Quantum key distribution using universal hash functions over finite fields

One of the most important functions used in a quantum key distribution (QKD) network is universal hash functions, specially, (almost) strongly universal hash functions which are used in at least three steps of QKD, in particular, in error correction, privacy amplification, and authentication. Also, they have been recently used in several other quantum communication protocols like quantum secret sharing (QSS). These hash functions have also many other important applications from information security to data structures and parallel computing. Recently, Bibak et al. [Quantum Inf. Comput., 2021] introduced quadratic hash which gives much better collision bound than the well-known polynomial hash. In this paper, we define three new universal hash function families which strongly generalize all the previous families and have several advantages over them. Then, using highly influential and pioneering results of Schmidt and of Weil, we show that these new families are (almost) \(\Delta \)-universal which can then be easily converted to (almost) strongly universal families. This makes them useful for applications in QKD and many other areas.