  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 towards a treaty partner's obligation. This
work presents a novel 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.

Physics and Society;Instrumentation and Detectors