2002/12/10 by H. F. Chau, Chau, H. F.
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0212055
15 pages in ieeetran.cls; extensively revised; discussions on the relation between this scheme and mutually unbiased bases added
openalex publication_date 2002/12/10 · arxiv created 2004/05/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In search of a quantum key distribution scheme that could stand up for more drastic eavesdropping attack, I discover a prepare-and-measure scheme using N-dimensional quantum particles as information carriers where N is a prime power. Using the Shor-Preskill-type argument, I prove that this scheme is unconditional secure against all attacks allowed by the laws of quantum physics. Incidentally, for N = 2n > 2, each information carrier can be replaced by n entangled qubits. And in this case, I discover an eavesdropping attack on which no unentangled-qubit-based prepare-and-measure quantum key distribution scheme known to date can generate a provably secure key. In contrast, this entangled-qubit-based scheme produces a provably secure key under the same eavesdropping attack whenever N ≥ 16. This demonstrates the advantage of using entangled particles as information carriers to combat certain eavesdropping strategies.