arXiv subjects

Remi A. Chou

Publications and source records attributed to Remi A. Chou.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Conflict-Free Color-Clustered Sequential Belief-Propagation Decoding of Quantum LDPC Codes via Reinforcement Learning

Belief-propagation (BP) decoding for quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes is attractive due to its low complexity and low latency, but it is often limited by short cycles, degeneracy, and convergence failures. Reinforcement-learning-based sequential BP decoding (RL-S) improves BP by learning a syndrome-dependent variable-node (VN) update order, but its VN-by-VN schedule has limited within-iteration parallelism. In this paper, we propose a conflict-free color-clustered extension of RL-S. We construct a VN conflict graph in which two VNs are adjacent if they share an X-type or Z-type check, and color this graph so that same-color VNs have disjoint check neighborhoods. This also prevents VNs from the same Tanner 4- or 6-cycle from being updated simultaneously. During decoding, the trained VN-level Q-table selects a seed VN, and all remaining VNs with the same color are updated in parallel using the same pre-batch messages. For the [[288,12,18]] bivariate-bicycle code over the depolarizing channel, our proposed decoder achieves block-error-rate performance close to VN-level RL-S while reducing the scheduling decisions from 288 VNs to 11 color classes per BP iteration.

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arXiv2026

Classical Commitment over Quantum Channels with Limited Entanglement Assistance

We study classical string commitment over quantum channels with limited preshared entanglement. For noninteractive protocols, we determine the commitment capacity of a class of channels with input dimension $d$ that, at each use, sample a pair of classical random variables $(F,Z)$, apply one of the $d^2$ Heisenberg--Weyl operators indexed by $Z$ to the input, and deliver the transformed quantum system together with $F$ to the receiver. If $E$ is the available entanglement rate in bits per channel use, then the capacity is $\min\{H(Z|F),\log_2d+E\}$. This class of channels encompasses quantum erasure and depolarizing channels, as well as families of Pauli channels. Additionally, for interactive protocols, we show that the commitment rate cannot exceed $\log_2d+E$ bits per channel use, so that when $H(Z|F)\geq\log_2d+E$, interactive communication does not increase the capacity. As a consequence, for interactive protocols, we determine the capacity of the quantum erasure channel.

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arXiv2026

High-Performance Reinforcement-Learned BP Decoding of Quantum LDPC Codes

Belief-propagation (BP) decoding is attractive for quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes because it uses local message passing on sparse Tanner graphs. However, conventional flooding BP often stalls due to stabilizer degeneracy and short cycles. Reinforcement-learning-based sequential variable-node scheduling (RL-S), which learns the update order offline, has shown that adaptive scheduling can improve BP convergence. In this paper, we extend this idea with a second-order local update decoder, RL-S2LU. The proposed decoder preserves BP locality and low complexity, while numerical results show significant error-correction gains over conventional BP and the considered BP-OSD-10 baseline.

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arXiv2026

Learning-Based List Sequential Belief Propagation Decoding of Quantum LDPC Codes

Quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes are strong candidates for fault-tolerant quantum computation, but efficient decoding remains a major challenge due to short cycles, degeneracy, and the poor convergence of standard belief-propagation (BP) decoders. We propose a reinforcement learning-based list sequential (RL-LS) BP decoder for QLDPC codes by extending the reinforcement-learning-based sequential variable-node scheduling (RL-S) framework with list-based search. At each step, the learned policy selects the next variable node to update; the decoder then retains the ordinary RL-S trajectory while also exploring a competing branch obtained by softly biasing the post-update LLR pair toward the second-most likely Pauli symbol, recomputing the incident local BP messages, and setting the visited variable node to that second-best symbol. Candidate trajectories are ranked and pruned using our proposed cumulative path metric. The resulting decoder extends the learned decoder by combining the improved convergence of learned sequential scheduling with list exploration. Numerical results on representative QLDPC benchmark codes over the depolarizing channel show that our proposed method improves the decoding performance of the underlying decoder and compares favorably with existing BP-based decoding methods.

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arXiv2026

Private Sum Computation: Trade-Offs between Communication, Randomness, and Privacy

Consider multiple users and a fusion center. Each user possesses a sequence of bits and can communicate with the fusion center through a one-way public channel. The fusion center's task is to compute the sum of all the sequences under the privacy requirement that a set of colluding users, along with the fusion center, cannot gain more than a predetermined amount $δ$ of information, measured through mutual information, about the sequences of other users. Our first contribution is to characterize the minimum amount of necessary communication between the users and the fusion center, as well as the minimum amount of necessary randomness at the users. Our second contribution is to establish a connection between private sum computation and secret sharing by showing that secret sharing is necessary to generate the local randomness needed for private sum computation, and prove that it holds true for any $δ\geq 0$.

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arXiv2026

Helper-Assisted Coding for Gaussian Wiretap Channels: Deep Learning Meets PhySec

Consider the Gaussian wiretap channel, where a transmitter wishes to send a confidential message to a legitimate receiver in the presence of an eavesdropper. It is well known that if the eavesdropper experiences less channel noise than the legitimate receiver, then it is impossible for the transmitter to achieve positive secrecy rates. A known solution to this issue consists in involving a second transmitter, referred to as a helper, to help the first transmitter to achieve security. While such a solution has been studied for the asymptotic blocklength regime and via non-constructive coding schemes, in this paper, for the first time, we design explicit and short blocklength codes using deep learning and cryptographic tools to demonstrate the benefit and practicality of cooperation between two transmitters over the wiretap channel. Specifically, our proposed codes show strict improvement in terms of information leakage compared to existing codes that do not consider a helper. Our code design approach relies on a reliability layer, implemented with an autoencoder architecture based on the successive interference cancellation method, and a security layer implemented with universal hash functions. We also propose an alternative autoencoder architecture that significantly reduces training time by allowing the decoders to independently estimate messages without successively canceling interference by the receiver during training. Additionally, we show that our code design is also applicable to the multiple access wiretap channel with helpers, where two transmitters send confidential messages to the legitimate receiver.

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arXiv2026

Secret Sharing Schemes from Correlated Random Variables and Rate-Limited Public Communication

A dealer aims to share a secret with participants so that only predefined subsets can reconstruct it, while others learn nothing. The dealer and participants access correlated randomness and communicate over a one-way, public, rate-limited channel. For this problem, we propose the first explicit coding scheme able to handle arbitrary access structures and achieve the best known achievable rates, previously obtained non-constructively. Our construction relies on lossy source coding coupled with distribution approximation to handle the reliability constraints, followed by universal hashing to handle the security constraints. We stress that our coding scheme does not require symmetry or degradation assumptions on the correlated random variables, and does not need a pre-shared secret among the participants and dealer. As a by-product, our construction also yields explicit coding schemes for secret-key generation under one-way, rate-limited public communication that, unlike prior work, achieves the capacity for arbitrary source correlations and do not require a pre-shared secret to ensure strong secrecy.

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arXiv2025

Dual-Source SPIR over a noiseless MAC without Data Replication or Shared Randomness

Information-theoretically secure Symmetric Private Information Retrieval (SPIR) is known to be infeasible over noiseless channels with a single server. Known solutions to overcome this infeasibility involve additional resources such as database replication, shared randomness, or noisy channels. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach for achieving SPIR with information-theoretic security guarantees, without relying on shared randomness, noisy channels, or data replication. Specifically, we demonstrate that it is sufficient to use a noiseless binary adder multiple-access channel, where inputs are controlled by two non-colluding servers and the output is observed by the client, alongside a public noiseless communication channel between the client and the servers. Furthermore, in this setting, we characterize the optimal file rates, i.e., the file lengths normalized by the number of channel uses, that can be transferred.

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arXiv2025

Distributed Batch Matrix Multiplication: Trade-Offs in Download Rate, Randomness, and Privacy

We study the trade-off between communication rate and privacy for distributed batch matrix multiplication of two independent sequences of matrices $\mathbf{A}$ and $\mathbf{B}$ with uniformly distributed entries. In our setting, $\mathbf{B}$ is publicly accessible by all the servers while $\mathbf{A}$ must remain private. A user is interested in evaluating the product $\mathbf{AB}$ with the responses from the $k$ fastest servers. For a given parameter $α\in [0, 1]$, our privacy constraint must ensure that any set of $\ell$ colluding servers cannot learn more than a fraction $α$ of $\mathbf{A}$. Additionally, we study the trade-off between the amount of local randomness needed at the encoder and privacy. Finally, we establish the optimal trade-offs when the matrices are square and identify a linear relationship between information leakage and communication rate.

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arXiv2025

Function Computation Without Secure Links: Information and Leakage Rates

Consider $L$ users, who each hold private data, and one fusion center who must compute a function of the private data of the $L$ users. To accomplish this task, each user may utilize a public and noiseless broadcast channel in a non-interactive manner. In this setting, and in the absence of any additional resources such as secure links, we study the optimal communication rates and minimum information leakages on the private user data that are achievable. Specifically, we study the information leakage of the user data at the fusion center (beyond the knowledge of the function output), as well as at predefined groups of colluding users who eavesdrop one another. We derive the capacity region when the user data is independent, and inner and outer regions for the capacity region when the user data is correlated.

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arXiv2025

Multiuser Commitment over Noisy Channels

We consider multi-user commitment models that capture the problem of enabling multiple bidders to simultaneously submit auctions to verifiers while ensuring that i) verifiers do not obtain information on the auctions until bidders reveal them at a later stage; and, ii) bidders cannot change their auction once committed. Specifically, we assume that bidders and verifiers have access to a noiseless channel as well as a noisy multiple-access channel or broadcast channel, where inputs are controlled by the bidders and outputs are observed by verifiers. In the case of multiple bidders and a single verifier connected by a non-redundant multiple-access channel, we characterize the commitment capacity region when bidders are not colluding. When the bidders are colluding, we derive an achievable region and a tight converse for the sum rate. In both cases our proposed achievable commitment schemes are constructive. In the case of a single bidder and multiple verifiers connected by a non-redundant broadcast channel, in which verifiers could drop out of the network after auctions are committed, we also characterize the commitment capacity. Our results demonstrate how commitment schemes can benefit from multi-user protocols, and develop resilience when some verifiers may become unavailable.

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arXiv2024

Secure Source Coding Resilient Against Compromised Users via an Access Structure

Consider a source and multiple users who observe the independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) copies of correlated Gaussian random variables. The source wishes to compress its observations and store the result in a public database such that (i) authorized sets of users are able to reconstruct the source with a certain distortion level, and (ii) information leakage to non-authorized sets of colluding users is minimized. In other words, the recovery of the source is restricted to a predefined access structure. The main result of this paper is a closed-form characterization of the fundamental trade-off between the source coding rate and the information leakage rate. As an example, threshold access structures are studied, i.e., the case where any set of at least $t$ users is able to reconstruct the source with some predefined distortion level and the information leakage at any set of users with a size smaller than $t$ is minimized.

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arXiv2024

The Gaussian Multiple Access Wiretap Channel with Selfish Transmitters: A Coalitional Game Theory Perspective

This paper considers the Gaussian multiple access wiretap channel (GMAC-WT) with selfish transmitters, i.e., who are each solely interested in maximizing their individual secrecy rate. The question then arises as to whether selfish transmitters can increase their individual secrecy rate by participating in a collective, i.e., multiple access, protocol instead of operating on their own. If yes, the question arises whether there is a protocol that satisfies all the participating transmitters simultaneously, in the sense that no transmitter has an incentive to deviate from the protocol. Utilizing coalitional game theory, these questions are addressed for the degraded GMAC-WT with an arbitrary number of transmitters and for the non-degraded GMAC-WT with two transmitters. In particular, for the degraded GMAC-WT, cooperation is shown to be in the best interest of all transmitters, and the existence of protocols that incentivize all transmitters to participate is established. Furthermore, a unique, fair, stable, and achievable secrecy rate allocation is determined. For the non-degraded GMAC-WT, depending on the channel parameters, there are cases where cooperation is not in the best interest of all transmitters, and cases where it is. In the latter cases, a unique, fair, stable, and achievable secrecy rate allocation is determined.

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arXiv2024

Secure Distributed Storage: Optimal Trade-Off Between Storage Rate and Privacy Leakage

Consider the problem of storing data in a distributed manner over $T$ servers. Specifically, the data needs to (i) be recoverable from any $τ$ servers, and (ii) remain private from any $z$ colluding servers, where privacy is quantified in terms of mutual information between the data and all the information available at any $z$ colluding servers. For this model, our main results are (i) the fundamental trade-off between storage size and the level of desired privacy, and (ii) the optimal amount of local randomness necessary at the encoder. As a byproduct, our results provide an optimal lower bound on the individual share size of ramp secret sharing schemes under a more general leakage symmetry condition than the ones previously considered in the literature.

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arXiv2024

Private Information Retrieval with Private Noisy Side Information

Consider Private Information Retrieval (PIR), where a client wants to retrieve one file out of $K$ files that are replicated in $N$ different servers and the client selection must remain private when up to $T$ servers may collude. Additionally, suppose that the client has noisy side information about each of the $K$ files, and the side information about a specific file is obtained by passing this file through one of $D$ possible discrete memoryless test channels, where $D\le K$. While the statistics of the test channels are known by the client and by all the servers, the specific mapping $\boldsymbol{\calM}$ between the files and the test channels is unknown to the servers. We study this problem under two different privacy metrics. Under the first privacy metric, the client wants to preserve the privacy of its desired file selection and the mapping $\boldsymbol{\calM}$. Under the second privacy metric, the client wants to preserve the privacy of its desired file and the mapping $\boldsymbol{\calM}$ but is willing to reveal the index of the test channel that is associated to its desired file. For both of these two privacy metrics, we derive the optimal normalized download cost. Our problem setup generalizes PIR with colluding servers, PIR with private noiseless side information, and PIR with private side information under storage constraints.

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arXiv2024

Distributed Secret Sharing over a Public Channel from Correlated Random Variables

We consider a secret-sharing model where a dealer distributes the shares of a secret among a set of participants with the constraint that only predetermined subsets of participants must be able to reconstruct the secret by pooling their shares. Our study generalizes Shamir's secret-sharing model in three directions. First, we allow a joint design of the protocols for the creation of the shares and the distribution of the shares, instead of constraining the model to independent designs. Second, instead of assuming that the participants and the dealer have access to information-theoretically secure channels at no cost, we assume that they have access to a public channel and correlated randomness. Third, motivated by a wireless network setting where the correlated randomness is obtained from channel gain measurements, we explore a setting where the dealer is an entity made of multiple sub-dealers. Our main results are inner and outer regions for the achievable secret rates that the dealer and the participants can obtain in this model. To this end, we develop two new achievability techniques, a first one to successively handle reliability and security constraints in a distributed setting, and a second one to reduce a multi-dealer setting to multiple single-user dealer settings. Our results yield the capacity region for threshold access structures when the correlated randomness corresponds to pairwise secret keys shared between each sub-dealer and each participant, and the capacity for the all-or-nothing access structure in the presence of a single dealer and arbitrarily correlated randomness.

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arXiv2023

Short Blocklength Wiretap Channel Codes via Deep Learning: Design and Performance Evaluation

We design short blocklength codes for the Gaussian wiretap channel under information-theoretic security guarantees. Our approach consists in decoupling the reliability and secrecy constraints in our code design. Specifically, we handle the reliability constraint via an autoencoder, and handle the secrecy constraint with hash functions. For blocklengths smaller than or equal to 128, we evaluate through simulations the probability of error at the legitimate receiver and the leakage at the eavesdropper for our code construction. This leakage is defined as the mutual information between the confidential message and the eavesdropper's channel observations, and is empirically measured via a neural network-based mutual information estimator. Our simulation results provide examples of codes with positive secrecy rates that outperform the best known achievable secrecy rates obtained non-constructively for the Gaussian wiretap channel. Additionally, we show that our code design is suitable for the compound and arbitrarily varying Gaussian wiretap channels, for which the channel statistics are not perfectly known but only known to belong to a pre-specified uncertainty set. These models not only capture uncertainty related to channel statistics estimation, but also scenarios where the eavesdropper jams the legitimate transmission or influences its own channel statistics by changing its location.

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arXiv2022

Explicit Wiretap Channel Codes via Source Coding, Universal Hashing, and Distribution Approximation, When the Channels' Statistics are Uncertain

We consider wiretap channels with uncertainty on the eavesdropper channel under (i) noisy blockwise type II, (ii) compound, or (iii) arbitrarily varying models. We present explicit wiretap codes that can handle these models in a unified manner and only rely on three primitives, namely source coding with side information, universal hashing, and distribution approximation. Our explicit wiretap codes achieve the best known single-letter achievable rates, previously obtained non-constructively, for the models considered. Our results are obtained for strong secrecy, do not require a pre-shared secret between the legitimate users, and do not require any symmetry properties on the channel. An extension of our results to compound main channels is also derived via new capacity-achieving polar coding schemes for compound settings.

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