We propose a fully homomorphic encryption scheme -- i.e., a scheme that allows one to evaluate circuits over encrypted data without being able to decrypt. Our solution comes in three steps. First, we provide a general result -- that, to construct an encryption scheme that permits evaluation of arbitrary circuits, it suffices to construct an encryption scheme that can evaluate (slightly augmented versions of) its own decryption circuit; we call a scheme that can evaluate its (augmented) decryption circuit bootstrappable.Next, we describe a public key encryption scheme using ideal lattices that is almost bootstrappable.Lattice-based cryptosystems typically have decryption algorithms with low circuit complexity, often dominated by an inner product computation that is in NC1. Also, ideal lattices provide both additive and multiplicative homomorphisms (modulo a public-key ideal in a polynomial ring that is represented as a lattice), as needed to evaluate general circuits.Unfortunately, our initial scheme is not quite bootstrappable -- i.e., the depth that the scheme can correctly evaluate can be logarithmic in the lattice dimension, just like the depth of the decryption circuit, but the latter is greater than the former. In the final step, we show how to modify the scheme to reduce the depth of the decryption circuit, and thereby obtain a bootstrappable encryption scheme, without reducing the depth that the scheme can evaluate. Abstractly, we accomplish this by enabling the encrypter to start the decryption process, leaving less work for the decrypter, much like the server leaves less work for the decrypter in a server-aided cryptosystem.

/pdf/fully-homomorphic-encryption-using-ideal-lattices-3oirjo0huq.pdf

Fully homomorphic encryption using ideal lattices

Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) technology will be available in the near future. Quantum computers with 50-100 qubits may be able to perform tasks which surpass the capabilities of today's classical digital computers, but noise in quantum gates will limit the size of quantum circuits that can be executed reliably. NISQ devices will be useful tools for exploring many-body quantum physics, and may have other useful applications, but the 100-qubit quantum computer will not change the world right away --- we should regard it as a significant step toward the more powerful quantum technologies of the future. Quantum technologists should continue to strive for more accurate quantum gates and, eventually, fully fault-tolerant quantum computing.

/pdf/quantum-computing-in-the-nisq-era-and-beyond-4jnwt61yqa.pdf

Quantum Computing in the NISQ era and beyond

Quantum computers promise to efficiently solve important problems that are intractable on a conventional computer. For quantum systems, where the physical dimension grows exponentially, finding the eigenvalues of certain operators is one such intractable problem and remains a fundamental challenge. The quantum phase estimation algorithm efficiently finds the eigenvalue of a given eigenvector but requires fully coherent evolution. Here we present an alternative approach that greatly reduces the requirements for coherent evolution and combine this method with a new approach to state preparation based on ansatze and classical optimization. We implement the algorithm by combining a highly reconfigurable photonic quantum processor with a conventional computer. We experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of this approach with an example from quantum chemistry--calculating the ground-state molecular energy for He-H(+). The proposed approach drastically reduces the coherence time requirements, enhancing the potential of quantum resources available today and in the near future.

/pdf/a-variational-eigenvalue-solver-on-a-photonic-quantum-2nxrfjmr5w.pdf

A variational eigenvalue solver on a photonic quantum processor

Our main result is a reduction from worst-case lattice problems such as SVP and SIVP to a certain learning problem. This learning problem is a natural extension of the 'learning from parity with error' problem to higher moduli. It can also be viewed as the problem of decoding from a random linear code. This, we believe, gives a strong indication that these problems are hard. Our reduction, however, is quantum. Hence, an efficient solution to the learning problem implies a quantum algorithm for SVP and SIVP. A main open question is whether this reduction can be made classical.Using the main result, we obtain a public-key cryptosystem whose hardness is based on the worst-case quantum hardness of SVP and SIVP. Previous lattice-based public-key cryptosystems such as the one by Ajtai and Dwork were only based on unique-SVP, a special case of SVP. The new cryptosystem is much more efficient than previous cryptosystems: the public key is of size O(n2) and encrypting a message increases its size by O(n)(in previous cryptosystems these values are O(n4) and O(n2), respectively). In fact, under the assumption that all parties share a random bit string of length O(n2), the size of the public key can be reduced to O(n).

/pdf/on-lattices-learning-with-errors-random-linear-codes-and-2dvfl9suqh.pdf

On lattices, learning with errors, random linear codes, and cryptography

Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) technology will be available in the
near future. Quantum computers with 50-100 qubits may be able to perform tasks
which surpass the capabilities of today's classical digital computers, but
noise in quantum gates will limit the size of quantum circuits that can be
executed reliably. NISQ devices will be useful tools for exploring many-body
quantum physics, and may have other useful applications, but the 100-qubit
quantum computer will not change the world right away --- we should regard it
as a significant step toward the more powerful quantum technologies of the
future. Quantum technologists should continue to strive for more accurate
quantum gates and, eventually, fully fault-tolerant quantum computing.

/pdf/quantum-computing-in-the-nisq-era-and-beyond-3utyn832f7.pdf

https://www.cims.nyu.edu/~regev/papers/restricted_online.pdf

On-line restricted assignment of temporary tasks with unknown durations

We prove that for any $n\in \mathbb{N}$ there is a convex body $K\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ whose surface area is at most $n^{\frac12+o(1)}$, yet the translates of $K$ by the integer lattice $\mathbb{Z}^n$ tile $\mathbb{R}^n$.

An integer parallelotope with small surface area

Proving super-logarithmic data structure lower bounds in the static group model has been a fundamental challenge in computational geometry since the early 80's. We prove a polynomial $(n^{\Omega(1)})$ lower bound for an explicit range counting problem of $n^{3}$ convex polygons in $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ (each with $n^{\tilde{O}(1)}$ facets/semialgebraic-complexity), against linear storage arithmetic data structures in the group model. Our construction and analysis are based on a combination of techniques in Diophantine approximation, pseudorandomness, and compressed sensing—in particular, on the existence and partial derandomization of optimal binary compressed sensing matrices in the polynomial sparsity regime $(k=n^{1-\delta})$ . As a byproduct, this establishes a (logarithmic) separation between compressed sensing matrices and the stronger RIP property.

Polynomial Data Structure Lower Bounds in the Group Model

For a finite undirected graph $G = (V,E)$, let $p_{u,v}(t)$ denote the probability that a continuous-time random walk starting at vertex $u$ is in $v$ at time $t$. In this note we give an example of a Cayley graph $G$ and two vertices $u,v \in G$ for which the function \[ r_{u,v}(t) = \frac{p_{u,v}(t)}{p_{u,u}(t)} \qquad t \geq 0 \] is not monotonically non-decreasing. This answers a question asked by Peres in 2013.

A Counterexample to Monotonicity of Relative Mass in Random Walks

We show that for any $n$-dimensional lattice $\mathcal{L} \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$, the torus $\mathbb{R}^n/\mathcal{L}$ can be embedded into Hilbert space with $O(\sqrt{n\log n})$ distortion. This improves the previously best known upper bound of $O(n\sqrt{\log n})$ shown by Haviv and Regev (APPROX 2010) and approaches the lower bound of $\Omega(\sqrt{n})$ due to Khot and Naor (FOCS 2005, Math. Annal. 2006).

Oded Regev

Papers

On-line restricted assignment of temporary tasks with unknown durations

An integer parallelotope with small surface area

Polynomial Data Structure Lower Bounds in the Group Model

A Counterexample to Monotonicity of Relative Mass in Random Walks

Nearly Optimal Embeddings of Flat Tori.