{
  "abstract": "A time-lock puzzle allows a sender to hide a message in a puzzle such that recovering the message requires substantially more sequential computation than the time required to generate the puzzle, even when parallel computation is allowed. Applications of time-lock puzzles include timed-release encryption, sealed-bid auctions, electronic voting, fair contract signing, coin flipping, and Byzantine consensus. However, time-lock puzzles are known to be impossible in the classical random oracle model. To overcome the classical barrier, in this work we consider quantum time-lock puzzles, in which the puzzle itself is a quantum state. Our construction in the quantum random oracle model achieves generation in one oracle round, solving in at most $T$ oracle rounds, and security against polynomial-width quantum adversaries of depth $o(T)$ for every polynomially bounded delay $T=T(λ)$, resolving an open problem posed by Mahmoody, Moran, and Vadhan (2011).",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.38894",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Prabhanjan Ananth"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yao-Ting Lin"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/79pawerh4kds8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.38894",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "79pawerh4kds8",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38894",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cs.CR"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "quant-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1702|Cryptography and Data Security"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7215047980",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.38894",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-30",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/79pawerh4kds8.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:49Z",
      "native_id": "2609.38894",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38894"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:quant-ph",
      "subfield": "quantum"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Quantum Time-Lock Puzzles in the Quantum Random Oracle Model",
  "title_text": "Quantum Time-Lock Puzzles in the Quantum Random Oracle Model",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:49Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/79pawerh4kds8",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}