Single-Round Proofs of Quantumness from Knowledge Assumptions

Paper in proceeding, 2025

A proof of quantumness is an efficiently verifiable interactive test that an efficient quantum computer can pass, but all efficient classical computers cannot (under some cryptographic assumption). Such protocols play a crucial role in the certification of quantum devices. Existing single-round protocols based solely on a cryptographic hardness assumption (like asking the quantum computer to factor a large number) require large quantum circuits, whereas multi-round ones use smaller circuits but require experimentally challenging mid-circuit measurements. In this work, we construct efficient single-round proofs of quantumness based on existing knowledge assumptions. While knowledge assumptions have not been previously considered in this context, we show that they provide a natural basis for separating classical and quantum computation. Our work also helps in understanding the interplay between black-box/white-box reductions and cryptographic assumptions in the design of proofs of quantumness. Specifically, we show that multi-round protocols based on Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) or Learning With Errors (LWE) can be “compiled” into single-round protocols using a knowledge-of-exponent assumption [7] or knowledge-of-lattice-point assumption [36], respectively. We also prove an adaptive hardcore-bit statement for a family of claw-free functions based on DDH, which might be of independent interest.