Physicists at the KEK laboratory in Japan and the University of Hawaii have proposed a "futuristic but not necessarily impossible technology" that would use an ultra-high energy neutrino beam to destroy nuclear weapons. However, the researchers stress that the method is well beyond the capabilities of current particle accelerators and would require substantial R&D and financial investment by many nations.
Researchers at an underground laboratory in Japan have made the most persuasive case yet that particles called neutrinos ? wisps of near nothingness that course from the sun ? are capable of changing identity in midflight.
Astronomers are building telescopes at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea to detect nuetrinos and possibly confirm the existence of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs).
Just as the US government has called for a spending review of its neutrino-detection programmes, two teams of scientists raise hopes that these programmes won't be futile after all. Their modelling studies show that if very-high-energy neutrinos are indeed out there, we should be able to see them.
The authors assess the use of existing neutrino detection technology as a tool for detecting nuclear explosions. They conclude that due to technological limitations, "practical applications of this method for nuclear test detection are almost certainly out of reach for the foreseeable future." [ PDF Document ]