arXiv subjects

Mohammed Barhoush

Publications and source records attributed to Mohammed Barhoush.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Separating Pseudorandom Generators from Logarithmic Pseudorandom States

Pseudorandom generators (PRGs) are a foundational primitive in classical cryptography, underpinning a wide range of constructions. In the quantum setting, pseudorandom quantum states (PRSs) were proposed as a potentially weaker assumption that might serve as a substitute for PRGs in cryptographic applications. Two primary size regimes of PRSs have been studied: logarithmic-size and linear-size. Interestingly, logarithmic PRSs have led to powerful cryptographic applications, such as digital signatures and quantum public-key encryption with tamper-resilient keys, that have not been realized from their linear counterparts. However, PRGs have only been black-box separated from linear PRSs, leaving open the fundamental question of whether PRGs are also separated from logarithmic PRSs. In this work, we resolve this open problem. We establish a quantum black-box separation between (quantum-evaluable) PRGs and PRSs of either size regime. Specifically, we construct a unitary quantum oracle with inverse access relative to which no black-box construction of PRG from (logarithmic or linear) PRS exists. This does not directly separate PRG from some of the applications of SPRS since these applications involve, as a first step, a non-black-box construction of a notion termed bot-PRGs. To address this, we present another unitary separation showing that PRG are also separated from bot-PRGs. Thus, we obtain separation from digital signatures and quantum public-key encryption.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2026

Separating Quantum Indistinguishability Obfuscation from Falsifiable Assumptions

Quantum indistinguishability obfuscation (qIO) aims to make a quantum circuit unintelligible while preserving its functionality. It serves as a foundational primitive for advanced applications, such as witness encryption (WE) for QMA, non-interactive zero-knowledge arguments for QMA, and attribute-based encryption for BQP. Despite its importance, constructing qIO from standard assumptions remains a major open problem. In this work, we prove that the security of WE for QMA cannot be based on any falsifiable cryptographic assumption via a restricted class of quantum black-box reductions. Because qIO for null quantum circuits implies WE for QMA, this also separates null-qIO from falsifiable assumptions. Since almost all standard cryptographic assumptions are falsifiable, our result presents a barrier to basing qIO on standard cryptographic assumptions. The reductions we rule out are restricted: the reduction must query the adversary classically, non-adaptively, at the same security parameter, and only on honestly generated ciphertexts. Moreover, our impossibility applies only to WE with classical ciphertexts, and therefore does not rule out qIO with obfuscators whose output is a quantum state. Ruling out more general reductions, as well as more general forms of WE and qIO, remains open. Our impossibility relies on the existence of a QMA-QCIP[2] gap problem, an average-case assumption postulating a QMA language that cannot be verified with two messages of classical communication.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Simulation-Secure Functional Encryption in the Bounded Storage Model

Functional encryption (FE) is a versatile paradigm that enables fine-grained access control over encrypted data. Despite its potential, achieving the gold standard of simulation-based security for FE is impossible in full generality. Known impossibility results demonstrate that simulation security cannot be attained if an adversary in the security experiment is permitted either an unbounded number of functional key queries or an unbounded number of challenge ciphertexts. In this work, we circumvent these fundamental barriers by considering two distinct memory-restricted settings: the Bounded Quantum Storage Model and the Bounded Classical Storage Model. In these settings, the plain model impossibility results no longer apply, allowing us to obtain new positive results. Specifically, we construct two adaptively simulation-secure FE schemes in the Bounded Quantum Storage Model: 1) Many functional key scheme: A construction supporting many functional key queries and a single challenge ciphertext, assuming only the existence of one-way functions. 2) Many ciphertext scheme: An information-theoretic secure construction supporting a single non-adaptive functional key, many challenge ciphertexts, and many adaptive functional key queries. Furthermore, we demonstrate that both schemes can be ported to the Bounded Classical Storage Model, assuming the existence of disappearing grey-box obfuscation.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2026

Separating Non-Interactive Classical Verification of Quantum Computation from Falsifiable Assumptions

Mahadev [SIAM J. Comput. 2022] introduced the first protocol for classical verification of quantum computation based on the Learning-with-Errors (LWE) assumption, achieving a 4-message interactive scheme. This breakthrough naturally raised the question of whether fewer messages are possible in the plain model. Despite its importance, this question has remained unresolved. In this work, we prove that there is no quantum black-box reduction of non-interactive classical verification of quantum computation of $\textsf{QMA}$ to any falsifiable assumption. Here, "non-interactive" means that after an instance-independent setup, the protocol consists of a single message. This constitutes a strong negative result given that falsifiable assumptions cover almost all standard assumptions used in cryptography, including LWE. Our separation holds under the existence of a $\textsf{QMA} \text{-} \textsf{QCMA}$ gap problem. Essentially, these problems require a slightly stronger assumption than $\textsf{QMA}\neq \textsf{QCMA}$. To support the existence of such problems, we present a construction relative to a quantum unitary oracle.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

On the Impossibility of Simulation Security for Quantum Functional Encryption

Functional encryption is a powerful cryptographic primitive that enables fine-grained access to encrypted data and underlies numerous applications. Although the ideal security notion for FE (simulation security) has been shown to be impossible in the classical setting, those impossibility results rely on inherently classical arguments. This leaves open the question of whether simulation-secure functional encryption can be achieved in the quantum regime. In this work, we rule out this possibility by showing that the classical impossibility results largely extend to the quantum world. In particular, when the adversary can issue an unbounded number of challenge messages, we prove an unconditional impossibility, matching the classical barrier. In the case where the adversary may obtain many functional keys, classical arguments only yield impossibility under the assumption of pseudorandom functions; we strengthen this by proving impossibility under the potentially weaker assumption of pseudorandom quantum states. In the same setting, we also establish an alternative impossibility based on public-key encryption. Since public-key encryption is not known to imply pseudorandom quantum states, this provides independent evidence of the barrier. As part of our proofs, we show a novel incompressibility property for pseudorandom states, which may be of independent interest.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2026

How to Sign Quantum Messages

Signing quantum messages has long been considered impossible even under computational assumptions. In this work, we challenge this notion and provide three innovative approaches to sign quantum messages that are the first to ensure authenticity with public verifiability. Our contributions can be summarized as follows: 1) We introduce the concept of time-dependent (TD) signatures, where the signature of a quantum message depends on the time of signing and the verification process depends on the time of the signature reception. We construct this primitive assuming the existence of post-quantum secure one-way functions (pq-OWFs) and time-lock puzzles (TLPs). 2) By utilizing verification keys that evolve over time, we eliminate the need for TLPs in our construction. This leads to TD signatures from pq-OWFs with dynamic verification keys. 3) We then consider the bounded quantum storage model, where adversaries are limited with respect to their quantum memories. We show that quantum messages can be signed with information-theoretic security in this model. Moreover, we leverage TD signatures to achieve the following objectives, relying solely on pq-OWFs: (a) We design a public key encryption scheme featuring authenticated quantum public keys that resist adversarial tampering. (b) We present a novel TD public-key quantum money scheme.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Powerful Primitives in the Bounded Quantum Storage Model

The bounded quantum storage model aims to achieve security against computationally unbounded adversaries that are restricted only with respect to their quantum memories. In this work, we provide information-theoretic secure constructions in this model for the following powerful primitives: (1) CCA1-secure symmetric key encryption, message authentication codes, and one-time programs. These schemes require no quantum memory for the honest user, while they can be made secure against adversaries with arbitrarily large memories by increasing the transmission length sufficiently. (2) CCA1-secure asymmetric key encryption, encryption tokens, signatures, signature tokens, and program broadcast. These schemes are secure against adversaries with roughly $e^{\sqrt{m}}$ quantum memory where $m$ is the quantum memory required for the honest user. All of the constructions additionally satisfy disappearing security, essentially preventing an adversary from storing and using a transmission later on.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2025

MicroCrypt Assumptions with Quantum Input Sampling and Pseudodeterminism: Constructions and Separations

We investigate two natural relaxations of quantum cryptographic primitives. The first involves quantum input sampling, where inputs are generated by a quantum algorithm rather than sampled uniformly at random. Applying this to pseudorandom generators ($\textsf{PRG}$s) and pseudorandom states ($\textsf{PRS}$s), leads to the notions denoted as $\textsf{PRG}^{qs}$ and $\textsf{PRS}^{qs}$, respectively. The second relaxation, $\bot$-pseudodeterminism, relaxes the determinism requirement by allowing the output to be a special symbol $\bot$ on an inverse-polynomial fraction of inputs. We demonstrate an equivalence between bounded-query logarithmic-size $\textsf{PRS}^{qs}$, logarithmic-size $\textsf{PRS}^{qs}$, and $\textsf{PRG}^{qs}$. Moreover, we establish that $\textsf{PRG}^{qs}$ can be constructed from $\bot$-$\textsf{PRG}$s, which in turn were built from logarithmic-size $\textsf{PRS}$. Interestingly, these relations remain unknown in the uniform key setting. To further justify these relaxed models, we present black-box separations. Our results suggest that $\bot$-pseudodeterministic primitives may be weaker than their deterministic counterparts, and that primitives based on quantum input sampling may be inherently weaker than those using uniform sampling. Together, these results provide numerous new insights into the structure and hierarchy of primitives within MicroCrypt.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Signatures From Pseudorandom States via $\bot$-PRFs

Different flavors of quantum pseudorandomness have proven useful for various cryptographic applications, with the compelling feature that these primitives are potentially weaker than post-quantum one-way functions. Ananth, Lin, and Yuen (2023) have shown that logarithmic pseudorandom states can be used to construct a pseudo-deterministic PRG: informally, for a fixed seed, the output is the same with $1-1/poly$ probability. In this work, we introduce new definitions for $\bot$-PRG and $\bot$-PRF. The correctness guarantees are that, for a fixed seed, except with negligible probability, the output is either the same (with probability $1-1/poly$) or recognizable abort, denoted $\bot$. Our approach admits a natural definition of multi-time PRG security, as well as the adaptive security of a PRF. We construct a $\bot$-PRG from any pseudo-deterministic PRG and, from that, a $\bot$-PRF. Even though most mini-crypt primitives, such as symmetric key encryption, commitments, MAC, and length-restricted one-time digital signatures, have been shown based on various quantum pseudorandomness assumptions, digital signatures remained elusive. Our main application is a (quantum) digital signature scheme with classical public keys and signatures, thereby addressing a previously unresolved question posed in Morimae and Yamakawa's work (Crypto, 2022). Additionally, we construct CPA secure public-key encryption with tamper-resilient quantum public keys.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2024

Quantum Cheques

Publicly-verifiable quantum money has been a central and challenging goal in quantum cryptography. To this day, no constructions exist based on standard assumptions. In this study, we propose an alternative notion called quantum cheques (QCs) that is more attainable and technologically feasible. A quantum cheque can be verified using a public-key but only by a single user. Specifically, the payer signs the quantum cheque for a particular recipient using their ID, and the recipient can validate it without the assistance of the bank, ensuring that the payer cannot assign the same cheque to another user with a different ID. Unlike quantum money, QCs only necessitate quantum communication when a cheque is issued by the bank, meaning all payments and deposits are entirely classical! We demonstrate how to construct QCs based on the well-studied learning-with-errors (LWE) assumption. In the process, we build two novel primitives which are of independent interest. Firstly, we construct signatures with publicly-verifiable deletion under LWE. This primitive enables the signing of a message $m$ such that the recipient can produce a classical string that publicly proves the inability to reproduce a signature of $m$. We then demonstrate how this primitive can be used to construct 2-message signature tokens. This primitive enables the production of a token that can be used to sign a single bit and then self-destructs. Finally, we show that 2-message signature tokens can be used to construct QCs.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Homotopy and Homology at Infinity and at the Boundary

In this paper we study the relationship between the homology and homotopy of a space at infinity and at its boundary. Firstly, we prove that if a locally connected, connected, $δ$-hyperbolic space that is acted upon geometrically by a group has trivial homotopy at infinity then the first Čech homotopy group is trivial. Secondly, we prove that if a hyperbolic group on a finite field has trivial $i^{th}$ homology at infinity then the boundary of the group has trivial $i^{th}$ Steenrod homology. This result turns out to be important in addressing an open problem related to Cannon's conjecture.

math.AT↗

arXiv2021

On the Number of Representations for Simple Lie Groups

The growth rate function $r_N$ counts the number of irreducible representations of simple complex Lie groups of dimension $N$. While no explicit formula is known for this function, previous works have found bounds for $R_N=\sum_{i=1}^Nr_i$. In this paper we improve on previous bounds and show that $R_N=O(N)$.

math.RT↗