Nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena
Name
s41467-018-03680-4.pdf
Size
1.18 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
31b22a3bcc745bb277f30c269371b44e
Author(s)
Hecla, Jake J.
Danagoulian, Areg
Date Issued
March 2018
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Hecla, Jake J., and Areg Danagoulian. “Nuclear Disarmament Verification via Resonant Phenomena.” Nature Communications 9, 1 (March 2018): 1259 © 2018 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Nuclear disarmament treaties are not sufficient in and of themselves to neutralize the existential threat of the nuclear weapons. Technologies are necessary for verifying the authenticity of the nuclear warheads undergoing dismantlement before counting them toward a treaty partner's obligation. Here we present a concept that leverages isotope-specific nuclear resonance phenomena to authenticate a warhead's fissile components by comparing them to a previously authenticated template. All information is encrypted in the physical domain in a manner that amounts to a physical zero-knowledge proof system. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the system is shown to reveal no isotopic or geometric information about the weapon, while readily detecting hoaxing attempts. This nuclear technique can dramatically increase the reach and trustworthiness of future nuclear disarmament treaties.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03680-4
