Normal Forms in Artin Groups for Cryptographic Purposes

Abstract

With the advent of quantum computers, the security of number-theoretic cryptography has been compromised. Consequently, new cryptosystems have been suggested in the field of non-commutative group theory. In this thesis, we provide all the necessary background to understand and work with the Artin groups. We then show that Artin groups of finite type and Artin groups of large type possess an easily-computable normal form by explicitly writing the algorithms. This solution to the word problem makes these groups candidates to be cryptographic platforms. Finally, we present some combinatorial problems that can be used in group-based cryptography and we conjecture, through empirical evidence, that the conjugacy problem in Artin groups of large type is not a hard problem.