{"paper":{"title":"A Framework for Applying the Loeb-Turner $\\alpha$-Slope Test to Archival Photometry of Trans-Neptunian Objects","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["astro-ph.IM"],"primary_cat":"astro-ph.EP","authors_text":"Abraham Loeb, Omer Eldadi","submitted_at":"2026-05-16T18:01:56Z","abstract_excerpt":"Reflected sunlight from a solar-system body produces a flux at Earth that scales as the heliocentric distance to the negative fourth power, whereas self-luminous emission scales as the negative second power. This difference defines the $\\alpha$-slope test proposed by Loeb & Turner (2012), a photometric technosignature diagnostic applicable to any solar-system body observed at multiple heliocentric distances. Of 22 (observatory $\\times$ band) analysis bins for Pluto in the Minor Planet Center (MPC) archive, none recovers the reflected-sunlight flux--distance slope predicted when photometry is r"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2605.17098","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2605.17098/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[{"name":"ai_meta_artifact","ran_at":"2026-05-19T22:33:23.797418Z","status":"skipped","version":"1.0.0","findings_count":0},{"name":"claim_evidence","ran_at":"2026-05-19T22:21:57.729982Z","status":"completed","version":"1.0.0","findings_count":0}],"snapshot_sha256":"980bc57f04dab9c8e7f14a765cbc7686455c03832a4a5b5d27cef14b3cb76e28"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}