Numerical Method for Finite-size Security Analysis of Quantum Key Distribution

TL;DR

This paper introduces a numerical finite-size security analysis method for quantum key distribution that removes previous assumptions and applies to general protocols, demonstrating improved key rates in practical scenarios.

Contribution

It develops a general numerical security analysis method for QKD that works against all attacks and applies it to a recent protocol, surpassing linear key-rate bounds.

Findings

Finite-size key rate exceeds linear bound in realistic conditions.

Method applicable to various QKD protocols without protocol-specific assumptions.

Security analysis valid against general attacks, not just collective or asymptotic.

Abstract

Quantum key distribution (QKD) establishes secure links between remote communication parties. As a key problem for various QKD protocols, security analysis gives the amount of secure keys regardless of the eavesdropper's computational power, which can be done both analytically and numerically. Compared to analytical methods which tend to require techniques specific to each QKD protocol, numerical ones are more general since they can be directly applied to many QKD protocols without additional techniques. However, current numerical methods are carried out based on some assumptions such as working in asymptotic limit and collective attacks from eavesdroppers. In this work, we remove these assumptions and develop a numerical finite-size security analysis against general attacks for general QKD protocols. We also give an example of applying the method to the recent Phase-Matching QKD protocol with a simple protocol design. Our result shows that the finite-size key rate can surpass the linear key-rate bound in a realistic communication time.