Description: Lecture, two hours; laboratory, two hours. Enforced requisites: Mathematics 31B, Physics 1B. Recommended: course 71 or Computer Science 31 or Program in Computing 10A, and Physics 110B. Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is based on number of astronomical, mathematical, statistical, and computational principles. Coverage of fundamental concepts in these disciplines in context of SETI: abundance and architecture of extrasolar planetary systems; radio astronomy, including wave propagation and dispersion; signal processing, including sampling theory and Fourier transforms; random processes, including Gaussian and Poisson statistics, and algorithm development. Design of observational program, acquisition of telescopic data, development of algorithms to analyze data, and writing of report on results. Concurrently scheduled with course C179. S/U or letter grading.

Units: 4.0