Dyson spheres
I review the origins and development of the idea of Dyson spheres, their purpose, their engineering, and their detectability. I explicate the ways in which the popular imagining of them as monolithic objects would make them dynamically unstable under gravity and radiation pressure, and mech...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Astronomical Observatory, Department of Astronomy, Belgrade
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Serbian Astronomical Journal |
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| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-698X/2020/1450-698X2000001W.pdf |
| Summary: | I review the origins and development of the idea of Dyson spheres, their
purpose, their engineering, and their detectability. I explicate the ways in
which the popular imagining of them as monolithic objects would make them
dynamically unstable under gravity and radiation pressure, and mechanically
unstable to buckling. I develop a model for the radiative coupling between a
star and large amounts of material orbiting it, and connect the
observational features of a star plus Dyson sphere system to the gross
radiative properties of the sphere itself. I discuss the still-unexplored
problem of the effects of radiative feedback on the central star's structure
and luminosity. Finally, I discuss the optimal sizes of Dyson spheres under
various assumptions about their purpose as sources of low-entropy emission,
dissipative work, or computation. |
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| ISSN: | 1450-698X 1820-9289 |