Nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena

Hecla, Jake J.; Danagoulian, Areg

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03680-4

Title: Nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena

Journal Article · Wed Mar 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03680-4· OSTI ID:1529372

Hecla, Jake J. ^[1]; Danagoulian, Areg ^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

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. In this work, 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.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0002534

OSTI ID:: 1529372

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 11 works

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A physically cryptographic warhead verification system using neutron induced nuclear resonances Engel, Ezra M.; Danagoulian, Areg Nature Communications, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12386-0	journal	September 2019
Feasibility study of a compact neutron resonance transmission analysis instrument Engel, Ezra M.; Klein, Ethan A.; Danagoulian, Areg AIP Advances, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5129961	journal	January 2020
A physically cryptographic warhead verification system using neutron induced nuclear resonances Engel, Ezra M.; Danagoulian, Areg arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1907.06978	text	January 2019
Feasibility study of a compact Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis instrument Engel, Ezra M.; Klein, Ethan A.; Danagoulian, Areg arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1909.11120	text	January 2019