Abstract
We investigate the Spectral Kurtosis (SK) statistical signature of a
signal observed with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
Breakthrough Listen back-end that was transmitted by the Voyager 1
spacecraft, which is up to date the only known artificial signal
originating from outside our solar system, and we demonstrate the
ability of the SK estimator to perform real-time detection and
discrimination against natural astronomical transients of deep-space
Voyager 1-like technological signatures of alien origin. We use the same
approach to investigate the yet controversial nature of the FRB 180301
signal detected during the Breakthrough Listen observations with the
Parkes telescope.