Seminar Report on

Riemann hypothesis and its Impact on RSA

- Chauthaiwale Atharva Shriram (2008H103422)

Index
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Background ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Cardinality of primes ................................................................................................................................ 3 Riemanns zeta Function............................................................................................................................... 4 Zeros of the zeta function ......................................................................................................................... 5 Riemanns Conjecture - The Million Dollar problem ................................................................................. 5 Why Riemann hypothesis (RH) is so important ........................................................................................... 6 Why RSA is Secure ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Factorization and Primality ........................................................................................................................... 7 Miller Rabin Test ................................................................................................................................ 7 Factorization methods ........................................................................................................................... 8 Riemanns hypothesis, Number theory And Factorization .......................................................................... 9 Primitive roots in finite fields ............................................................................................................... 9 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 10 References .................................................................................................................................................. 11

Introduction
Riemann Hypothesis, proposed by Bernard Riemann, is undoubtedly one of the greatest mysteries ever in the field of mathematics. It is one of the 23 problems proposed by legendary mathematician Hilbert. This problem was proposed 140 years back and still the solution is eluding the mathematicians. Because of the complex nature of the problem and even more intricate nature of the solution, Riemann hypothesis is one of the Million Dollar prize problem announced by Clay Mathematical Institute.

Background
Since the discovery of prime numbers by Euclid (300 BC), prime number arithmetic has been point of attention for mathematicians all over o the world. Many theories have been proposed describing properties of prime numbers. Fundamental theorem of arithmetic describes prime numbers as building blocks for constructing infinitely many numbers. Over the past few decades, scientist have made several attempts to determine whether prime number follow any regular pattern. Riemann hypothesis is one of such attempts of determining distribution of prime number over a complex plane .

Cardinality of primes
Euclid proposed a simple proof that there are infinitely many prime numbers. This leads to the question that is there any regular pattern in the occurrence of prime numbers. To answer this question several theorems have been proposed. Theorem 1 : Let (x) denote the number of primes in the interval [2, x]. The prime number theorem states that

(x) ~ x /logx
In other words, the number of primes in the interval [2, x] is approximately equal to x ln x . The prime numbers are quite uniformly distributed, as the following three results illustrate. 1.1 (Dirichlet theorem) : If gcd(a, n) = 1, then there are infinitely many primes congruent to a modulo n. A more explicit version of Dirichlets theorem is the following. 1.2 Let (x, n, a) denote the number of primes in the interval [2, x] which are congruent to a modulo n, where gcd(a, n) = 1. Then (x, n, a) ~ x/ (n) lnx . In other words, the prime numbers are roughly uniformly distributed among the (n) congruence Classes in Zn* for any value of n. 1.3 (approximation for the nth prime number) : Let pn denote the nth prime number. Then n ln n < pn < n (ln n + ln ln n) for n 6. Mathematician Bernard Riemann tried to give more accurate approximation bound on distribution of prime numbers using Zeta functions.

Riemanns zeta Function

The official Millennium Prize Problem description written by Bombieri gives the hypothesis in the terms of Riemanns zeta function.

Definition 1: The Riemann zeta-function is

This is a complex valued function which is convergent at all values of s with Re(s) >1 Properties of Zeta Function: 1. For all with Re(s) >1 , the zeta function satisfies the Euler product formula

where the product is taken over all positive integer primes p, and converges uniformly in a neighborhood of . 2. The zeta function satisfies the functional equation

For any s belongs to C where

denotes the Gamma function).

The Euler product formula given above expresses the zeta function as a product over the primes , and consequently provides a link between the analytic properties of the zeta function and the distribution of primes in the integers. As the simplest possible illustration of this link, we show how the properties of the zeta function given above can be used to prove that there are infinitely many primes. If the set of primes in were finite, then the Euler product formula

would be a finite product, and consequently

would exist and would equal

But the existence of this limit contradicts the fact that cannot be finite.

has a pole at

, so the set

of primes

Zeros of the zeta function

A nontrivial zero of the Riemann zeta function is defined to be a root of the zeta function with the property that 0 < Re(s) < 1. Any other zero is called trivial zero of the zeta function. Trivial zeros: -2 , -4 -6 . For all negative even integers zeta(s) =0 Non trivial zeros: They are of the form s= a+bi where real part is

Riemanns Conjecture - The Million Dollar problem

The non-trivial zeros of zeta(s) have real part equal to 1/2
Riemanns original conjecture was actually about the zeros of a related zeta-function, but it is equivalent to Riemann Hypothesis . Geometrical interpretation of above hypothesis can be stated as follows. All non trivial zeros of zeta function lie on the straight line called Critical Line .

Riemann zeta function (s) in the complex plane. The color of a point s encodes the value of (s): strong colors denote values close to zero and hue encodes the value's argument. The white spot at s = 1 is the pole of the zeta function; the black spots on the negative real axis and on the critical line Re(s) = 1/2 are its zeros.

Why Riemann hypothesis (RH) is so important

Papadimitriou says , It is most important number-theoretic conjecture concerning the roots of the Riemann function and the distribution of primes In 1900, Hilbert listed proving or disproving this hypothesis as one of the most important unsolved problems confronting modern mathematics and it is central to understanding the overall distribution of the primes. When Hadamard and de la Vallee Poussin proved the prime number theorem, they actually showed

for some positive constant a, and they did this by bounding the real part of the zeros in the critical strip away from 0 and 1. The error term is directly dependent on what was known about the zero-free region within the critical strip. In 1901 von Koch showed that the Riemann hypothesis is equivalent to

Therefore, RH gives firm link between distribution of prime numbers and geometrical representation on complex plane. Since , RH has such a great significance in analytical number theory , its validity will affect many theories related to prime numbers such as integer number factorization problem. Many of the contemporary algortithms in cryptography rely on the fact that Integer factoriazation in NP. One such algorithm is RSA.

Why RSA is Secure

RSA is a public key encryption algorithm which uses two different keys for encryption and decryption. Procedure : 1.Select two very large prime numbers. (>200 digits) 2. Private key (decryption key )is caluculated using p ,q which are kept scret 3. Public key (encryption) key calculated as n=p*q , n is made public Security of RSA relies on the fact that there is no Polynomial time algorithm for factorizing and integers into prime factors. Even if adversary knows the value of n, it is computationally infeasible to factorize n to retrieve values of p and q. Therefore , the security of internet transcations is intact unless there is any polynomial time factorization algorithm. Several attempts have been made to devise algorithm for Integer factorization. Some of them are mentioned here.

Factorization and Primality

In cryptography , it is required to generate large prime numbers. Since, there is direct method of obtaining prime number, we have t generate a large random number and hen check whether it is prime. Finding an algorithm to correctly and efficiently test a very large prime number has always been a challenge in number theory. However, recent developments look very promising. Some f the algorithms are discussed below. Fermat Primality Test : If n is prime ,then a n-1 = 1 mod n If n is composite , a n-1 = 1 mod n with probability e.

Sqaure Root test : If n is prime , 1 mod n = + or -1 Else 1 mod n = + or -1

Miller Rabin Test

The probabilistic primality test used most in practice is the Miller-Rabin test, also known as the strong pseudoprime test. The test is based on the following fact.

Definition Let n be an odd prime, and let n 1 = 2s r where r is odd. Let a be any integer such that gcd(a, n) = 1. Then either ar 1 (mod n) or a2jr 1 (mod n) for some j, 0 j s 1.

Definition Let n be an odd composite integer and let n 1 = 2sr where r is odd. Let a be an integer in the interval [1, n 1]. (i) If ar 1 (mod n) and if a2jr 1 (mod n) for all j, 0 j s 1, then a is called a strong witness (to compositeness) for n. (ii) Otherwise, j s 1, then n is said to be a strong pseudoprime to the base a. (That is, n acts like a prime in that it satisfies Fact 4.20 for the particular base a.) The integer a is called a strong liar (to primality) for n. Example (strong pseudo prime) Consider the composite integer n = 91 (= 713). Since 91 1 = 90 = 2 45, s = 1 and r = 45. Since 9r = 945 1 (mod 91), 91 is a strong pseudoprime to the base 9. The set of all strong liars for 91 is: {1, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 22, 29, 38, 53, 62, 69, 74, 75, 79, 81, 82, 90}. Notice that the number of strong liars for 91 is 18 = (91)/4, where is the Euler phi function .

Factorization methods
Fermats Factorization If we can find x and y such that n= x2 y2 , then we have n= x2 y2 with a=(x+y) and b=(x - y)

Complexity is close to sub exponential

Pollard p-1 method For a prime factor p , if p-1 has no factor lager than bound B p= gcd (2B! -1 , n)

More Efficient methods : Quadratic Sieve Number Field Sieve

Riemanns hypothesis, Number theory And Factorization

Riemann hypothesis gives us clear picture about the distribution of prime number in a complex plane. If RH is assumed to be true , it can have significant consequences on number theory .Assuming Riemann hypothesis to be true many analytical mathematical problems can be solved. e.g. Shoup showed in 1992 that, assuming the Extended Riemann Hypothesis, there is a deterministic polynomial time search procedure for finding a primitive root in a specific finite field (though there is no known procedure for general finite fields). Many scientist have proposed algorithms based on validity of Riemanns hypothesis.

Primitive roots in finite fields

Theorem 1 . Assume the ERH. Then there is a deterministic polynomial-time search procedure for primitive roots in Fp . Theorem 2 : Assume the ERH. Then the least primitive root modulo p is O(r4(log r + 1)4(log p)2), where r is as above.

Factorization of integers
The problem of factoring integers has garnered widespread interested in the past 30 years, since the introduction of public-key cryptography systems like RSA and the still-growing need for strong 18 cryptography to aid electronic business transactions have provided practical applications as motivation to pursue this very difficult area of mathematics. Seysen created an algorithm in 1987 that ran in

Bach and Shallit , published algorithm depending on the RH which runs in polynomial time, albeit a random.

Therefore , RH has significant consequences in field of number theory. Presently, Nobody has able to provide significant methods for pushing integer factoring toward P . Then again, factoring is probably the hardest problem in analytical number theory. So perhaps it should not be that surprising after all. In fact, we could see the fact of the RHs relatively minor benefit as further evidence that factoring might remain a hard problem. Many scientists believe that since, Riemann hypothesis tells us so much about prime numbers, a proof of that conjecture might lead to a major breakthrough in factoring techniques.

Conclusion
Proof that Riemann conjecture is true, can provide major breakthrough in factoring Techniques. RH also has other applications to Analytical number theory such as finding primitive roots in finite fields If we could find out polynomial time algorithm for integer factorization , Internet security would be at stake Thus, Riemann Hypothesis is much worth than JUST A MILLION DOLLAR PROBLEM !

References
[1] The Extended Riemann Hypothesis and its Application to Computation - Jason Wojciechowski 22nd January 2003 [2] Problems of the Millennium - the Riemann Hypothesis , E. Bombieri . Official problem description of Riemann Hypothesis given by Clay Mathematical Institute [3] The Millennium Problem Keith Devlin . Granta Books London , ISBN 1-86207-686-3