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Quantum Candies and Quantum Cryptography

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Theory and Practice of Natural Computing (TPNC 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 12494))

Abstract

The field of quantum information is becoming more known to the general public. However, effectively demonstrating the concepts underneath quantum science and technology to the general public can be a challenging job. We investigate, extend, and much expand here “quantum candies” (invented by Jacobs), a pedagogical model for intuitively describing some basic concepts in quantum information, including quantum bits, complementarity, the no-cloning principle, and entanglement. Following Jacob’s quantum candies description of the well known quantum key distribution protocol BB84, we explicitly demonstrate various additional quantum cryptography protocols using quantum candies in an approachable manner. The model we investigate can be a valuable tool for science and engineering educators who would like to help the general public to gain more insights about quantum science and technology: most parts of this paper, including many protocols for quantum cryptography, are expected to be easily understandable by a layperson without any previous knowledge of mathematics, physics, or cryptography.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Other forms of the principle exist, e.g., that elementary particles like electrons or photons have both particle characteristics and wave characteristics.

  2. 2.

    The classical channel is assumed to be insecure yet unjammable.

  3. 3.

    If Bob can keep the qandies un-measured in a qandies’ memory, the bit rate can be doubled, as he will taste or look only after learning Alice’s preparation method.

  4. 4.

    Interestingly having just two specific properties (two colors etc.) and having four general properties—e.g. color, taste, texture, and smell, is not consistent with the rules of quantum theory.

  5. 5.

    There is a similar protocol if Bob has no memory, with a slightly different analysis.

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Acknowledgements

J.L. and T.M. thank the Schwartz/Reisman Foundation. J.L. is supported by NSERC Canada. T.M. was also partially supported by Israeli MOD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Quantum Computing, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Junan Lin

  2. Computer Science Department, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa, 3200003, Israel

    Tal Mor

Authors
  1. Junan Lin
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  2. Tal Mor
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Correspondence to Junan Lin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain

    Carlos Martín-Vide

  2. University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

    Miguel A. Vega-Rodríguez

  3. Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Miin-Shen Yang

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Lin, J., Mor, T. (2020). Quantum Candies and Quantum Cryptography. In: Martín-Vide, C., Vega-Rodríguez, M.A., Yang, MS. (eds) Theory and Practice of Natural Computing. TPNC 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12494. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63000-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63000-3_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-62999-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-63000-3

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