Full randomness from arbitrarily deterministic events

Do completely unpredictable events exist? Classical physics excludes fundamental randomness. Although quantum theory makes probabilistic predictions, this does not imply that nature is random, as randomness should be certified without relying on the complete structure of the theory being used. Bell tests approach the question from this perspective. However, they require prior perfect randomness, falling into a circular reasoning. A Bell test that generates perfect random bits from bits possessing high-but less than perfect-randomness has recently been obtained. Yet, the main question remained open: does any initial randomness suffice to certify perfect randomness? Here we show that this is indeed the case. We provide a Bell test that uses arbitrarily imperfect random bits to produce bits that are, under the non-signalling principle assumption, perfectly random. This provides the first protocol attaining full randomness amplification. Our results have strong implications onto the debate of whether there exist events that are fully random.

[1]  D. Bohm A SUGGESTED INTERPRETATION OF THE QUANTUM THEORY IN TERMS OF "HIDDEN" VARIABLES. II , 1952 .

[2]  Umesh V. Vazirani,et al.  Certifiable quantum dice: or, true random number generation secure against quantum adversaries , 2012, STOC '12.

[3]  Kiel T. Williams,et al.  Extreme quantum entanglement in a superposition of macroscopically distinct states. , 1990, Physical review letters.

[4]  M. Hall Local deterministic model of singlet state correlations based on relaxing measurement independence. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[5]  Mermin,et al.  Simple unified form for the major no-hidden-variables theorems. , 1990, Physical review letters.

[6]  Dax Enshan Koh,et al.  The effects of reduced"free will"on Bell-based randomness expansion , 2012 .

[7]  Caslav Brukner,et al.  Experimenter's freedom in Bell's theorem and quantum cryptography (7 pages) , 2005, quant-ph/0510167.

[8]  Stefano Pironio,et al.  Security of practical private randomness generation , 2011, 1111.6056.

[9]  J. Bell On the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox , 1964 .

[10]  Mermin Nd Simple unified form for the major no-hidden-variables theorems. , 1990 .

[11]  Roger Colbeck,et al.  Quantum And Relativistic Protocols For Secure Multi-Party Computation , 2009, 0911.3814.

[12]  Roger Colbeck,et al.  Free randomness can be amplified , 2011, Nature Physics.

[13]  Dax Enshan Koh,et al.  Effects of reduced measurement independence on Bell-based randomness expansion. , 2012, Physical review letters.

[14]  Serge Fehr,et al.  Security and Composability of Randomness Expansion from Bell Inequalities , 2011, ArXiv.

[15]  Stefano Pironio,et al.  Randomness versus nonlocality and entanglement. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[16]  P. Laplace A Philosophical Essay On Probabilities , 1902 .

[17]  S. Popescu,et al.  Quantum nonlocality as an axiom , 1994 .

[18]  Travis Norsen,et al.  Bell's theorem , 2011, Scholarpedia.

[19]  Miklos Santha,et al.  Generating Quasi-random Sequences from Semi-random Sources , 1986, J. Comput. Syst. Sci..

[20]  Lluis Masanes,et al.  Universally-composable privacy amplification from causality constraints , 2008, Physical review letters.

[21]  A. Zeilinger,et al.  Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics , 1989 .

[22]  Ran Canetti,et al.  Universally composable security: a new paradigm for cryptographic protocols , 2001, Proceedings 2001 IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing.

[23]  Stefano Pironio,et al.  Random numbers certified by Bell’s theorem , 2009, Nature.

[24]  N. Gisin,et al.  How much measurement independence is needed to demonstrate nonlocality? , 2010, Physical review letters.

[25]  M. Kafatos Bell's theorem, quantum theory and conceptions of the universe , 1989 .

[26]  Adrian Kent,et al.  No signaling and quantum key distribution. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[27]  Albert Einstein,et al.  Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete? , 1935 .

[28]  S. Braunstein,et al.  Wringing out better bell inequalities , 1990 .

[29]  A. Zeilinger,et al.  Going Beyond Bell’s Theorem , 2007, 0712.0921.