Chaotic Cryptography Using Augmented Lorenz Equations Aided by Quantum Key Distribution

We have recently developed a chaotic gas turbine whose rotational motion might simulate turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection. The nondimensionalized equations of motion of our turbine are expressed as a star network of N Lorenz subsystems, referred to as augmented Lorenz equations. Here, we propose an application of the augmented Lorenz equations to chaotic cryptography, as a type of symmetric secret-key cryptographic method, wherein message encryption is performed by superimposing the chaotic signal generated from the equations on a plaintext in much the same way as in one-time pad cryptography. The ciphertext is decrypted by unmasking the chaotic signal precisely reproduced with a secret key consisting of 2^N-1 (e.g., N=101) real numbers that specify the augmented Lorenz equations. The transmitter and receiver are assumed to be connected via both a quantum communication channel on which the secret key is distributed using a quantum key distribution protocol and a classical data communication channel on which the ciphertext is transmitted. We discuss the security and feasibility of our cryptographic method.