Classical and Quantum Circuit Obfuscation

A circuit obfuscator is an algorithm that accepts a circuit as input, and outputs a functionally-equivalent similarly-sized circuit which is "unintelligible." Finding a good obfuscator is a major problem in computer science. Besides their obvious applications to software protection, obfuscators can also be used to create public-key cryptosystems and homomorphic encryption. In this talk, I will discuss the problem of obfuscating both classical and quantum computations. I will outline some basic results and problems in this area, and then describe some simple methods for obfuscating quantum circuits in two different models. No background in cryptography or obfuscation is assumed. This is based on joint works with Stacey Jeffrey and Stephen Jordan.

Speaker Bio: Gorjan received his Mathematics PhD in 2008 from the University of Connecticut. Since then, he has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Waterloo and the California Institute of Technology. His research interests are in quantum computation, cryptography, topology, and harmonic analysis.

Note: Visitors from outside NIST must contact Cathy Graham; (301) 975-3800; at least 24 hours in advance.