A 1.1-1.9 GHz SETI SURVEY OF THE KEPLER FIELD. I. A SEARCH FOR NARROW-BAND EMISSION FROM SELECT TARGETS

(1.) The stars searched were chosen based on the properties of their putative exoplanets, including stars hosting candidates with 380 K > T eq > 230 K, stars with five or more detected candidates or stars with a super-Earth (R p < 3 R ?) in a >50 day orbit. It is estimated that fewer than ~1% of transiting exoplanet systems host technological civilizations that are radio loud in narrow-band emission between 1 and 2 GHz at an equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) of ~1.5 x 1021 erg s-1, approximately eight times the peak EIRP of the Arecibo Planetary Radar, and we limit the number of 1-2 GHz narrow-band-radio-loud Kardashev type II civilizations in the Milky Way to be {<}10^{-6}\M_\odot.

(2.)We present a search for fast radio transients in targeted observations of planet candidates in the Kepler Field and candidate Astropulse sources. Kepler Field observations were conducted in the band 1.1 and 1.9 GHz using the Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia and are centered on 86 stars hosting candidate planets identified by the Kepler spacecraft. These stars were chosen based on the properties of their putative planetary system thought to be conducive to the development of advanced life, including all systems known (as of May 2011) hosting a Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) with a calculated equilibrium temperature between 230 and 380 K, at least 4 KOIs or a KOI with an inferred radius < 3.0 r and a period > 50 d. The Kepler Field is centered at an intermediate galactic latitude, b = 13.5(degrees), which presents an additional opportunity to detect signals from the older population of millisecond and recycled pulsars located above the galactic plane.