Quantum-proof randomness extractors via operator space theory

Quantum-proof randomness extractors are an important building block for classical and quantum cryptography as well as device independent randomness amplification and expansion. Furthermore they are also a useful tool in quantum Shannon theory. It is known that some extractor constructions are quantum-proof whereas others are provably not [Gavinsky et al., STOC'07]. We argue that the theory of operator spaces offers a natural framework for studying to what extent extractors are secure against quantum adversaries: we first phrase the definition of extractors as a bounded norm condition between normed spaces, and then show that the presence of quantum adversaries corresponds to a completely bounded norm condition between operator spaces. From this we show that very high min-entropy extractors as well as extractors with small output are always (approximately) quantum-proof. We also study a generalization of extractors called randomness condensers. We phrase the definition of condensers as a bounded norm condition and the definition of quantum-proof condensers as a completely bounded norm condition. Seeing condensers as bipartite graphs, we then find that the bounded norm condition corresponds to an instance of a well studied combinatorial problem, called bipartite densest subgraph. Furthermore, using the characterization in terms of operator spaces, we can associate to any condenser a Bell inequality (two-player game) such that classical and quantum strategies are in one-to-one correspondence with classical and quantum attacks on the condenser. Hence, we get for every quantum-proof condenser (which includes in particular quantum-proof extractors) a Bell inequality that can not be violated by quantum mechanics.Comment: v3: 34 pages, published versio

Quantum-Proof Extractors: Optimal up to Constant Factors

We give the first construction of a family of quantum-proof extractors that has optimal seed length dependence O(log(n/ǫ)) on the input length n and error ǫ. Our extractors support any min-entropy k = Ω(log n + log1+α (1/ǫ)) and extract m = (1 − α)k bits that are ǫ-close to uniform, for any desired constant α > 0. Previous constructions had a quadratically worse seed length or were restricted to very large input min-entropy or very few output bits. Our result is based on a generic reduction showing that any strong classical condenser is automatically quantum-proof, with comparable parameters. The existence of such a reduction for extractors is a long-standing open question; here we give an affirmative answer for condensers. Once this reduction is established, to obtain our quantum-proof extractors one only needs to consider high entropy sources. We construct quantum-proof extractors with the desired parameters for such sources by extending a classical approach to extractor construction, based on the use of block-sources and sampling, to the quantum setting. Our extractors can be used to obtain improved protocols for device-independent randomness expansion and for privacy amplification

Practical randomness amplification and privatisation with implementations on quantum computers

We present an end-to-end and practical randomness amplification and privatisation protocol based on Bell tests. This allows the building of device-independent random number generators which output (near-)perfectly unbiased and private numbers, even if using an uncharacterised quantum device potentially built by an adversary. Our generation rates are linear in the repetition rate of the quantum device and the classical randomness post-processing has quasi-linear complexity - making it efficient on a standard personal laptop. The statistical analysis is also tailored for real-world quantum devices. Our protocol is then showcased on several different quantum computers. Although not purposely built for the task, we show that quantum computers can run faithful Bell tests by adding minimal assumptions. In this semi-device-independent manner, our protocol generates (near-)perfectly unbiased and private random numbers on today's quantum computers.Comment: Important revisions and improvements to v1. inc. new sections, improvements to protocol itself and addition of full technical appendixes. 29+23 pages (15 figures and 2 tables

Quantum Bilinear Optimization

We study optimization programs given by a bilinear form over noncommutative variables subject to linear inequalities. Problems of this form include the entangled value of two-prover games, entanglement-assisted coding for classical channels, and quantum-proof randomness extractors. We introduce an asymptotically converging hierarchy of efficiently computable semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxations for this quantum optimization. This allows us to give upper bounds on the quantum advantage for all of these problems. Compared to previous work of Pironio, Navascués, and Acín [SIAM J. Optim., 20 (2010), pp. 2157-2180], our hierarchy has additional constraints. By means of examples, we illustrate the importance of these new constraints both in practice and for analytical properties. Moreover, this allows us to give a hierarchy of SDP outer approximations for the completely positive semidefinite cone introduced by Laurent and Piovesan

Quantum-Proof Extractors: Optimal up to Constant Factors

We give the first construction of a family of quantum-proof extractors that has optimal seed length dependence O(log(n/ǫ)) on the input length n and error ǫ. Our extractors support any min-entropy k = Ω(log n + log1+α (1/ǫ)) and extract m = (1 − α)k bits that are ǫ-close to uniform, for any desired constant α > 0. Previous constructions had a quadratically worse seed length or were restricted to very large input min-entropy or very few output bits. Our result is based on a generic reduction showing that any strong classical condenser is automatically quantum-proof, with comparable parameters. The existence of such a reduction for extractors is a long-standing open question; here we give an affirmative answer for condensers. Once this reduction is established, to obtain our quantum-proof extractors one only needs to consider high entropy sources. We construct quantum-proof extractors with the desired parameters for such sources by extending a classical approach to extractor construction, based on the use of block-sources and sampling, to the quantum setting. Our extractors can be used to obtain improved protocols for device-independent randomness expansion and for privacy amplification