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arXiv:1909.09865 · Applied Sciences

An Optical Implementation of Quantum Bit Commitment Using Infinite-Dimensional Systems

Guang Ping He

Published Jun 29, 2023• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment (QBC) was widely believed to be impossible for more than two decades, but recently, based on an anomalous behavior found in quantum steering, we proposed a QBC protocol which can be unconditionally secure in principle. The protocol requires the use of infinite-dimensional systems, so it may seem less feasible in practice. Here, we propose a quantum optical method based on the Mach–Zehnder interferometer, which gives a very good approximation to such infinite-dimensional systems. Thus, it enables a proof-of-principle experimental implementation of our protocol, which can also serve as a practically secure QBC scheme. Other multi-party cryptographic protocols such as quantum coin tossing can be built upon it too. Our approach also reveals a relationship between infinity and non-locality, which may have an impact on the research of fundamental theories.

DOI
10.3390/app13137692

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Unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment (QBC) was widely believed to be impossible for more than two decades, but recently, based on an anomalous behavior found in quantum steering, we proposed a QBC protocol which can be unconditionally secure in principle. The protocol requires the use of infinite-dimensional systems, so it may seem less feasible in practice. Here, we propose a quantum optical method based on the Mach–Zehnder interferometer, which gives a very good approximation to such infinite-dimensional systems. Thus, it enables a proof-of-principle experimental implementation of our protocol, which can also serve as a practically secure QBC scheme. Other multi-party cryptographic protocols such as quantum coin tossing can be built upon it too. Our approach also reveals a relationship between infinity and non-locality, which may have an impact on the research of fundamental theories.
Unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment (QBC) was considered impossible. But the no-go proofs are based on the Hughston–Jozsa–Wootters (HJW) theorem (a.k.a. the Uhlmann theorem). Recently, it was found that in high-dimensional systems, there exist some states which can display a chaos effect in quantum steering, so that the attack strategy based on the HJW theorem has to require the capability of discriminating quantum states with very subtle difference, to the extent that is not allowed by the uncertainty principle. With the help of this finding, here we propose a simple QBC protocol which manages to evade the no-go proofs.
Quantum physics allows for unconditionally secure communication between parties that trust each other. However, when the parties do not trust each other such as in the bit commitment scenario, quantum physics is not enough to guarantee security unless extra assumptions are made. Unconditionally secure bit commitment only becomes feasible when quantum physics is combined with relativistic causality constraints. Here we experimentally implement a quantum bit commitment protocol with relativistic constraints that offers unconditional security. The commitment is made through quantum measurements in two quantum key distribution systems in which the results are transmitted via free-space optical communication to two agents separated with more than 20 km. The security of the protocol relies on the properties of quantum information and relativity theory. In each run of the experiment, a bit is successfully committed with less than 5.68×10(-2) cheating probability. This demonstrates the experimental feasibility of quantum communication with relativistic constraints.
Bit commitment involves the submission of evidence from one party to another so that the evidence can be used to confirm a later revealed bit value by the first party, while the second party cannot determine the bit value from the evidence alone. It is widely believed that unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment is impossible due to quantum entanglement cheating, which is codified in a general impossibility theorem. In this paper, the scope of this general impossibility proof is analyzed, and gaps are found. Two variants of a bit commitment scheme utilizing anonymous quantum states and decoy states are presented. In the first variant, the exact verifying measurement is independent of the committed bit value, thus the second party can make it before the first party opens, making possible an unconditional security proof based on no-cloning. In the second variant, the impossibility proof fails because quantum entanglement purification of a mixed state does not render the protocol determinate. Whether impossibility holds in this or similar protocols is an open question, although preliminary results already show that the impossibility proof cannot work as it stands.
Bit commitment involves the submission of evidence from one party to another so that the evidence can be used to confirm a later revealed bit value by the first party, while the second party cannot determine the bit value from the evidence alone. It is widely believed that secure quantum bit commitment is impossible due to quantum entanglement cheating, which is codified in a general impossibility theorem. In this paper, the scope of this general impossibility proof is extended and analyzed, and gaps are found. Three specific protocols are described for which the entanglement cheating as given in the impossibility proof fails to work. One of these protocols, QBC2, is proved to be unconditionally secure.
Oblivious transfer (OT) and bit commitment (BC) are two-party cryptographic protocols which play crucial roles in the construction of various cryptographic protocols. We propose three practical quantum cryptographic protocols in this paper. We first construct a practical quantum random oblivious transfer (R-OT) protocol based on the fact that non-orthogonal states cannot be reliably distinguished. Then, we construct a fault-tolerant one-out-of-two oblivious transfer ( O T 1 2 ) protocol based on the quantum R-OT protocol. Afterwards, we propose a quantum bit commitment (QBC) protocol which executes the fault-tolerant O T 1 2 several times. Mayers, Lo and Chau (MLC) no-go theorem proves that QBC protocol cannot be unconditionally secure. However, we find that computing the unitary transformation of no-go theorem attack needs so many resources that it is not realistically implementable. We give a definition of physical security for QBC protocols and prove that the practical QBC we proposed is physically secure and can be implemented in the real world.
It is generally believed that unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment (QBC) is proven impossible by a "no-go theorem". We point out that the theorem only establishes the existence of a cheating unitary transformation in any QBC scheme secure against the receiver, but this fact alone is not sufficient to rule out unconditionally secure QBC as a matter of principle, because there exists no proof that the cheating unitary transformation must be known to the cheater in all possible cases. In this work, we show how to circumvent the "no-go theorem" and prove that unconditionally secure QBC is in fact possible.