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Absolute results concerning one-way functions and their applications

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Abstract

A new approach to one-way functions is considered. A one-way function is defined to be a function which is easy to compute but hard to invert in the sense that its inverse is not inDTIME(n k) for fixed largek. While this is weaker than the usual definition of one-way functions it requires no complexity-theoretic assumptions. Some of these functions are proved to exist, while the existence of other, stronger functions is shown to bear upon open problems in complexity theory. An application to public-key cryptosystems is given.

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This work was supported in part by NSA Grant MDA904-87-H-2003 and by NSF Grant MIP-8608137.

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Homer, S., Wang, J. Absolute results concerning one-way functions and their applications. Math. Systems Theory 22, 21–35 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02088290

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02088290

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