Indistinguishability between quantum randomness and pseudo-randomness under efficiently calculable randomness measures

TL;DR

This paper proves that quantum random numbers and pseudo-random numbers are indistinguishable when quantum numbers are classically simulatable and the randomness measure is efficiently computable, supported by experimental data.

Contribution

It establishes a no-go theorem showing the indistinguishability under certain conditions and connects it with cryptographic pseudo-random generator assumptions.

Findings

Quantum and pseudo-random numbers are indistinguishable under the theorem.

Experimental data from IBM Quantum and Innsbruck support the theorem.

The results reinterpret previous observations on quantum randomness.

Abstract

We present a no-go theorem for the distinguishability between quantum random numbers (i.e., random numbers generated quantum mechanically) and pseudo-random numbers (i.e., random numbers generated algorithmically). The theorem states that one cannot distinguish these two types of random numbers if the quantum random numbers are efficiently classically simulatable and the randomness measure used for the distinction is efficiently computable. We derive this theorem by using the properties of cryptographic pseudo-random number generators, which are believed to exist in the field of cryptography. Our theorem is found to be consistent with the analyses on the actual data of quantum random numbers generated by the IBM Quantum and also those obtained in the Innsbruck experiment for the Bell test, where the degrees of randomness of these two set of quantum random numbers turn out to be essentially indistinguishable from those of the corresponding pseudo-random numbers. Previous observations on the algorithmic randomness of quantum random numbers are also discussed and reinterpreted in terms of our theorems and data analyses.