New upper bounds on sphere packings I

We develop an analogue for sphere packing of the linear programming bounds for error-correcting codes, and use it to prove upper bounds for the density of sphere packings, which are the best bounds known at least for dimensions 4 through 36. We conjecture that our approach can be used to solve the sphere packing problem in dimensions 8 and 24.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figur

On the Geometric Ergodicity of Metropolis-Hastings Algorithms for Lattice Gaussian Sampling

Sampling from the lattice Gaussian distribution is emerging as an important problem in coding and cryptography. In this paper, the classic Metropolis-Hastings (MH) algorithm from Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods is adapted for lattice Gaussian sampling. Two MH-based algorithms are proposed, which overcome the restriction suffered by the default Klein's algorithm. The first one, referred to as the independent Metropolis-Hastings-Klein (MHK) algorithm, tries to establish a Markov chain through an independent proposal distribution. We show that the Markov chain arising from the independent MHK algorithm is uniformly ergodic, namely, it converges to the stationary distribution exponentially fast regardless of the initial state. Moreover, the rate of convergence is explicitly calculated in terms of the theta series, leading to a predictable mixing time. In order to further exploit the convergence potential, a symmetric Metropolis-Klein (SMK) algorithm is proposed. It is proven that the Markov chain induced by the SMK algorithm is geometrically ergodic, where a reasonable selection of the initial state is capable to enhance the convergence performance.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

Ground states and formal duality relations in the Gaussian core model

We study dimensional trends in ground states for soft-matter systems. Specifically, using a high-dimensional version of Parrinello-Rahman dynamics, we investigate the behavior of the Gaussian core model in up to eight dimensions. The results include unexpected geometric structures, with surprising anisotropy as well as formal duality relations. These duality relations suggest that the Gaussian core model possesses unexplored symmetries, and they have implications for a broad range of soft-core potentials.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, appeared in Physical Review E (http://pre.aps.org

A new class of codes for Boolean masking of cryptographic computations

We introduce a new class of rate one-half binary codes: {\bf complementary information set codes.} A binary linear code of length $2n$ and dimension $n$ is called a complementary information set code (CIS code for short) if it has two disjoint information sets. This class of codes contains self-dual codes as a subclass. It is connected to graph correlation immune Boolean functions of use in the security of hardware implementations of cryptographic primitives. Such codes permit to improve the cost of masking cryptographic algorithms against side channel attacks. In this paper we investigate this new class of codes: we give optimal or best known CIS codes of length $<132.$ We derive general constructions based on cyclic codes and on double circulant codes. We derive a Varshamov-Gilbert bound for long CIS codes, and show that they can all be classified in small lengths $\le 12$ by the building up construction. Some nonlinear permutations are constructed by using $\Z_4$-codes, based on the notion of dual distance of an unrestricted code.Comment: 19 pages. IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, to appea

Quantum Stabilizer Codes, Lattices, and CFTs

There is a rich connection between classical error-correcting codes, Euclidean lattices, and chiral conformal field theories. Here we show that quantum error-correcting codes, those of the stabilizer type, are related to Lorentzian lattices and non-chiral CFTs. More specifically, real self-dual stabilizer codes can be associated with even self-dual Lorentzian lattices, and thus define Narain CFTs. We dub the resulting theories code CFTs and study their properties. T-duality transformations of a code CFT, at the level of the underlying code, reduce to code equivalences. By means of such equivalences, any stabilizer code can be reduced to a graph code. We can therefore represent code CFTs by graphs. We study code CFTs with small central charge c = n ≤ 12, and find many interesting examples. Among them is a non-chiral E8 theory, which is based on the root lattice of E8 understood as an even self-dual Lorentzian lattice. By analyzing all graphs with n ≤ 8 nodes we find many pairs and triples of physically distinct isospectral theories. We also construct numerous modular invariant functions satisfying all the basic properties expected of the CFT partition function, yet which are not partition functions of any known CFTs. We consider the ensemble average over all code theories, calculate the corresponding partition function, and discuss its possible holographic interpretation. The paper is written in a self-contained manner, and includes an extensive pedagogical introduction and many explicit examples

On the Proximity Factors of Lattice Reduction-Aided Decoding

Lattice reduction-aided decoding features reduced decoding complexity and near-optimum performance in multi-input multi-output communications. In this paper, a quantitative analysis of lattice reduction-aided decoding is presented. To this aim, the proximity factors are defined to measure the worst-case losses in distances relative to closest point search (in an infinite lattice). Upper bounds on the proximity factors are derived, which are functions of the dimension $n$ of the lattice alone. The study is then extended to the dual-basis reduction. It is found that the bounds for dual basis reduction may be smaller. Reasonably good bounds are derived in many cases. The constant bounds on proximity factors not only imply the same diversity order in fading channels, but also relate the error probabilities of (infinite) lattice decoding and lattice reduction-aided decoding.Comment: remove redundant figure