Science and Society Test IX: Technical Means of Verification

David W. Hafemeister, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

Article comments

Copyright © 1986 American Association of Physics Teachers. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Association of Physics Teachers. The definitive version may be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.14506.

Abstract

Technical means of monitoring are used to verify compliance to arms control treaties. Numerical estimates are developed in order to quantify some aspects of (1) nuclear testing (signatures, optical double pulse calibration, decoupling in cavities, and high-frequency components in seismic signals), (2) optical reconnaissance (films versus CCDs, air turbulence, adaptive optics, and digital image processing), (3) infrared (resolution and detection sensitivity), and (4) radar (synthetic aperture and missile coefficient).