LOGISTICS
Instructor: Prabhanjan Ananth
Time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 1pm to 2:50pm
Location: Phelps 3526
Office Hours: 1119 Harold Frank Hall, Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:00pm to 3:30pm
First Lecture: January 3, 2022
Announcements will be made on Slack. The link to the discussion forum will be made available to students registered in the course. Please note that the mask mandate is in place: it is mandatory to wear masks during the lectures.
COURSE INFORMATION
Course Description: In this course, we will understand the impact of the existence of quantum computers on cryptography. The course will be roughly divided into three parts:
Part I: Fundamentals of Quantum Computing (2 to 3 weeks): this will cover the fundamental concepts of quantum computing.
Part II: Quantum and Post-Quantum Cryptography (7 to 8 weeks): we will study the post-quantum security of fundamental cryptographic primitives and we will also understand how these primitives will look like in the post-quantum world.
Course Prerequisites: Discrete mathematics, linear algebra and probability. This course is suitable for mathematically mature undergraduate students and graduate students interested in learning about quantum computing and cryptography.
Course Evaluation (tentative): 2 to 4 assignments. For each assignment, you will be given roughly one week. The assignments will be collaborative in nature: at most 4 members can collaborate on an assignment. However, the solutions have to be written in your own words. There are a few ways to earn extra points (I'll post more details on Slack): (a) participate in the course, (b) scribe lectures and, (c) do research projects.
Lecture notes:
Lecture 1: Introduction [PDF]
Fundamentals of Quantum Computing:
Lecture 2: Pure and mixed quantum states [PDF]
Lecture 3: Quantum circuits and quantum one-time pads [PDF]
Lecture 4: More on mixed states and quantum one-time pad continued [PDF]
Lecture 5: Entanglement, partial trace and, purification [PDF]
Lecture 6: Quantum mysteries (no-cloning, teleportation and, CHSH) [PDF]
Post-Quantum and Quantum Cryptography:
Lecture 7: Intro to post-quantum crypto [PDF]
Lecture 8: Computational Indistinguishability and Private-key Encryption [PDF]
Lecture 9: Public-key encryption [PDF]
Lecture 10: Digital signatures [PDF]
Lecture 11: Pseudorandomness - Part I [PDF]
Lecture 12: Pseudorandomness - Part II [PDF]
Lecture 13: Commitments - Part I [PDF]
Lecture 14: Commitments - Part II [PDF]
Lecture 15: Zero-Knowledge for NP - Part I [PDF]
Lecture 16: Zero-Knowledge for NP - Part II [PDF]
Lecture 17: QMA [PDF]
Lecture 18: Zero-knowledge for QMA [PDF]