Quantum multi-secret sharing scheme with access structures and cheat identification

Abstract

This work proposes a [Formula: see text]-dimensional quantum multi-secret sharing scheme with a cheat-detection mechanism. The dealer creates multiple secrets and distributes the shares of these secrets using multi-access structures and a monotone span program. The dealer detects the cheating of each participant using the black box’s cheat-detection mechanism. To detect the participants’ deceit, the dealer distributes secret shares’ shadows derived from a randomly invertible matrix [Formula: see text] to the participants, stored in the black box. The black box identifies the participant’s deceitful behavior during the secret recovery phase. Only honest participants authenticated by the black box acquire their secret shares to recover the multiple secrets. After the black box cheating verification, the participants reconstruct the secrets by utilizing the unitary operations and quantum Fourier transform. The proposed protocol is reliable in preventing attacks from eavesdroppers and participants. The scheme’s efficiency is demonstrated in different noise environments: dit-flip noise, [Formula: see text]-phase-flip noise and amplitude-damping noise, indicating its robustness in practical scenarios. The proposed protocol provides greater versatility, security and practicality.