H. W. Lenstra

Hendrik W. Lenstra, Alice Silverberg

A CM-order is a reduced order equipped with an involution that mimics complex conjugation. The Witt-Picard group of such an order is a certain group of ideal classes that is closely related to the "minus part" of the class group. We present a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm for the following problem, which may be viewed as a special case of the principal ideal testing problem: given a CM-order, decide whether two given elements of its Witt-Picard group are equal. In order to prevent coefficient blow-up, the algorithm operates with lattices rather than with ideals. An important ingredient is a technique introduced by Gentry and Szydlo in a cryptographic context. Our application of it to lattices over CM-orders hinges upon a novel existence theorem for auxiliary ideals, which we deduce from a result of Konyagin and Pomerance in elementary number theory.

H. W. Lenstra, A. Silverberg

We give deterministic polynomial-time algorithms that, given an order, compute the primitive idempotents and determine a set of generators for the group of roots of unity in the order. Also, we show that the discrete logarithm problem in the group of roots of unity can be solved in polynomial time. As an auxiliary result, we solve the discrete logarithm problem for certain unit groups in finite rings. Our techniques, which are taken from commutative algebra, may have further potential in the context of cryptology and computer algebra.

H. W. Lenstra, A. Silverberg

For large ranks, there is no good algorithm that decides whether a given lattice has an orthonormal basis. But when the lattice is given with enough symmetry, we can construct a provably deterministic polynomial-time algorithm to accomplish this, based on the work of Gentry and Szydlo. The techniques involve algorithmic algebraic number theory, analytic number theory, commutative algebra, and lattice basis reduction.