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Michel Boyer

Publications and source records attributed to Michel Boyer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2023

Simple and Rigorous Proof Method for the Security of Practical Quantum Key Distribution in the Single-Qubit Regime Using Mismatched Basis Measurements

Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols aim at allowing two parties to generate a secret shared key. While many QKD protocols have been proven unconditionally secure in theory, practical security analyses of experimental QKD implementations typically do not take into account all possible loopholes, and practical devices are still not fully characterized for obtaining tight and realistic key rates. We present a simple method of computing secure key rates for any practical implementation of discrete-variable QKD (which can also apply to measurement-device-independent QKD), initially in the single-qubit lossless regime, and we rigorously prove its unconditional security against any possible attack. We hope our method becomes one of the standard tools used for analysing, benchmarking, and standardizing all practical realizations of QKD.

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arXiv2022

Composable Security of Generalized BB84 Protocols Against General Attacks

Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols make it possible for two parties to generate a secret shared key. One of the most important QKD protocols, BB84, was suggested by Bennett and Brassard in 1984. Various proofs of unconditional security for BB84 have been suggested, but the first security proofs were not composable. Here we improve a security proof of BB84 given by [Biham, Boyer, Boykin, Mor, and Roychowdhury, J. Cryptology, 19(4):381-439, 2006] to be composable and match the state-of-the-art results for BB84, and we extend it to prove unconditional security of several variants of the BB84 protocol. Our composable security proof for BB84 and its variants is mostly self-contained, algebraic, and relatively simple, and it gives tight finite-key bounds.

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arXiv2019

Composable security against collective attacks of a modified BB84 QKD protocol with information only in one basis

Quantum Cryptography uses the counter-intuitive properties of Quantum Mechanics for performing cryptographic tasks in a secure and reliable way. The Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocol BB84 has been proven secure against several important types of attacks: collective attacks and joint attacks. Here we analyze the security of a modified BB84 protocol, for which information is sent only in the z basis while testing is done in both the z and the x bases, against collective attacks. The proof follows the framework of a previous paper (Boyer, Gelles, and Mor, 2009), but it avoids a classical information-theoretical analysis and proves a fully composable security. We show that this modified BB84 protocol is as secure against collective attacks as the original BB84 protocol, and that it requires more bits for testing.

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arXiv2018

Attacks against a Simplified Experimentally Feasible Semiquantum Key Distribution Protocol

A semiquantum key distribution (SQKD) protocol makes it possible for a quantum party and a classical party to generate a secret shared key. However, many existing SQKD protocols are not experimentally feasible in a secure way using current technology. An experimentally feasible SQKD protocol, "classical Alice with a controllable mirror" (the "Mirror protocol"), has recently been presented and proved completely robust, but it is more complicated than other SQKD protocols. Here we prove a simpler variant of the Mirror protocol (the "simplified Mirror protocol") to be completely non-robust by presenting two possible attacks against it. Our results show that the complexity of the Mirror protocol is at least partly necessary for achieving robustness.

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arXiv2017

Experimentally feasible protocol for semiquantum key distribution

Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols make it possible for two quantum parties to generate a secret shared key. Semiquantum key distribution (SQKD) protocols, such as "QKD with classical Bob" and "QKD with classical Alice" (that have both been proven robust), achieve this goal even if one of the parties is classical. However, existing SQKD protocols are not experimentally feasible with current technology. Here we suggest a new protocol, "Classical Alice with a controllable mirror", that can be experimentally implemented with current technology (using 4-level systems instead of qubits), and we prove it to be robust.

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arXiv2017

Security Against Collective Attacks of a Modified BB84 QKD Protocol with Information only in One Basis

The Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocol BB84 has been proven secure against several important types of attacks: the collective attacks and the joint attacks. Here we analyze the security of a modified BB84 protocol, for which information is sent only in the z basis while testing is done in both the z and the x bases, against collective attacks. The proof follows the framework of a previous paper (Boyer, Gelles, and Mor, 2009), but it avoids the classical information-theoretical analysis that caused problems with composability. We show that this modified BB84 protocol is as secure against collective attacks as the original BB84 protocol, and that it requires more bits for testing.

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arXiv2017

Geometry of entanglement in the Bloch sphere

Entanglement is an important concept in quantum information, quantum communication, and quantum computing. We provide a geometrical analysis of entanglement and separability for all the rank-2 quantum mixed states: complete analysis for the bipartite states, and partial analysis for the multipartite states. For each rank-2 mixed state, we define its unique Bloch sphere, that is spanned by the eigenstates of its density matrix. We characterize those Bloch spheres into exactly five classes of entanglement and separability, give examples for each class, and prove that those are the only classes.

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arXiv2017

Extrapolated Quantum States, Void States, and a Huge Novel Class of Distillable Entangled States

A nice and interesting property of any pure tensor-product state is that each such state has distillable entangled states at an arbitrarily small distance $ε$ in its neighborhood. We say that such nearby states are $ε$-entangled, and we call the tensor product state in that case, a "boundary separable state", as there is entanglement at any distance from this "boundary". Here we find a huge class of separable states that also share that property mentioned above -- they all have $ε$-entangled states at any small distance in their neighborhood. Furthermore, the entanglement they have is proven to be distillable. We then extend this result to the discordant/classical cut and show that all classical states (correlated and uncorrelated) have discordant states at distance $ε$, and provide a constructive method for finding $ε$-discordant states.

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arXiv2017

Entanglement and deterministic quantum computing with one qubit

The role of entanglement and quantum correlations in complex physical systems and quantum information processing devices has become a topic of intense study in the past two decades. In this work we present new tools for learning about entanglement and quantum correlations in dynamical systems where the quantum states are mixed and the eigenvalue spectrum is highly degenerate. We apply these results to the Deterministic quantum computing with one qubit (DQC1) computation model and show that the states generated in a DQC1 circuit have an eigenvalue structure that makes them difficult to entangle, even when they are relatively far from the completely mixed state. Our results strengthen the conjecture that it may be possible to find quantum algorithms that do not generate entanglement and yet still have an exponential advantage over their classical counterparts.

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arXiv2016

Zero discord implies classicality

The "classical-quantum" ($\mathit{cq}$) discord of a bipartite state $ρ^{AB}$ is the smallest difference between the mutual information $S(ρ^{A:B})$ of $ρ$ and that of $ρ$ after a measurement channel is applied on the $A$ system. Relating zero discord to the strong subadditivity of the Von Neumann entropy, Datta proved that a state has zero $\mathit{cq}$ discord iff and only if it can be written in the form $\sum_i p_i\, |i\rangle\langle i|\otimes ρ^B_i$ for $p_i$ a probability distribution, $|i\rangle$ a basis of the $A$ system and $ρ^B_i$ states of the $B$ system. We provide a simple proof of that same result using directly a theorem of Petz on channels that leave unchanged the relative entropy of two given states.

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arXiv2013

Attacks on Fixed Apparatus Quantum Key Distribution Schemes

We consider quantum key distribution implementations in which the receiver's apparatus is fixed and does not depend on his choice of basis at each qubit transmission. We show that, although theoretical quantum key distribution is proven secure, such implementations are totally insecure against a strong eavesdropper that has one-time (single) access to the receiver's equipment. The attack we present here, the "fixed-apparatus attack" causes a potential risk to the usefulness of several recent implementations.

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arXiv2010

On the Robustness of (Photonic) Quantum Key Distribution with Classical Alice

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) with classical Bob has recently been suggested and proven robust. Following this work, QKD with classical Alice was also suggested and proven robust. The above protocols are ideal in the sense that they make use of qubits. However, in the past, well-known QKD protocols that were proven robust and even proven unconditionally secure, when qubits are used, were found to be totally insecure when photons are used. This is due to sensitivity to photon losses (e.g., Bennett's two-state protocol) or sensitivity to losses combined with multi-photon states (e.g., the photon-number-splitting attack on the weak-pulse Bennett-Brassard protocol, BB84). Here we prove that QKD with classical Alice is still robust when photon losses and even multi-photon states are taken into account.

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arXiv2008

Semi-Quantum Key Distribution

Secure key distribution among two remote parties is impossible when both are classical, unless some unproven (and arguably unrealistic) computation-complexity assumptions are made, such as the difficulty of factorizing large numbers. On the other hand, a secure key distribution is possible when both parties are quantum. What is possible when only one party (Alice) is quantum, yet the other (Bob) has only classical capabilities? Recently, a semi-quantum key distribution protocol was presented (Boyer, Kenigsberg and Mor, Physical Review Letters, 2007), in which one of the parties (Bob) is classical, and yet, the protocol is proven to be completely robust against an eavesdropping attempt. Here we extend that result much further. We present two protocols with this constraint, and prove their robustness against attacks: we prove that any attempt of an adversary to obtain information (and even a tiny amount of information) necessarily induces some errors that the legitimate parties could notice. One protocol presented here is identical to the one referred to above, however, its robustness is proven here in a much more general scenario. The other protocol is very different as it is based on randomization.

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arXiv2007

Quantum Key Distribution with Classical Bob

Secure key distribution among two remote parties is impossible when both are classical, unless some unproven (and arguably unrealistic) computation-complexity assumptions are made, such as the difficulty of factorizing large numbers. On the other hand, a secure key distribution is possible when both parties are quantum. What is possible when only one party (Alice) is quantum, yet the other (Bob) has only classical capabilities? We present a protocol with this constraint, and prove its robustness against attacks: we prove that any attempt of an adversary to obtain information (and even a tiny amount of information) necessarily induces some errors that the legitimate users could notice.

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arXiv2005

A Proof of the Security of Quantum Key Distribution

We prove the security of theoretical quantum key distribution against the most general attacks which can be performed on the channel, by an eavesdropper who has unlimited computation abilities, and the full power allowed by the rules of classical and quantum physics. A key created that way can then be used to transmit secure messages such that their security is also unaffected in the future.

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arXiv2004

Extended GHZ n-player games with classical probability of winning tending to 0

In 1990, Mermin presented a n player game that is won with certainty using n spin-1/2 particles in a GHZ state whilst no classical strategy (or local theory) can win with probability higher than ${1/2} + \frac{1}{2^{\lceil n/2 \rceil}}$ (which is larger than 1/2). This article first introduces a class of arithmetic games containing Mermin's and gives a quantum algorithm based on a generalized n party GHZ state that wins those games with certainty. It is then proved for a subclass of those games where each player is given a single bit of input that no classical strategy can win with a probability that is asymptotically larger than 1.6 times the inverse of the square root of n, thus giving a new and stronger Bell inequality.

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arXiv1999

A Proof of the Security of Quantum Key Distribution

We prove the security of quantum key distribution against the most general attacks which can be performed on the channel, by an eavesdropper who has unlimited computation abilities, and the full power allowed by the rules of classical and quantum physics. A key created that way can then be used to transmit secure messages in a way that their security is also unaffected in the future.

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