Mutual authentication quantum key agreement protocol based on Bell states

Abstract

A mutual authentication quantum key agreement protocol can authenticate participants’ identities before establishing shared keys fairly. Therefore, it is more in line with the actual demand than the general quantum key agreement protocols. With Bell states and their entanglement exchange relations, a new mutual authentication quantum key agreement protocol is proposed. The participants can mutually authenticate each other’s identity by using their secret identity information and the measurement correlation property of Bell states. Moreover, they can negotiate session keys fairly with the entanglement exchange relations of Bell states. The new mutual authentication quantum key agreement protocol is proved to be unconditionally secure and has good performance.