arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Boaz Tsaban.
We introduce a new approach for cryptanalysis of key agreement protocols based on noncommutative groups. This approach uses functions that estimate the distance of a group element to a given subgroup. We test it against the Shpilrain-Ushakov protocol, which is based on Thompson's group F.
The Kocinac alpha_i properties, i=1,2,3,4, are generalizations of Arhangel'skii's alpha_i local properties. We give a complete classification of these properties when applied to the standard families of open covers of topological spaces or to the standard families of open covers of topological groups. One of the latter properties characterizes totally bounded groups. We also answer a question of Kocinac.
Answering a question of Sakai, we show that the minimal cardinality of a set of reals X such that C_p(X) does not have the Pytkeev property is equal to the pseudo-intersection number p. Our approach leads to a natural characterization of the Pytkeev property of C_p(X) by means of a covering property of X, and to a similar result for the Reznicenko property of C_p(X).
Let S1(Gamma,Gamma) be the statement: For each sequence of point-cofinite open covers, one can pick one element from each cover and obtain a point-cofinite cover. b is the minimal cardinality of a set of reals not satisfying S1(Gamma,Gamma). We prove the following assertions: (1) If there is an unbounded tower, then there are sets of reals of cardinality b, satisfying S1(Gamma,Gamma). (2) It is consistent that all sets of reals satisfying S1(Gamma,Gamma) have cardinality smaller than b. These results can also be formulated as dealing with Arhangel'skii's property alpha_2 for spaces of continuous real-valued functions. The main technical result is that in Laver's model, each set of reals of cardinality b has an unbounded Borel image in the Baire space w^w.
Using the Continuum Hyporthesis, we prove that there is a Menger-bounded (also called o-bounded) subgroup of the Baer-Specker group Z^N, whose square is not Menger-bounded. This settles a major open problem concerning boundedness notions for groups, and implies that Menger-bounded groups need not be Scheepers-bounded. This also answers some questions of Banakh, Nickolas, and Sanchis.
We show that countable increasing unions preserve a large family of well-studied covering properties, which are not necessarily sigma-additive. Using this, together with infinite-combinatorial methods and simple forcing theoretic methods, we explain several phenomena, settle problems of Just, Miller, Scheepers and Szeptycki [COC2], Gruenhage and Szeptycki [FUfin], Tsaban and Zdomskyy [SFT], and Tsaban [o-bdd, OPiT], and construct topological groups with very strong combinatorial properties.
Lal and Chaturvedi proposed two authentication schemes based on the difficulty of the Root Problem in the braid group. We point out that the first scheme is not really as secure as the Root Problem, and describe an efficient way to crack it. The attack works for any group.
The_additivity_number_ of a topological property (relative to a given space) is the minimal number of subspaces with this property whose union does not have the property. The most well-known case is where this number is greater than Aleph_0, i.e. the property is sigma-additive. We give a rather complete survey of the known results about the additivity numbers of a variety of topological covering properties, including those appearing in the Scheepers diagram (which contains, among others, the classical properties of Menger, Hurewicz, Rothberger, and Gerlits-Nagy). Some of the results proved here were not published beforehand, and many open problems are posed.
Motivated by a recent result of Sakai, we define a new selection operator for covers of topological spaces, inducing new selection hypotheses. We initiate a systematic study of the new hypotheses. Some intriguing problems remain open.
A major problem in using iterative number generators of the form x_i=f(x_{i-1}) is that they can enter unexpectedly short cycles. This is hard to analyze when the generator is designed, hard to detect in real time when the generator is used, and can have devastating cryptanalytic implications. In this paper we define a measure of security, called_sequence_diversity_, which generalizes the notion of cycle-length for non-iterative generators. We then introduce the class of counter assisted generators, and show how to turn any iterative generator (even a bad one designed or seeded by an adversary) into a counter assisted generator with a provably high diversity, without reducing the quality of generators which are already cryptographically strong.
We give a light introduction to selection principles in topology, a young subfield of infinite-combinatorial topology. Emphasis is put on the modern approach to the problems it deals with. Recent results are described, and open problems are stated. Some results which do not appear elsewhere are also included, with proofs.
A topological space X$ has the Frechet-Urysohn property if for each subset A of X and each element x in the closure of A, there exists a countable sequence of elements of A which converges to x. Reznichenko introduced a natural generalization of this property, where the converging sequence of elements is replaced by a sequence of disjoint finite sets which eventually intersect all neighborhoods of x. In their paper, Kocinac and Scheepers conjecture that the minimal cardinality of a set X of real numbers such that C_p(X) does not have the weak Frechet-Urysohn property is equal to b. (b is the minimal cardinality of an unbounded family in the Baire space). We prove the Kocinac-Scheepers conjecture by showing that if C_p(X) has the Reznichenko property, then a continuous image of X cannot be a subbase for a non-feeble filter on the natural numbers.
Denote the integers by Z and the positive integers by N. The groups Z^k (k a natural number) are discrete, and the classification up to isomorphism of their (topological) subgroups is trivial. But already for the countably infinite power Z^N of Z, the situation is different. Here the product topology is nontrivial, and the subgroups of Z^N make a rich source of examples of non-isomorphic topological groups. Z^N is the Baer-Specker group. We study subgroups of the Baer-Specker group which possess group theoretic properties analogous to properties introduced by Menger (1924), Hurewicz (1925), Rothberger (1938), and Scheepers (1996). The studied properties were introduced independently by Kočinac and Okunev. We obtain purely combinatorial characterizations of these properties, and combine them with other techniques to solve several questions of Babinkostova, Kočinac, and Scheepers.
Marion Scheepers, in his studies of the combinatorics of open covers, introduced the property Split(U,V) asserting that a cover of type U can be split into two covers of type V. In the first part of this paper we give an almost complete classification of all properties of this form where U and V are significant families of covers which appear in the literature (namely, large covers, omega-covers, tau-covers, and gamma-covers), using combinatorial characterizations of these properties in terms related to ultrafilters on N. In the second part of the paper we consider the questions whether, given U and V, the property Split(U,V) is preserved under taking finite unions, arbitrary subsets, powers or products. Several interesting problems remain open.
It is consistent (relative to ZFC) that the union of max{b,g} many families in the Baire space which are not finitely dominating is not dominating. In particular, it is consistent that for each nonprincipal ultrafilter U, the cofinality of the reduced ultrapower w^w/U is greater than max{b,g}. The model is constructed by oracle chain condition forcing, to which we give a self-contained introduction.
We show that every function f implemented as a lookup table can be implemented such that the computational complexity of evaluating f^m(x) is small, independently of m and x. The implementation only increases the storage space by a small_constant_ factor.
We solve four out of the six open problems concerning critical cardinalities of topological diagonalization properties involving tau-covers, show that the remaining two cardinals are equal, and give a consistency result concerning this remaining cardinal. Consequently, 21 open problems concerning potential implications between these properties are settled. We also give structural results based on the combinatorial techniques.
The notion of Aronszajn-null sets generalizes the notion of Lebesgue measure zero on the real line and the Euclidean space to infinite dimensional Banach spaces. We present a game-theoretic approach to Aronszajn-null sets, establish its basic properties, and discuss the ensuing open problems.