The Tale of One-way Functions
Cryptography and Security
2021-08-23 v5 Computational Complexity
Abstract
The existence of one-way functions is arguably the most important problem in computer theory. The article discusses and refines a number of concepts relevant to this problem. For instance, it gives the first combinatorial complete owf, i.e., a function which is one-way if any function is. There are surprisingly many subtleties in basic definitions. Some of these subtleties are discussed or hinted at in the literature and some are overlooked. Here, a unified approach is attempted.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cs/0012023,
title = {The Tale of One-way Functions},
author = {Leonid A. Levin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cs/0012023},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
Small changes. 16 pages in English; 18 pages in Russian (KOI8 encoding, translated by Alexander Shen)