The point decomposition problem over hyperelliptic curves

Abstract

Computing discrete logarithms is generically a difficult problem. For divisor class groups of curves defined over extension fields, a variant of the Index-Calculus called Decomposition attack is used, and it can be faster than generic approaches. In this situation, collecting the relations is done by solving multiple instances of the Point m-Decomposition Problem (PDP$_m$). An instance of this problem can be modelled as a zero-dimensional polynomial system. Solving is done with Grobner bases algorithms, where the number of solutions of the system is a good indicator for the time complexity of the solving process. For systems arising from a PDP$_m$ context, this number grows exponentially fast with the extension degree. To achieve an efficient harvesting, this number must be reduced as much as as possible. Extending the elliptic case, we introduce a notion of Summation Ideals to describe PDP m instances over higher genus curves, and compare to Nagao's general approach to PDP$_m$ solving. In even characteristic we obtain reductions of the number of solutions for both approaches, depending on the curve's equation. In the best cases, for a hyperelliptic curve of genus $g$, we can divide the number of solutions by $2^{(n−1)(g+1)}$. For instance, for a type II genus 2 curve defined over $\mathbb{F}_{2^{93}}$ whose divisor class group has cardinality a near-prime 184 bits integer, the number of solutions is reduced from 4096 to 64. This is enough to build the matrix of relations in around 7 days with 8000 cores using a dedicated implementation.