Traceable random numbers from a non-local quantum advantage

Gautam A Kavuri^{1

2}, Jasper Palfree^{3

4}, Dileep V Reddy^{3

4}, Yanbao Zhang⁵, Joshua C Bienfang⁶, Michael D Mazurek^{3

4}, Mohammad A Alhejji⁷, Aliza U Siddiqui⁸, Joseph M Cavanagh^{4

9}, Aagam Dalal⁴, Carlos Abellán¹⁰, Waldimar Amaya¹⁰, Morgan W Mitchell^{11

12}, Katherine E Stange¹³, Paul D Beale³, Luís T A N Brandão¹⁴, Harold Booth¹⁵, René Peralta¹⁵, Sae Woo Nam^{3

4}, Richard P Mirin⁴, Martin J Stevens⁴, Emanuel Knill^{3

16

17}, Lynden K Shalm^{18

19

20}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. gautam.kavuri@colorado.edu.
² Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA. gautam.kavuri@colorado.edu.
³ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁴ Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁵ Quantum Information Science Section, Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
⁶ Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
⁷ Center for Quantum Information and Control, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁸ Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁹ Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Quside Technologies, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain.
¹² ICREA - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain.
¹³ Department of Mathematics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
¹⁴ Strativia (NIST Cryptographic Technology Group), Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
¹⁵ Information Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
¹⁶ Center for Theory of Quantum Matter, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
¹⁷ Applied and Computational Mathematics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. krister.shalm@nist.gov.
¹⁹ Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA. krister.shalm@nist.gov.
²⁰ Quantum Engineering Initiative, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. krister.shalm@nist.gov.

PMID: 40500436
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09054-3

Traceable random numbers from a non-local quantum advantage

Gautam A Kavuri et al. Nature. 2025 Jun.

. 2025 Jun;642(8069):916-921.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09054-3. Epub 2025 Jun 11.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. gautam.kavuri@colorado.edu.
² Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA. gautam.kavuri@colorado.edu.
³ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁴ Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁵ Quantum Information Science Section, Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
⁶ Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
⁷ Center for Quantum Information and Control, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁸ Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁹ Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Quside Technologies, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain.
¹² ICREA - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain.
¹³ Department of Mathematics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
¹⁴ Strativia (NIST Cryptographic Technology Group), Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
¹⁵ Information Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
¹⁶ Center for Theory of Quantum Matter, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
¹⁷ Applied and Computational Mathematics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. krister.shalm@nist.gov.
¹⁹ Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA. krister.shalm@nist.gov.
²⁰ Quantum Engineering Initiative, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. krister.shalm@nist.gov.

PMID: 40500436
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09054-3

Abstract

The unpredictability of random numbers is fundamental to both digital security^1,2 and applications that fairly distribute resources^3,4. However, existing random number generators have limitations-the generation processes cannot be fully traced, audited and certified to be unpredictable. The algorithmic steps used in pseudorandom number generators⁵ are auditable, but they cannot guarantee that their outputs were a priori unpredictable given knowledge of the initial seed. Device-independent quantum random number generators^6-9 can ensure that the source of randomness was unknown beforehand, but the steps used to extract the randomness are vulnerable to tampering. Here we demonstrate a fully traceable random number generation protocol based on device-independent techniques. Our protocol extracts randomness from unpredictable non-local quantum correlations, and uses distributed intertwined hash chains to cryptographically trace and verify the extraction process. This protocol forms the basis for a public traceable and certifiable quantum randomness beacon that we have launched¹⁰. Over the first 40 days of operation, we completed the protocol 7,434 out of 7,454 attempts-a success rate of 99.7%. Each time the protocol succeeded, the beacon emitted a pulse of 512 bits of traceable randomness. The bits are certified to be uniform with error multiplied by actual success probability bounded by 2^-64. The generation of certifiable and traceable randomness represents a public service that operates with an entanglement-derived advantage over comparable classical approaches.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

1. Buchmann, J. A. Introduction to Cryptography (Springer, 2004).
1. Eastlake, D. E. 3rd, Crocker, S. & Schiller, J. I. Randomness Requirements for Security. Request for Comments 4086 (Internet Engineering Task Force, 2005).
1. Stone, P. Why lotteries are just. J. Polit. Philos. 15, 276–295 (2007). - DOI
1. Duxbury, N. Random Justice: On Lotteries and Legal Decision-Making (Oxford Univ. Press, 1999).
1. Menezes, A. J., Van Oorschot, P. C. & Vanstone, S. A. Handbook of Applied Cryptography 1st edn (CRC, 2018).

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Traceable random numbers from a non-local quantum advantage

Affiliations

Traceable random numbers from a non-local quantum advantage

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources