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Performance of BB84 without decoy states under varying announcement structures

arXiv Quantum Physics
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⚡ Quantum Brief
Researchers analyzed BB84 quantum key distribution without decoy states, which are typically used to counter photon number splitting attacks but add experimental complexity. The study compares three protocols under varying channel conditions. The team evaluated canonical BB84, SARG04, and NPAB BB84 using numerical security proofs, assessing their secure key rates in both asymptotic and finite-size scenarios for lossy and noisy channels. Canonical BB84 proved most robust against errors and depolarization, making it reliable in high-noise environments where signal integrity is critical. SARG04 showed superior resilience in high-loss channels, outperforming other protocols when photon transmission rates drop significantly over long distances. NPAB BB84 demonstrated advantages in scenarios with physical misalignment between devices, reducing sensitivity to hardware imperfections that can degrade performance.
Performance of BB84 without decoy states under varying announcement structures

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Quantum Physics arXiv:2603.22448 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 23 Mar 2026] Title:Performance of BB84 without decoy states under varying announcement structures Authors:Zhiyao Wang, Aodhán Corrigan, Norbert Lütkenhaus View a PDF of the paper titled Performance of BB84 without decoy states under varying announcement structures, by Zhiyao Wang and 1 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:In phase-randomized weak coherent pulse (WCP) implementations of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) BB84 protocol, the decoy method is often used to compensate BB84's vulnerability against photon number splitting (PNS) attacks. However, this typically introduces extra complexities and requirements on experimental devices. In this paper, we are therefore interested in phase-randomized WCP implementations without the decoy method. We examine the performance of three QKD protocols with different classical announcement structures, namely BB84, SARG04, and No Public Announcement of Basis (NPAB) BB84, using numerical security proof techniques. We compare secure key rates of the three protocols in asymptotic and finite-size regimes for lossy and noisy channels. The three protocols show different relative advantages depending on the channel behaviour. Canonical BB84 shows robustness against errors and depolarization, SARG04 demonstrates resilience against high loss channels, and NPAB BB84 shows potential advantages against physical misalignment between QKD devices. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2603.22448 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2603.22448v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.22448 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Zhiyao Wang [view email] [v1] Mon, 23 Mar 2026 18:17:53 UTC (973 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Performance of BB84 without decoy states under varying announcement structures, by Zhiyao Wang and 1 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-03 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)

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Source: arXiv Quantum Physics