New quantum cryptography mathematics
Original version From This story It appeared Quanta Magazine.
Hard problems are usually not a welcome vision. But the encrypters love them. The reason is that some of the harsh mathematical problems are the basis of modern encryption security. Every clever trick to solve them creates most of the encryption forms.
A few years ago, the researchers took a completely new approach to encryption that lacks this potentially weak point. This approach exploits the strange features of quantum physics. But unlike previous quantum encryption designs, which only work for a few specific tasks, the new approach can do a wider range of things. And even if all the problems in the heart of the ordinary “classic” encryption can be easily solved.
But this remarkable discovery relied on unrealistic assumptions. Fermi Ma, a cryptocurrency researcher at the Simmons Institute for theory of computing in Berkeley, California, said the result is “more proving the concept”. “This is not a statement about the real world.”
Now, a new essay by two cryptographic has set a path for quantum encryption without those strange assumptions. We said, “This article says that if some other speculations are correct, there should be quantum cryptography.”
The castle in the sky
You can think of modern encryption as a tower with three basic parts. The first part of the bed is the depth below the tower, which is made of hard mathematical problems. The tower itself is the second part – where you can find specific encryption protocols that allow you to send private messages, sign digital documents, hidden voting and more.
In the meantime, the supply of daily programs in the mathematical context is the basis made of building blocks called unilateral functions. They are responsible for the inherent asymmetry in each encryption plan. “This is one -sided because you can encrypt the messages, but you can’t decipher them,” said Mark Zendari, the encryption at NTT Research.
In the 1980s, the researchers proved that encryption built above one -way functions guarantees the security of many different tasks. But a few decades later, they are still not sure that the bed is strong enough to support it. The problem is that the platform is made of difficult and difficult problems – technically known as NP problems – the definition characteristic is that the correct examination is whether the solution is correct. (For example, breaking a number on its main factors is an NP problem: it is difficult for a lot of work to do, but it’s easy to check.)
Many of these problems seem inherently difficult, but computer scientists have failed to prove it. If one discovers an innovative algorithm to quickly solve the most difficult NP problems, the bed will be crushed and the whole tower collapses.
Unfortunately, you can’t simply move your tower to another place. The Tower Foundation-One-way functions-can only sit on the bed of NP problems.
To create a tower on more difficult problems, the cryptars need a new foundation that is not made of unilateral functions. Until a few years ago, it seemed impossible when the researchers found out that quantum physics could help.
