Concise and tight security analysis of the Bennett–Brassard 1984 protocol with finite key lengths

Abstract

We present a tight security analysis of the Bennett–Brassard 1984 protocol taking into account the finite-size effect of key distillation and achieving unconditional security. We begin by presenting a concise analysis utilizing the normal approximation of the hypergeometric function. Next we show that a similar tight bound can also be obtained by a rigorous argument without relying on any approximation. In particular, for the convenience of experimentalists who wish to evaluate the security of their quantum key distribution systems, we also give the explicit procedures of our key distillation and show how to calculate the secret key rate and the security parameter from a given set of experimental parameters. In addition to the exact values of key rates and security parameters, we also describe how to obtain their rough estimates using the normal approximation.