This report discusses some of the uses of algorithms within number theory. Topics examined include the applications of algorithms in the study of cryptology, the Euclidean Algorithm, prime generating functions, and the connections between algorithmic number theory and high school algebra. / text

The use of randomness in computer science is ubiquitous. Randomized protocols have turned out to be much more efficient than their deterministic counterparts. In addition, many problems in distributed computing and cryptography are impossible to solve without randomness. However, these applications typically require uniform random bits, while in practice almost all natural random phenomena are biased. Moreover, even originally uniform random bits can be damaged if an adversary learns some partial information about these bits. In this thesis, we study how to run randomized protocols in distributed computing and cryptography with imperfect randomness. We use the most general model for imperfect randomness where the weak random source is only required to have a certain amount of min-entropy. One important tool here is the randomness extractor. A randomness extractor is a function that takes as input one or more weak random sources, and outputs a distribution that is close to uniform in statistical distance. Randomness extractors are interesting in their own right and are closely related to many other problems in computer science. Giving efficient constructions of randomness extractors with optimal parameters is one of the major open problems in the area of pseudorandomness. We construct network extractor protocols that extract private random bits for parties in a communication network, assuming that they each start with an independent weak random source, and some parties are corrupted by an adversary who sees all communications in the network. These protocols imply fault-tolerant distributed computing protocols and secure multi-party computation protocols where only imperfect randomness is available. The probabilistic method shows that there exists an extractor for two independent sources with logarithmic min-entropy, while known constructions are far from achieving these parameters. In this thesis we construct extractors for two independent sources with any linear min-entropy, based on a computational assumption. We also construct the best known extractors for three independent sources and affine sources. Finally we study the problem of privacy amplification. In this model, two parties share a private weak random source and they wish to agree on a private uniform random string through communications in a channel controlled by an adversary, who has unlimited computational power and can change the messages in arbitrary ways. All previous results assume that the two parties have local uniform random bits. We show that this problem can be solved even if the two parties only have local weak random sources. We also improve previous results in various aspects by constructing the first explicit non-malleable extractor and giving protocols based on this extractor.

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Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) allows for computation of arbitrary func- tions on encrypted data by a third party, while keeping the contents of the encrypted data secure. This area of research has exploded in recent years following Gentry’s seminal work. However, the early realizations of FHE, while very interesting from a theoretical and proof-of-concept perspective, are unfortunately far too inefficient to provide any use in practice. The bootstrapping step is the main bottleneck in current FHE schemes. This step refreshes the noise level present in the ciphertexts by homomorphically evaluating the scheme’s decryption function over encryptions of the secret key. Bootstrapping is necessary in all known FHE schemes in order to allow an unlimited amount of computation, as without bootstrapping, the noise in the ciphertexts eventually grows to a point where decryption is no longer guaranteed to be correct. In this work, we present two new bootstrapping algorithms for FHE schemes. The first works on packed ciphertexts, which encrypt many bits at a time, while the second works on unpacked ciphertexts, which encrypt a single bit at a time. Our algorithms lie at the heart of the fastest currently existing implementations of fully homomorphic encryption for packed ciphertexts and for single-bit encryptions, respectively, running hundreds of times as fast for practical parameters as the previous best implementations.

Zero-knowledge protocols enable one party, called a prover, to "convince" another party, called a verifier, the validity of a mathematical statement such that the verifier "learns nothing" other than the fact that the proven statement is true. The different ways of formulating the terms "convince" and "learns nothing" gives rise to four classes of languages having zero-knowledge protocols, which are: statistical zero-knowledge proof systems, computational zero-knowledge proof systems, statistical zero-knowledge argument systems, and computational zero-knowledge argument systems. We establish complexity-theoretic characterization of the classes of languages in NP having zero-knowledge argument systems. Using these characterizations, we show that for languages in NP: -- Instance-dependent commitment schemes are necessary and sufficient for zero-knowledge protocols. Instance-dependent commitment schemes for a given language are commitment schemes that can depend on the instance of the language, and where the hiding and binding properties are required to hold only on the YES and NO instances of the language, respectively. -- Computational zero knowledge and computational soundness (a property held by argument systems) are symmetric properties. Namely, we show that the class of languages in NP intersect co-NP having zero-knowledge arguments is closed under complement, and that a language in NP has a statistical zero-knowledge **argument** system if and only if its complement has a **computational** zero-knowledge proof system. -- A method of transforming any zero-knowledge protocol that is secure only against an honest verifier that follows the prescribed protocol into one that is secure against malicious verifiers. In addition, our transformation gives us protocols with desirable properties like having public coins, being black-box simulatable, and having an efficient prover. The novelty of our results above is that they are **unconditional**, meaning that they do not rely on any unproven complexity assumptions such as the existence of one-way functions. Moreover, in establishing our complexity-theoretic characterizations, we give the first construction of statistical zero-knowledge argument systems for NP based on any one-way function.

This report discusses the history, use, and future of elliptic curves. Uses of elliptic curves in various number theory settings are presented. Fermat’s Last Proof is shown to be proven with elliptic curves. Finally, the future of elliptic curves with respect to cryptography and primality is shown. / text

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published_or_final_version / abstract / Computer Science / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Computer Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Computer Science and Information Systems / Master / Master of Philosophy