dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaA simple proof of the unconditional security of quantum key distribution
| Authors | Hoi-Kwong Lo |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9904091 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904091 |
| DOI | 10.1088/0305-4470/34/35/321 |
| Journal | J.Phys.A34:6957-6968,2001 |
Abstract
Quantum key distribution is the most well-known application of quantum cryptography. Previous proposed proofs of security of quantum key distribution contain various technical subtleties. Here, a conceptually simpler proof of security of quantum key distribution is presented. The new insight is the invariance of the error rate of a teleportation channel: We show that the error rate of a teleportation channel is independent of the signals being transmitted. This is because the non-trivial error patterns are permuted under teleportation. This new insight is combined with the recently proposed quantum to classical reduction theorem. Our result shows that assuming that Alice and Bob have fault-tolerant quantum computers, quantum key distribution can be made unconditionally secure over arbitrarily long distances even against the most general type of eavesdropping attacks and in the presence of all types of noises.
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"abstract": "Quantum key distribution is the most well-known application of quantum\ncryptography. Previous proposed proofs of security of quantum key distribution\ncontain various technical subtleties. Here, a conceptually simpler proof of\nsecurity of quantum key distribution is presented. The new insight is the\ninvariance of the error rate of a teleportation channel: We show that the error\nrate of a teleportation channel is independent of the signals being\ntransmitted. This is because the non-trivial error patterns are permuted under\nteleportation. This new insight is combined with the recently proposed quantum\nto classical reduction theorem. Our result shows that assuming that Alice and\nBob have fault-tolerant quantum computers, quantum key distribution can be made\nunconditionally secure over arbitrarily long distances even against the most\ngeneral type of eavesdropping attacks and in the presence of all types of\nnoises.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9904091",
"authors": [
"Hoi-Kwong Lo"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"cs.CR"
],
"doi": "10.1088/0305-4470/34/35/321",
"journal_ref": "J.Phys.A34:6957-6968,2001",
"title": "A simple proof of the unconditional security of quantum key distribution",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904091"
},
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