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arXiv:2003.11799 · Quantum Information and Computation

Quantum Alice and silent Bob: Qubit-based Quantum Key Recycling with almost no classical communication

Daan Leermakers, Boris Škorić

Published Feb 1, 2021• 9 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We answer an open question about Quantum Key Recycling (QKR): Is it possible to put the message entirely in the qubits without increasing the number of qubits compared to existing QKR schemes? We show that this is indeed possible. We introduce a prepare-and-measure QKR protocol where the communication from Alice to Bob consists entirely of qubits. As usual, Bob responds with an authenticated one-bit accept/reject classical message. Compared to Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), QKR has reduced round complexity. Compared to previous qubit-based QKR protocols, our scheme has far less classical communication. We provide a security proof in the universal composability framework and find that the communication rate is asymptotically the same as for QKD with one-way postprocessing.

DOI
10.26421/qic21.1-2-1

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We answer an open question about Quantum Key Recycling (QKR): Is it possible to put the message entirely in the qubits without increasing the number of qubits compared to existing QKR schemes? We show that this is indeed possible. We introduce a prepare-and-measure QKR protocol where the communication from Alice to Bob consists entirely of qubits. As usual, Bob responds with an authenticated one-bit accept/reject classical message. Compared to Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), QKR has reduced round complexity. Compared to previous qubit-based QKR protocols, our scheme has far less classical communication. We provide a security proof in the universal composability framework and find that the communication rate is asymptotically the same as for QKD with one-way postprocessing.
We re-visit Unclonable Encryption as introduced by Gottesman in 2003. We look at the combination of Unclonable Encryption and Key Recycling, while aiming for low communication complexity and high rate. We introduce a qubit-based prepare-and-measure Unclonable Encryption scheme with re-usable keys. Our scheme consists of a single transmission by Alice and a single classical feedback bit from Bob. The transmission from Alice to Bob consists entirely of qubits. The rate, defined as the message length divided by the number of qubits, is higher than what can be achieved using Gottesman's scheme. We provide a security proof based on the diamond norm distance, taking noise into account.
Quantum Key Recycling aims to re-use the keys employed in quantum encryption and quantum authentication schemes. QKR protocols can achieve better round complexity than Quantum Key Distribution. We consider a QKR protocol that works with qubits, as opposed to high-dimensional qudits. A security proof was given by Fehr and Salvail in the case where there is practically no noise. A high-rate scheme for the noisy case was proposed by \v{S}kori\'{c} and de Vries, based on eight-state encoding. However, a security proof was not given. In this paper we introduce a protocol modification and provide a security proof. The modified protocol has high rate not only for 8-state encoding, but also 6-state and BB84 encoding. Our proof is based on a bound on the trace distance between the real quantum state of the system and a state in which the keys are completely secure. It turns out that the rate is higher than suggested by previous results. Asymptotically the rate equals the rate of Quantum Key Distribution with one-way postprocessing.
Quantum Key Recycling aims to re-use the keys employed in quantum encryption and quantum authentication schemes. QKR protocols can achieve better round complexity than Quantum Key Distribution. We consider a QKR protocol that works with qubits, as opposed to high-dimensional qudits. A security proof was given by Fehr and Salvail [1] in the case where there is practically no noise. A high-rate scheme for the noisy case was proposed by Škorić and de Vries [2], based on eight-state encoding. However, a security proof was not given. In this paper we introduce a protocol modification to [2] and provide a security proof. The modified protocol has high rate not only for 8- state encoding, but also 6-state and BB84 encoding. Our proof is based on a bound on the trace distance between the real quantum state of the system and a state in which the keys are completely secure. It turns out that the rate is higher than suggested by previous results. Asymptotically the rate equals the rate of Quantum Key Distribution with one-way postprocessing.
We re-visit Unclonable Encryption as introduced by Gottesman in~2003 \cite{uncl}. We look at the combination of Unclonable Encryption and Key Recycling, while aiming for low communication complexity and high rate. We introduce a qubit-based prepare-and-measure Unclonable Encryption scheme with re-usable keys. Our scheme consists of a single transmission by Alice and a single classical feedback from Bob. The transmission from Alice to Bob consists entirely of qubits. The rate, defined as the message length divided by the number of qubits, is higher than what can be achieved using Gottesman's scheme~\cite{uncl}. We provide a security proof based on the diamond norm distance, taking noise into account.
Quantum Key Recycling (QKR) is a quantum cryptographic primitive that allows one to reuse keys in an unconditionally secure way. By removing the need to repeatedly generate new keys, it improves communication efficiency. Škorić and de Vries recently proposed a QKR scheme based on 8-state encoding (four bases). It does not require quantum computers for encryption/decryption but only single-qubit operations. We provide a missing ingredient in the security analysis of this scheme in the case of noisy channels: accurate upper bounds on the required amount of privacy amplification. We determine optimal attacks against the message and against the key, for 8-state encoding as well as 4-state and 6-state conjugate coding. We provide results in terms of min-entropy loss as well as accessible (Shannon) information. We show that the Shannon entropy analysis for 8-state encoding reduces to the analysis of quantum key distribution, whereas 4-state and 6-state suffer from additional leaks that make them less effective. From the optimal attacks we compute the required amount of privacy amplification and hence the achievable communication rate (useful information per qubit) of qubit-based QKR. Overall, 8-state encoding yields the highest communication rates.