1,445 research outputs found
Unambiguous state discrimination in quantum cryptography with weak coherent states
The use of linearly independent signal states in realistic implementations of
quantum key distribution (QKD) enables an eavesdropper to perform unambiguous
state discrimination. We explore quantitatively the limits for secure QKD
imposed by this fact taking into account that the receiver can monitor to some
extend the photon number statistics of the signals even with todays standard
detection schemes. We compare our attack to the beamsplitting attack and show
that security against beamsplitting attack does not necessarily imply security
against the attack considered here.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, updated version with added discussion of
beamsplitting attac
Many Roads to Synchrony: Natural Time Scales and Their Algorithms
We consider two important time scales---the Markov and cryptic orders---that
monitor how an observer synchronizes to a finitary stochastic process. We show
how to compute these orders exactly and that they are most efficiently
calculated from the epsilon-machine, a process's minimal unifilar model.
Surprisingly, though the Markov order is a basic concept from stochastic
process theory, it is not a probabilistic property of a process. Rather, it is
a topological property and, moreover, it is not computable from any
finite-state model other than the epsilon-machine. Via an exhaustive survey, we
close by demonstrating that infinite Markov and infinite cryptic orders are a
dominant feature in the space of finite-memory processes. We draw out the roles
played in statistical mechanical spin systems by these two complementary length
scales.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures:
http://cse.ucdavis.edu/~cmg/compmech/pubs/kro.htm. Santa Fe Institute Working
Paper 10-11-02
Correlated Errors in Quantum Error Corrections
We show that errors are not generated correlatedly provided that quantum bits
do not directly interact with (or couple to) each other. Generally, this
no-qubits-interaction condition is assumed except for the case where two-qubit
gate operation is being performed. In particular, the no-qubits-interaction
condition is satisfied in the collective decoherence models. Thus, errors are
not correlated in the collective decoherence. Consequently, we can say that
current quantum error correcting codes which correct single-qubit-errors will
work in most cases including the collective decoherence.Comment: no correction, 3 pages, RevTe
Is Quantum Bit Commitment Really Possible?
We show that all proposed quantum bit commitment schemes are insecure because
the sender, Alice, can almost always cheat successfully by using an
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen type of attack and delaying her measurement until she
opens her commitment.Comment: Major revisions to include a more extensive introduction and an
example of bit commitment. Overlap with independent work by Mayers
acknowledged. More recent works by Mayers, by Lo and Chau and by Lo are also
noted. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Insecurity of Quantum Secure Computations
It had been widely claimed that quantum mechanics can protect private
information during public decision in for example the so-called two-party
secure computation. If this were the case, quantum smart-cards could prevent
fake teller machines from learning the PIN (Personal Identification Number)
from the customers' input. Although such optimism has been challenged by the
recent surprising discovery of the insecurity of the so-called quantum bit
commitment, the security of quantum two-party computation itself remains
unaddressed. Here I answer this question directly by showing that all
``one-sided'' two-party computations (which allow only one of the two parties
to learn the result) are necessarily insecure. As corollaries to my results,
quantum one-way oblivious password identification and the so-called quantum
one-out-of-two oblivious transfer are impossible. I also construct a class of
functions that cannot be computed securely in any ``two-sided'' two-party
computation. Nevertheless, quantum cryptography remains useful in key
distribution and can still provide partial security in ``quantum money''
proposed by Wiesner.Comment: The discussion on the insecurity of even non-ideal protocols has been
greatly extended. Other technical points are also clarified. Version accepted
for publication in Phys. Rev.
Security against individual attacks for realistic quantum key distribution
I prove the security of quantum key distribution against individual attacks
for realistic signals sources, including weak coherent pulses and
downconversion sources. The proof applies to the BB84 protocol with the
standard detection scheme (no strong reference pulse). I obtain a formula for
the secure bit rate per time slot of an experimental setup which can be used to
optimize the performance of existing schemes for the considered scenario.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Role of causality in ensuring unconditional security of relativistic quantum cryptography
The problem of unconditional security of quantum cryptography (i.e. the
security which is guaranteed by the fundamental laws of nature rather than by
technical limitations) is one of the central points in quantum information
theory. We propose a relativistic quantum cryptosystem and prove its
unconditional security against any eavesdropping attempts. Relativistic
causality arguments allow to demonstrate the security of the system in a simple
way. Since the proposed protocol does not employ collective measurements and
quantum codes, the cryptosystem can be experimentally realized with the present
state-of-art in fiber optics technologies. The proposed cryptosystem employs
only the individual measurements and classical codes and, in addition, the key
distribution problem allows to postpone the choice of the state encoding scheme
until after the states are already received instead of choosing it before
sending the states into the communication channel (i.e. to employ a sort of
``antedate'' coding).Comment: 9 page
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