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A Note on Shor's Quantum Algorithm for Prime Factorization.

Zhengjun Cao

Published Jan 1, 2005• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

Abstract It’s well known that Shor[1] proposed a polynomial time algorithm for prime factorization by using quantum computers. For a given number n, he gave an algorithm for finding the order r of an element x (mod n) instead of giving an algorithm for factoring n directly. The indirect algorithm is feasible because factor-ization can be reduced to finding the order of an element by using randomization[2]. But a point should be stressed that the order of the number must be even. Actually, the restriction can be removed in a particular case. In this paper, we show that factoring RSA modulus (a product of two primes) only needs to find the order of 2, whether it is even or not. Keywords Shor’s quantum algorithm, RSA modulus. 1

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Abstract It’s well known that Shor[1] proposed a polynomial time algorithm for prime factorization by using quantum computers. For a given number n, he gave an algorithm for finding the order r of an element x (mod n) instead of giving an algorithm for factoring n directly. The indirect algorithm is feasible because factor-ization can be reduced to finding the order of an element by using randomization[2]. But a point should be stressed that the order of the number must be even. Actually, the restriction can be removed in a particular case. In this paper, we show that factoring RSA modulus (a product of two primes) only needs to find the order of 2, whether it is even or not. Keywords Shor’s quantum algorithm, RSA modulus. 1
One of the most well known mathematically hard problems in number theory is the integer factorization problem, roughly stated that decomposition of a composite number into its prime factors. In modern cryptography, RSA encryption algorithm whose security is based on integer factorization problem is highly practical, widespread and up to date no classical algorithm having polynomial running time for the factorization of large numbers is known. In 1994, Peter Shor proposed an efficient algorithm on quantum computer. In this paper, we  mention about the fundamentals of  Shor's quantum algorithm illustrating a concrete example.
Shor’s algorithm is a well-known probabilistic method for factoring large composite integers in polynomial-time on a quantum computer. The method computes the order r of a random element x in the group Z∗N and uses that information for splitting N with an application of the greatest common divisor algorithm. However, being probabilistic, the success of Shor’s algorithm relies on some special properties of N. If r is even and xr/2 £ -1 mod N, then gcd(xr/2 - 1, N) reveals a nontrivial factor of N and the method succeeds. But even assuming that r is even and being given the complete prime factorization of N it is not obvious whether xr/2 £ -1 mod N and, therefore, it is not easy to assert whether Shor’s algorithm would split N without running it and looking at its answer. We present a strategy for detecting whether the splitting occurs without any need for running the quantum order-finding algorithm, but we must be given the prime factorization of N. This has allowed us to produce the first direct evidence of the probability of success of Shor’s method. The composites chosen were the product of two randomly-generated probable primes of similar sizes that pass the Miller-Rabin test.
The process to find the prime factors of a large number, the “factoring problem” is believed to be a very hard problem. For this reason, it is the cornerstone of modern cryptographic schemes, like RSA cryptosystem. In 1994, Professor Peter Shor proposed a new polynomial-time quantum algorithm that finds the prime factors of a number with many digits. This was a bolt from the blue for the security of transactions and electronic communications and became an example of how quantum computing changes our perception of security and safety. In this paper Shor's Algorithm is presented and an implementation, a way to factor number 21 is described. In addition, some reliability issues of quantum devices were considered in order to explore the potentiality of Shor's algorithm.
Shor in 1994 proposed a quantum polynomial-time algorithm for finding the order r of an element a in the multiplicative group Zn*, which can be used to factor the integer n by computing [see formula in PDF] and hence break the famous RSA cryptosystem. However, the order r must be even. This restriction can be removed. So in this paper, we propose a quantum polynomial-time fixed-point attack for directly recovering the RSA plaintext M from the ciphertext C, without explicitly factoring the modulus n. Compared to Shor’s algorithm, the order r of the fixed-point C for RSA(e, n) satisfying [see formula in PDF] does not need to be even. Moreover, the success probability of the new algorithm is at least [see formula in PDF] and higher than that of Shor’s algorithm, though the time complexity for both algorithms is about the same.
Abstract It is well known that Shor's algorithm is a revolutionary quantum algorithm designed to find the two prime factors of a large integer that is a product of these primes. Since then, several research groups have worked on implementing this algorithm, but for factorizing numbers like 15, 21, 35, etc., because of quantum hardware's limitations in efficiently handling many qubits. All these examples are similar in the sense that they are expressible as the product of two distinct prime factors. However, in this paper, we attempt to implement Shor's algorithm for a perfect square, say, 49, and present our observations.