2008 Barbados Workshop on Computational Complexity

2008 Barbados Workshop on Computational Complexity


The 20th McGill Invitational Workshop on Computational Complexity will be held at Bellairs Research Institute of McGill University, Holetown, St. James, Barbados, West Indies from March 2nd to March 9th, 2008. Participants are expected to arrive on Sunday afternoon, March 2nd. The subject of this year's workshop will be elliptic curves.



Speaker:
René Schoof
Address:
Università di Roma "Tor Vergata"
Dipartimento di Matematica
Via della Ricerca Scientifica
I-00133 Roma, ITALY
Proposed outline
  1. Basics:
    • Definition of elliptic curves.
    • Weierstrass equations to represent elliptic curves.
    • Group law for the points on the curve.
    • Endomorphisms on a curve.
  2. Algorithms for elliptic curves over finite fields:
    • Computing order of the group of points on the curve.
    • Solving the discrete log problem on a curve.
  3. Elliptic curve cryptography:
    • El Gamal encryption and signature scheme using the group of points on the curve.
  4. Applications of elliptic curves:
    • Goldwasser-Kilian algorithm for primality testing.
    • Lenstra's algorithm for integer factoring.
  5. Weil pairing:
    • Definition.
    • Computing pairing function.
    • Application of the pairing in cryptography including cryptosystem, signature scheme, ...
  6. Fun stuff:
    • Zeta function for curves over finite fields.
    • A proof of Riemann hypothesis for these zeta functions.
    • Zeta function for curves over Q. Connection to Fermat's Last Theorem.
    • Outline of Wiles proof.

Important Information for Participants