Quantum Computational Unpredictability Entropy and Quantum Leakage Resilience

TL;DR

This paper introduces quantum computational unpredictability entropy, extending classical notions to quantum settings, and demonstrates its fundamental properties and applications in quantum cryptography.

Contribution

It defines quantum unpredictability entropy, proves key properties including a leakage chain rule, and shows its use in quantum pseudo-randomness extraction.

Findings

Established quantum unpredictability entropy as a fundamental concept.

Proved a leakage chain rule applicable with quantum side-information.

Demonstrated pseudo-randomness extraction against quantum adversaries.

Abstract

Computational entropies provide a framework for quantifying uncertainty and randomness under computational constraints. They play a central role in classical cryptography, underpinning the analysis and construction of primitives such as pseudo-random generators, leakage-resilient cryptography, and randomness extractors. In the quantum setting, however, computational analogues of entropy remain largely unexplored. In this work, we initiate the study of quantum computational entropy by defining quantum computational unpredictability entropy, a natural generalization of classical unpredictability entropy to the quantum setting. Our definition builds on the operational interpretation of quantum min-entropy as the optimal guessing probability, while restricting the adversary to efficient guessing strategies. We prove that this entropy satisfies several fundamental properties, including a leakage chain rule that holds even in the presence of unbounded prior quantum side-information. We also show that unpredictability entropy enables pseudo-randomness extraction against quantum adversaries with bounded computational power. Together, these results lay a foundation for developing cryptographic tools that rely on min-entropy in the quantum computational setting.