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Title: Researchers Create World's First Completely Verifiable Random Number
Generator

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/16/1...

Researchers have built a breakthrough random number generator that solves a
critical problem: for the first time, every step of creating random numbers
can be independently verified and audited, with quantum physics guaranteeing
the numbers were truly unpredictable. Random numbers are essential for
everything from online banking encryption to fair lottery drawings, but
current systems have serious limitations. Computer-based generators follow
predictable algorithms -- if someone discovers the starting conditions, they
can predict all future outputs. Hardware generators that measure physical
processes like electronic noise can't prove their randomness wasn't somehow
predetermined or tampered with. The new system, developed by teams at the
University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, uses quantum entanglement -- Einstein's "spooky action at a
distance" -- to guarantee unpredictability. The setup creates pairs of
photons that share quantum properties, then sends them to measurement
stations 110 meters apart. When researchers measure each photon's properties,
quantum mechanics ensures the results are fundamentally random and cannot be
influenced by any classical communication between the stations. The team
created a system called "Twine" that distributes the random number generation
process across multiple independent parties, with each step recorded in
tamper-proof digital ledgers called hash chains. This means no single
organization controls the entire process, and anyone can verify that proper
procedures were followed. During a 40-day demonstration, the system
successfully generated random numbers in 7,434 of 7,454 attempts -- a 99.7%
success rate. Each successful run produced 512 random bits with mathematical
certainty of randomness bounded by an error rate of 2^-64, an extraordinarily
high level of confidence.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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