curve25519-dalek-source/docs/ristretto-notes.md

Below are some notes on Ristretto, which are not an authoritative
writeup and which may have errors.  See also the [Decaf
paper][decaf_paper], the [libdecaf
implementation of Ristretto][ristretto_libdecaf], and its [Sage
script][ristretto_sage].

Decaf constructs a prime-order group from a cofactor-\\(4\\) Edwards
curve by defining an encoding of a related Jacobi quartic, then
transporting the encoding from the Jacobi quartic to the Edwards curve
by means of an isogeny.  Ristretto uses a different Jacobi quartic and
a different isogeny, but is otherwise similar.

These notes only describe Ristretto, and focus on the cofactor-\\(8\\)
case.

# The Jacobi Quartic

The Jacobi quartic curve is parameterized by \\(e, A\\), and is of the
form $$ \mathcal J\_{e,A} : t\^2 = es\^4 + 2As\^2 + 1, $$ with
identity point \\((0,1)\\).  For more details on the Jacobi quartic,
see the [Decaf paper][decaf_paper] or
[_Jacobi Quartic Curves Revisited_][hwcd_jacobi] by Hisil, Wong,
Carter, and Dawson).

When \\(e = a\^2\\) is a square, \\(\mathcal J\_{e,A}\\) has full
\\(2\\)-torsion (i.e., \\(\mathcal J[2] \cong \mathbb Z /2 \times
\mathbb Z/2\\)), and
we can write the \\(\mathcal J[2]\\)-coset of a point \\(P =
(s,t)\\) as
$$
P + \mathcal J[2] = \left\\{
(s,t),
(-s,-t),
(1/as, -t/as\^2),
(-1/as, t/as\^2)
\right\\}.
$$
Notice that replacing \\(a\\) by \\(-a\\) just swaps the last two
points, so this set does not depend on the choice of \\(a\\).  In
what follows we require \\(a = \pm 1\\).

# Encoding \\(\mathcal J / \mathcal J[2]\\)

To encode points on \\(\mathcal J\\) modulo \\(\mathcal J[2]\\),
we need to choose a canonical representative of the above coset.
To do this, it's sufficient to make two independent sign choices:
the Decaf paper suggests choosing \\((s,t)\\) with \\(s\\)
non-negative and finite, and \\(t/s\\) non-negative or infinite.

The encoding is then the (canonical byte encoding of the)
\\(s\\)-value of the canonical representative.

# The Edwards Curve

The primary internal model in `curve25519-dalek` for Curve25519 points
is the [_Extended Twisted Edwards Coordinates_][hwcd_edwards] of
Hisil, Wong, Carter, and Dawson.  These correspond to the affine model
$$
\mathcal E\_{a,d} : ax\^2 + y\^2 = 1 + dx\^2y\^2.
$$
In projective coordinates, we represent a point as \\((X:Y:Z:T)\\)
with
$$
XY = ZT, \quad aX\^2 + Y\^2 = Z\^2 + dT\^2.
$$
(For more details on this model, see the
[`curve_models`][curve_models] documentation). The case \\(a = 1\\) is
the _untwisted_ case; we only consider \\(a = \pm 1\\), and in
particular we focus on the twisted Edwards form of Curve25519, which
has \\(a = -1, d = -121665/121666\\).  When not otherwise specified,
we write \\(\mathcal E\\) for \\(\mathcal E\_{a,d}\\).

When both \\(d\\) and \\(ad\\) are nonsquare (which forces \\(a\\)
to be square), the curve is *complete*.  In this case the
four-torsion subgroup is cyclic, and we
can write it explicitly as
$$
\mathcal E\_{a,d}[4] = \\{ (0,1),\\; (1/\sqrt a, 0),\\; (0, -1),\\; (-1/\sqrt{a}, 0)\\}.
$$
These are the only points with \\(xy = 0\\); the points with
\\( y \neq 0 \\) are \\(2\\)-torsion.

# The Ristretto Group

We consider two cases:

* cofactor \\(4\\), where \\( \\# \mathcal E(\mathbb F_p) = 4\cdot \ell \\);
* cofactor \\(8\\) with cyclic \\(8\\)-torsion,
  where \\( \\# \mathcal E(\mathbb F_p) = 8 \cdot \ell \\)
  and \\( \mathcal E[8] \cong \mathbb Z / 8 \\).

In the cofactor \\(4\\) case, we have \\( \[2\](\mathcal E[4]) =
\mathcal E[2] \\), so that \\( \mathcal E[2] \subseteq \[2\](\mathcal
E) \\), and the group we will construct is
$$
\frac{\[2\](\mathcal E)}{\mathcal E[2]}
$$
which has prime order \\( (4\ell/2)/2 = \ell \\).

In the cofactor \\(8\\) case, since the \\(8\\)-torsion is cyclic, we
have \\( \[2\](\mathcal E[8]) = \mathcal E[4] \\), so that \\(\mathcal
E[4] \subseteq \[2\](\mathcal E)\\), and the group we will construct
is
$$
\frac{\[2\](\mathcal E)}{\mathcal E[4]}
$$
which has prime order \\( (8\ell/2)/4 = \ell \\).

In particular, Curve25519 has \\( \mathcal E(\mathbb
F\_p) \cong \mathbb Z / 8 \times \mathbb Z / \ell\\), where \\( \ell
= 2\^{252} + \cdots \\) is a large prime, and meets the requirements
for the cofactor \\(8\\) case.

# Torquing points to lift from \\(\mathcal E[4]\\) to \\(\mathcal E[2]\\)

To bridge the gap between the cofactor \\(4\\) and cofactor \\(8\\)
cases, we need a way to canonically select a representative modulo
\\(\mathcal E[2] \\), given a representative modulo \\(\mathcal E[4] \\).

Using the description of \\(\mathcal E[4]\\) above, we can write the
\\(\mathcal E[4]\\)-coset of a point \\(P = (x,y)\\) as
$$
P + \mathcal E\_{a,d}[4] = \\{ (x,y),\\; (y/\sqrt a, -x\sqrt a),\\; (-x, -y),\\; (-y/\sqrt a, x\sqrt a)\\}.
$$
Notice that if \\(xy \neq 0 \\), then exactly two of these points have
\\( xy \\) non-negative, and they differ by the \\(2\\)-torsion point
\\( (0,-1) \\).

This means that we can select a representative modulo
\\(\mathcal E[2]\\) by requiring \\(xy\\) nonnegative and \\(y \neq
0\\), and we can ensure that this condition holds by conditionally
adding a \\(4\\)-torsion point \\(Q_4\\) if \\(xy\\) is negative or
\\(y = 0\\).

The points of exact order \\(4\\) are \\( (\pm 1/\sqrt{a}, 0 )\\);
convenient choices for \\( Q_4 \\) are \\((1,0)\\) when \\( a = 1 \\)
and \\( (i, 0) \\) when \\( a = -1 \\), although the choice of which
\\(4\\)-torsion point to use doesn't matter.

This procedure gives a canonical lift from \\(\mathcal E / \mathcal
E[4]\\) to \\(\mathcal E / \mathcal E[2]\\).  Since it involves a
conditional rotation, we refer to it as *torquing* the point.

# The Isogeny

For \\(a = \pm 1\\), we have a \\(2\\)-isogeny
$$
\theta\_{a,d} : \mathcal J\_{a\^2, -a(a+d)/(a-d)} \longrightarrow \mathcal E\_{a,d}
$$
(or simply \\(\theta\\)) defined by
$$
\theta\_{a,d} : (s,t) \mapsto \left( \frac{1}{\sqrt{ad-1}} \cdot \frac{2s}{t},\quad \frac{1+as\^2}{1-as\^2} \right).
$$
Its dual is 
$$
\hat{\theta}\_{a,d} : \mathcal E\_{a,d} \longrightarrow \mathcal J\_{a\^2, -a(a+d)/(a-d)},
$$
defined by
$$
\hat{\theta}\_{a,d} : (x,y) \mapsto \left( \sqrt{ad-1} \cdot \frac{xy}{1-ax\^2}, \frac{y^2 + ax^2}{1-ax^2} \right)
$$

The kernel of the isogeny is \\( \{(0, \pm 1)\} \\).
The image of the isogeny is \\(\[2\](\mathcal E)\\).  To see this,
first note that because \\( \theta \circ \hat{\theta} = [2] \\), we
know that \\( \[2\](\mathcal E) \subseteq \theta(\mathcal J)\\); then, to see that
\\(\theta(\mathcal J)\\) is exactly \\(\[2\](\mathcal E)\\),
recall that isogenous elliptic curves over a finite field have the
same number of points (exercise 5.4 of Silverman), so that
$$
\\# \theta(\mathcal J) = \frac {\\# \mathcal J} {\\# \ker \theta}
= \frac {\\# \mathcal E}{2} = \\# \[2\](\mathcal E).
$$

To determine the image \\(\theta(\mathcal J[2])\\) of the
\\(2\\)-torsion, we consider the image of the coset
\\(\theta((s,t) + \mathcal J[2])\\).
Let \\((x,y) = \theta(s,t)\\); then
\\(\theta(-s,-t) = (x,y)\\) and
\\(\theta(1/as, -t/as\^2) = (-x, -y)\\),
so that \\(\theta(\mathcal J[2]) = \mathcal E[2]\\).

# Encoding with the Isogeny

The Decaf paper recalls that, for a group \\( G \\) with normal
subgroup \\(G' \leq G\\), a group homomorphism \\( \phi : G
\rightarrow H \\) induces a homomorphism
$$
\bar{\phi} : \frac G {G'} \longrightarrow \frac {\phi(G)}{\phi(G')} \leq \frac {H} {\phi(G')},
$$
and that the induced homomorphism \\(\bar{\phi}\\) is injective if
\\( \ker \phi \leq G' \\).  In our context, the kernel of
\\(\theta\\) is \\( \\{(0, \pm 1)\\} \leq \mathcal J[2] \\),
so \\(\theta\\) gives an isomorphism
$$
\frac {\mathcal J} {\mathcal J[2]}
\cong
\frac {\theta(\mathcal J)} {\theta(\mathcal J[2])}
\cong
\frac {\[2\](\mathcal E)} {\mathcal E[2]}.
$$

We can use the isomorphism to transfer the encoding of \\(\mathcal
J / \mathcal J[2] \\) defined above to \\(\[2\](\mathcal E)/\mathcal
E[2]\\), by encoding the Edwards point \\((x,y)\\) using the Jacobi
quartic encoding of \\(\theta\^{-1}(x,y)\\).

Since \\(\\# (\[2\](\mathcal E) / \mathcal E[2]) = (\\#\mathcal
E)/4\\), if \\(\mathcal E\\) has cofactor \\(4\\), we're done.
Otherwise, if \\(\mathcal E\\) has cofactor \\(8\\), as in the
Curve25519 case, we use the torquing procedure to lift \\(\mathcal E
/ \mathcal E[4]\\) to \\(\mathcal E / \mathcal E[2]\\), and then
apply the encoding for \\( \[2\](\mathcal E) / \mathcal E[2] \\).

# The Ristretto Encoding

We can write the above encoding/decoding procedure in affine
coordinates, before describing optimized formulas to and from
projective coordinates.

## Encoding in Affine Coordinates

On input \\( (x,y) \in \[2\](\mathcal E)\\), a representative for a
coset in \\( \[2\](\mathcal E) / \mathcal E[4] \\):

1. Check if \\( xy \\) is negative or \\( x = 0 \\); if so, torque
   the point by setting \\( (x,y) \gets (x,y) + Q_4 \\), where
   \\(Q_4\\) is a \\(4\\)-torsion point.

2. Check if \\(x\\) is negative or \\( y = -1 \\); if so, set
   \\( (x,y) \gets (x,y) + (0,-1) = (-x, -y) \\).

3. Compute $$ s = +\sqrt {(-a) \frac {1 - y} {1 + y} }, $$ choosing
   the positive square root.

The output is then the (canonical) byte-encoding of \\(s\\).

If \\(\mathcal E\\) has cofactor \\(4\\), we skip the first step,
since our input already represents a coset in
\\( \[2\](\mathcal E) / \mathcal E[2] \\).

## Interpreting the Encoding Procedure

How does this procedure correspond to the description involving
\\( \theta \\)?

The first step lifts from \\( \mathcal E / \mathcal E[4] \\) to
\\(\mathcal E / \mathcal E[2]\\).  To understand steps 2 and 3,
notice that the \\(y\\)-coordinate of \\(\theta(s,t)\\) is
$$
y = \frac {1 + as\^2}{1 - as\^2},
$$
so that the \\(s\\)-coordinate of \\(\theta\^{-1}(x,y)\\) has
$$
s\^2 = (-a)\frac {1-y}{1+y}.
$$
Since
$$
x = \frac 1 {\sqrt {ad - 1}} \frac {2s} {t},
$$
we also have
$$
\frac s t = x \frac {\sqrt {ad-1}} 2,
$$
so that the sign of \\(s/t\\) is determined by the sign of \\(x\\).

Recall that to choose a canonical representative of \\( (s,t) +
\mathcal J[2] \\), it's sufficient to make two sign choices: the
sign of \\(s\\) and the sign of \\(s/t\\).  Step 2 determines the
sign of \\(s/t\\), while step 3 computes \\(s\\) and determines its
sign (by choosing the positive square root).  Finally, the check
that \\(y \neq -1\\) prevents division-by-zero when encoding the
identity; it falls out of the optimized formulas below.

## Decoding to Affine Coordinates

On input `s_bytes`, decoding proceeds as follows:

1. Decode `s_bytes` to \\(s\\); reject if `s_bytes` is not the
   canonical encoding of \\(s\\).

2. Check whether \\(s\\) is negative; if so, reject.

3. Compute
$$
y \gets \frac {1 + as\^2}{1 - as\^2}.
$$

4. Compute
$$
x \gets +\sqrt{ \frac{4s\^2} {ad(1+as\^2)\^2 - (1-as\^2)\^2}},
$$
choosing the positive square root, or reject if the square root does
not exist.

5. Check whether \\(xy\\) is negative or \\(y = 0\\); if so, reject.

# Encoding in Extended Coordinates

The formulas above are given in affine coordinates, but the usual
internal representation is extended twisted Edwards coordinates \\(
(X:Y:Z:T) \\) with \\( x = X/Z \\), \\(y = Y/Z\\), \\(xy = T/Z \\).

This section only covers the cofactor-\\(8\\) case, since it is more complicated:
selecting the distinguished representative of the coset
requires the affine coordinates \\( (x,y) \\), and computing \\( s
\\) requires an inverse square root.
As inversions are expensive, we'd like to be able to do this
whole computation with only one inverse square root, by batching
together the inversion and the inverse square root.

It is not obvious how to do this, since we need the inverse square
root of one of two values, depending on what the distinguished
representative is, but the choice of representative depends on the
affine coordinates.  However, an ingenious trick (due to Mike Hamburg)
allows recovering either of the inverse square roots we want.

## Batching the Inversion and Inverse Square Root

Write \\( (X\_0 : Y\_0 : Z\_0 : T\_0) \\)
for the coordinates of the initial representative, and write 
\\( (X:Y:Z:T) \\) for the coordinates of the distinguished
representative of the coset.

Since \\(y = Y/Z\\), in extended coordinates the formula for \\(s\\) becomes
$$
s
= \sqrt{ (-a) \frac{ 1 - Y/Z}{1+Y/Z}} = \sqrt{\frac{Z - Y}{Z+Y}} \sqrt{-a}
= \frac {Z - Y} {\sqrt{Z\^2 - Y\^2}} \sqrt{-a},
$$
so we need to compute \\( 1 / \sqrt{Z^2 - Y^2} \\).

The distinguished representative \\( (X:Y:Z:T) \\) is selected by the
torquing procedure in step 1, which conditionally adds a
\\(4\\)-torsion point \\(Q_4\\).  As noted in the torquing section
above, \\( Q_4 = (\pm 1/\sqrt{a}, 0) \\), so we obtain
$$
(X : Y : Z : T ) = 
\begin{cases}
(X\_0 : Y\_0 : Z\_0 : T\_0) \\\\
(\pm Y\_0 / \sqrt{a} : \mp X\_0 \sqrt{a} : Z\_0 : -T\_0) 
\end{cases}
.
$$
This means we want to compute either of
$$
\frac {1} {\sqrt{Z^2 - Y^2}}
=
\begin{cases}
1 / \sqrt{Z\_0^2 - Y\_0^2} \\\\
1 / \sqrt{Z\_0^2 - aX\_0^2}
\end{cases}
.
$$
To relate these quantities, recall from the curve equation that
$$
-dX\^2Y\^2 = Z\^4 - aZ\^2X\^2 - Z\^2Y\^2,
$$
so
$$
(a-d)X\^2Y\^2 = Z\^4 - aZ\^2X\^2 - Z\^2Y\^2 + aX\^2Y\^2.
$$
Factoring the right-hand side gives
$$
(a-d)X\^2Y\^2 = (Z\^2 - Y\^2)(Z\^2 - aX\^2),
$$
which relates the two quantities we want to compute:
$$
\frac 1 {Z^2 - aX^2} = \frac 1 {a - d} \frac {Z^2 - Y^2} {X^2 Y^2}
$$
so
$$
\frac 1 {\sqrt{Z^2 - aX^2}} = \frac 1 {\sqrt{a - d}} \sqrt{ \frac {Z^2 - Y^2} {X^2 Y^2} }
$$

## Explicit Encoding Formulas

Using this trick, we can write the encoding procedure explicitly:

1. \\(u\_1 \gets (Z\_0 + Y\_0)(Z\_0 - Y\_0)
    \textcolor{gray}{= Z\_0\^2 - Y\_0\^2}
    \\)
2. \\(u\_2 \gets X\_0 Y\_0 \\)
3. \\(I \gets \mathrm{invsqrt}(u\_1 u\_2\^2)
    \textcolor{gray}{= 1/\sqrt{X\_0\^2 Y\_0\^2 (Z\_0\^2 - Y\_0\^2)}}
   \\)
4. \\(D\_1 \gets u\_1 I
    \textcolor{gray}{= \sqrt{(Z\_0\^2 - Y\_0\^2)/(X\_0\^2 Y\_0\^2)} }
   \\)
5. \\(D\_2 \gets u\_2 I
   \textcolor{gray}{= \pm \sqrt{1/(Z\_0\^2 - Y\_0\^2)} }
   \\)
6. \\(Z\_{inv} \gets D\_1 D\_2 T\_0
   \textcolor{gray}{= (u\_1 u\_2)/(u\_1 u\_2\^2) T\_0 = T\_0 / X\_0 Y\_0 = 1/Z\_0}
   \\)
7. If \\( T\_0 Z\_{inv} \textcolor{gray}{= x\_0 y\_0 }\\) is negative:
    1. \\( (X, Y) \gets (Y\_0 (\pm 1/\sqrt{a}), X\_0 (\mp \sqrt{a})) \\)
    2. \\( D \gets D\_1 / \sqrt{a-d}
           \textcolor{gray}{= 1/\sqrt{Z\_0\^2 - a X\_0\^2} = 1/\sqrt{Z^2 -Y^2} }
       \\)
8. Otherwise:
    1. \\( (X, Y) \gets (X\_0, Y\_0) \\)
    2. \\( D \gets D\_2
           \textcolor{gray}{= \pm \sqrt{1/(Z\_0\^2 - Y\_0\^2)} = \pm 1/\sqrt{Z^2 - Y^2}}
       \\)
9. If \\( X Z\_{inv} \textcolor{gray}{= x} \\) is negative, set \\( Y \gets - Y\\)
10. Compute \\( s \gets |\sqrt{-a} (Z - Y) D| \textcolor{gray}{= |\sqrt{-a} (Z - Y) / \sqrt{Z\^2 - Y\^2}| } \\)
11. Return the canonical byte encoding of \\( s \\).

The choice of \\( Q\_4 = (i, 0) \\) when \\( a = -1 \\) is convenient
since it simplifies 7.1 to \\( (X,Y) \gets (iY_0, iX_0) \\).

## Explicit Decoding Formulas

As with encoding, we want to batch operations to use only a single
inverse square root.  However, the procedure is much simpler since
there's no torquing.

On input `s_bytes`:

1. Check that `s_bytes` is the canonical byte-encoding of a field
element \\(s\\), otherwise reject.
2. Decode `s_bytes` to \\(s\\).
3. Check that \\( s \\) is nonnegative, otherwise reject.
4. \\( u_1 \gets 1 + as^2 \\)
5. \\( u_2 \gets 1 - as^2 \\)
6. \\( v \gets (ad)u_1^2 - u_2^2 \textcolor{gray}{= ad(1+as^2)^2 - (1-as^2)^2} \\)
7. \\( I \gets \mathrm{invsqrt}( v u_2^2 ) \textcolor{gray}{= 1/\sqrt{v u_2^2} } \\)
8. \\( D_x \gets Iu_2 \textcolor{gray}{= 1/\sqrt{v} } \\)
9. \\( D_y \gets ID_x v \textcolor{gray}{= I^2 u_2 v = (v u_2) / (v u_2^2) = 1/u_2 } \\)
10. \\( x \gets |2sD_x| \textcolor{gray}{= +\sqrt{ 4s^2 / (ad(1+as^2)^2 - (1-as^2)^2 )}}\\)
11. \\( y \gets u_1 D_y \textcolor{gray}{= (1+as^2)/(1-as^2) } \\)
12. \\( t \gets xy \\)
12. Check that \\(t \\) is nonnegative and that \\( y \neq 0 \\), otherwise reject.
13. Return \\( P = (x: y: 1: t) \\)

# Batched Double-and-Encode Using \\( \hat \theta \\)

The encoding is not batchable, since it requires an inverse square
root.  However, since \\( \theta \circ \hat \theta = [2] P \\), it's
possible to compute the encoding of \\( [2]P \\) by using \\( \hat
\theta \\) instead of \\( \theta^{-1} \\).  Since \\( \hat \theta \\) only
requires inversions, given \\( P\_1, \ldots, P\_n \\), it's possible
to compute the encodings of \\( [2]P\_1, \ldots, [2]P\_n \\) in a
batch.

XXX write up details

# Equality Testing

Testing equality of two Ristretto points means testing whether they
are equal in the quotient group, i.e., whether they lie in the same
coset of \\(\mathcal E[4] \\) (for the cofactor-\\(8\\) case) or
\\(\mathcal E[2] \\) (for the cofactor-\\(4\\) case).

Equality testing of points on the Edwards curve requires comparing to
affine coordinates, which requires an expensive inversion.  However,
testing whether two points lie in the same coset can be done in
projective coordinates, making it actually *easier* than equality
testing in the original non-quotient group.

XXX write up details

# Elligator

XXX write up details

[ristretto_sage]: https://sourceforge.net/p/ed448goldilocks/code/ci/master/tree/aux/ristretto/ristretto.sage
[ristretto_libdecaf]: https://sourceforge.net/p/ed448goldilocks/code/ci/master/tree/
[decaf_paper]: https://eprint.iacr.org/2015/673.pdf
[hwcd_jacobi]: https://eprint.iacr.org/2009/312.pdf
[hwcd_edwards]: https://eprint.iacr.org/2008/522.pdf
[edwards_edwards]: https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2007-44-03/S0273-0979-07-01153-6/S0273-0979-07-01153-6.pdf
[twisted_edwards]: https://eprint.iacr.org/2008/013.pdf
[curve_models]: ../../curve_models/index.html