Michael A. Garrett
Radio astronomer and seti researcher; Sir Bernard Lovell Chair of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester and Chair of the IAA SETI Committee. Lead author of the May 2026 arXiv preprint (2605.10212) introducing the BRaTs (Broadband Radio Technosignatures) framework (src-brats-radio-technosignatures-2026-05).
In June 2026 he led the IAA-ratified major revision of the SETI post-detection-protocols — the first in over 15 years — championing independent verification before any public announcement and the “No Reply” consensus (src-seti-detection-protocols-revision-2026-06). Garrett argues that modern terrestrial RF infrastructure is becoming wideband and distributed, so narrowband-only SETI surveys risk discarding the actual leakage of advanced civilizations as unstructured noise. Proposes a tiered observational pipeline of wide-field SKA surveys with vlbi follow-up.
Key contributions
- BRaTs framework (2026): hierarchical broadband leakage search using SKA + VLBI.
- Multi-parameter candidate discriminator: high brightness temperature, negligible circular polarization, spectral non-uniformity, interstellar scintillation, sub-milliarcsecond astrometric co-motion with nearby stars/exoplanets.
- Argument that broadband continuum signals are Doppler-drift insensitive, enabling long-integration “SETI Deep Fields” extending Kardashev Type I detection volume to ~100 pc.