Probing the Dark Sector with the Coherent Captain Mills Experiment at LANSCE
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Atomic, Nuclear and Particle Physics↗
Engineering topics
Van De Water, Richard G.
Publications and source records attributed to Van De Water, Richard G..
Project ν x B: Novel Application of Neutrinos to Evaluate U.S. Nuclear Weapons Performance
In this white paper, we discuss the feasibility of diagnosing a nuclear explosion using a neutrino detector. This idea was first proposed by Reines and Cowan to observe the then hypothesized neutrino. Since then, the neutrino was discovered and over the decades the field of neutrino research has matured and many properties of the neutrino have been measured such as interaction cross sections, masses, abundances, etc. The neutrino has been observed from the sun, supernova, nuclear reactors, accelerators, and even the Earth’s core. Interestingly, one of the most prolific sources of neutrinos, a man-made nuclear explosion, has yet to be detected.
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
Proposal to Develop Neutrino Diagnostics for Nuclear Weapons Tests
A nuclear weapon test would be a prolific source of neutrinos in a relatively short time window (<1 s). These neutrinos could be easily detected at distances of 10s of meters or more by detector technology that has been developed for studying neutrino interactions from nuclear reactors. Such a concept was already proposed at LANL in the 50’s but was finally reject for a more controlled experiment at a nuclear reactor – this latter method went on to win the 1995 Nobel prize in physics for the detection of the neutrino. However, times have changed and revisiting this concept could have new unappreciated applications.
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗