizations’ waste heat emitters in the WISE catalog does place useful limits on their abundance/lifetimes, or else they are actively hiding. Microlensing makes such evasion very difficult, and offers the prospect of remarkable tests for signatures of “intelligent emissions”, especially if such an advanced civilization can “tame” a blackhole. Despite being science fiction, JWST will soon test the Dyson sphere idea.

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