Recent research in astrophysics suggests a new way to find 'Dyson swarms'—large groups of solar collectors built by advanced civilizations—by looking for unusual infrared heat and changes in star temperatures.

近期天體物理學的研究提出了一種新方法，透過尋找異常的紅外線熱能與恆星溫度變化，來發現「戴森球群」——即是由高等文明建造的大型太陽能收集器群。

The idea of capturing a star's energy was first proposed by Freeman Dyson in 1960. While he originally imagined a solid shell, scientists now believe a 'swarm' of separate orbiting structures is more realistic because a solid sphere would require too many materials. Researcher Amirnezam Amiri from the University of Arkansas emphasizes that red dwarfs and white dwarfs are the best stars for these structures. Red dwarfs are common and live for a very long time, whereas white dwarfs are dense and provide stable energy, meaning the structures would not need to be as large.

捕捉恆星能量的想法是由 Freeman Dyson 於 1960 年首次提出。雖然他最初想像是一個實心殼，但現在科學家認為，由獨立軌道結構組成的「球群」更為現實，因為實心球體需要過多材料。阿肯色大學的研究員 Amirnezam Amiri 強調，紅矮星與白矮星是最適合建設這些結構的恆星。紅矮星十分普遍且壽命極長，而白矮星則密度高且能量穩定，意味著這些結構不需要建得如此巨大。

To detect these structures, scientists use the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram. A Dyson swarm would absorb visible light and release it as infrared heat, which would make the star's surface temperature seem much lower than it actually is. For example, a red dwarf's temperature could appear to drop from 3,000K to 50K, placing it in an area of the diagram where no natural stars exist. Furthermore, these structures would not show the same chemical signatures as natural space dust. Consequently, irregular changes in brightness would also suggest that the object is man-made rather than a natural phenomenon.

為了偵測這些結構，科學家使用赫羅圖 (H-R diagram)。戴森球群會吸收可見光並以紅外線熱能形式釋放，這會使恆星的表面溫度看起來比實際低得多。例如，紅矮星的溫度可能會從 3,000K 降至 50K，使其落在圖表中不存在天然恆星的區域。此外，這些結構不會顯示與天然太空塵埃相同的化學特徵。因此，亮度的不規則變化也將暗示該物件是人造的而非天然現象。

Organizations are now using the James Webb Space Telescope and the WISE satellite to find these anomalies. A project called Hephaistos recently checked five million stars and found seven possible candidates. However, after discovering that one signal was actually caused by a distant black hole, only five candidates are still being studied.

相關機構目前正使用詹姆斯·韋伯太空望遠鏡與 WISE 衛星來尋找這些異常現象。一個名為 Hephaistos 的計畫最近檢查了五百萬顆恆星，發現了七個可能的候選對象。然而，在發現其中一個信號實際上是由遙遠的黑洞引起後，目前僅剩五個候選對象仍在研究中。

Astronomers are now focusing on using infrared analysis to determine if these five remaining candidates are actually engineered structures or simply natural space events.

天文學家目前正專注於使用紅外線分析，以判定這五個剩餘的候選對象究竟是工程結構，還是僅為天然的太空事件。