[OT] theoretical (but probably never practical) quantum encryption flaw found

[Scott Bennett]

     On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 16:27:16 +0100 Sven Anderson <sven at anderson.de>
wrote:
>Am 06.12.2008 um 15:56 schrieb Scott Bennett:
>
>>     It appears that a theoretical method of breaking quantum key  
>> distribution
>> has been found, there's no cause for alarm (yet:-) because it  
>> requires the use
>> of wormholes or some equivalent. :-)  The abstract looks intriguing,  
>> but the
>> paper was submitted to _Physical_Review_Letters_ only a month ago,  
>> so it will
>> be a long time, if ever, before it sees publication.
>>     If you're curious, see the abstract at
>>
>> 	http://arxiv.org/abs/0811.1209
>
>There is a link to the PDF of the full paper as well, so you don't  
>have to wait for the PRL publication.

     There's also one for a .gz file of some source format (probably LaTeX
with some physics macro package(s)), but I couldn't get either one to work
(got "408 Forbidden").  I assumed then that perhaps it wouldn't be available
until after peer review or perhaps one had to have a loginid and password
to give the web server first.
>
>But my Quantum-Mechanics course 10 years ago was obviously not enough  
>for me to be able to follow that paper. ;-)
>
     I never had a full course, just maybe two-thirds of a semester in a
survey course probably more like 20 years ago.  Too bad, though, because it
seemed pretty cool at the time. :-(  But from the abstract, it kind of looks
like a good understanding of quantum physics might not be enough.  A course
in general relativity, which isn't even offered in a lot of universities these
days, might also be necessary.  Anyway, it seemed like they came up with a
nifty idea, though it fortunately remains one for science fiction (for now).


                                  Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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