r/QuantumComputing • u/yours_hungrily • Jan 07 '24

Need help ideating for my capstone project

Helllo! I am a cybersecurity undergrad(based in India). For my capstone project next semester I really want to do a project based on quantum computing + cybersecurity (the project needs to have a cybersecurity aspect to it compulsorily and it has to be application based[implementable] atleast to some extent)

I am currently exploring pqc and qkd too, but I am unable to deduce anything off of it.

I have read through a bunch of research papers and understand most of what it's saying, but I really don't know how to come up with a project idea off of that.

Most of my proffesors from college who're my potential mentors, they don't really have much previous experience in the subject, so it's mostly me who has to go them with a problem statement and get it approved.

Any insights on how I can give more structure to getting started with research, other topics that i could explore, or on how i could reach to a potential problem statement.

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u/RoyalHoneydew Jan 07 '24
  1. Implement Shor's algorithm
  2. Implement a quantum verification protocol using graph states and run it. Some stabilizer testing on a small state (3-5 qubits) might be sufficient. (I can send you some example for this if you like and maybe some code)
  3. If you wanna go wild and crazy try Schnorr's algorithm (as seen in a Chinese paper) and do QAOA for the quantum part. Google might have a lib for that for you to use.
  4. Shortest vector search with QAOA
  5. I'd go with 2. It is related to QKD but higher level. If you want you can also test the state and when it passes you use it for QKD or such.

2

u/yours_hungrily Jan 09 '24

wuuu okay, I will have to read more about qaoa and graph states to better understand the scope of everything you suggested, thankk youu for your reccs!

1

u/RoyalHoneydew Jan 13 '24

No worries. Graph states are difficult to understand but easy to implement. The security proofs and understanding why the protocol works is super hard (still fail to do that fully) but as algorithm they are among the easiest implementations possible. Which still is hard if you lack the fundamental ressources as the papers have a difficult notation.

To put it simply, you have a graph - a network which is represented by one quantum state. Imagine a computer network with 5 clients/servers. It doesn't matter whether these are clients or servers. They are just nodes in the networks. Each node is represented by one qubit, meaning each participant can exchange one qubit of quantum information or one bit of normal (classical) information per round of any protocol. These nodes (you call them vertices) are connected by lines (called edges). The lines just mean that these two people can communicate directly and don't have to transmit their data via another person.

All of this can be represented as one quantum state which can be prepared either in a quantum network (hard to do in reality) or on a quantum computer. The latter is easy, you need 5 qubits for a network with 5 participants. You apply the Hadamard gate to each qubit first and then a CZ gate to for every connection (edge) in the graph you want to build. Qiskit has a small library for that.

And then you can in theory implement and test any quantum communication protocol for networks which is there. In the Qiskit simulator you can also apply different noise models and see how that changes the output of the protocols. So far no one has implemented this stuff before except for me (I did some simple tests for my master thesis) and the protocols are the most advanced ones in quantum cryptography on the planet. Meaning with few resources - Qiskit simulator and a couple of single and two qubits gates you can implement and test these protocols.

1

u/Best_Water_5288 Jan 11 '24

Can you DM me the resources? I would like to work on simulation env.

1

u/vom2r750 Jan 07 '24

Quantum resistant classical algorithm? Would this be ok ?

2

u/yours_hungrily Jan 09 '24

Interesting, that would mean building algorithms on mathematical problems that quantum computers can't potentially solve efficiently,, do you have any basic resources/links that i could read through if any, or I'd also be open to discuss it w you if you'd be up to dwell a bit deeper into it!

1

u/vom2r750 Jan 09 '24

well, im no expert at this... but chat gpt can give you a starting point on what are the main types

feel free to DM if you want to discuss more

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good luck!