Package bn256 implements a particular bilinear group.
Bilinear groups are the basis of many of the new cryptographic protocols that have been proposed over the past decade. They consist of a triplet of groups (G₁, G₂ and GT) such that there exists a function e(g₁ˣ,g₂ʸ)=gTˣʸ (where gₓ is a generator of the respective group). That function is called a pairing function.
This package specifically implements the Optimal Ate pairing over a 256-bit Barreto-Naehrig curve as described in http://cryptojedi.org/papers/dclxvi-20100714.pdf. Its output is compatible with the implementation described in that paper.
This package previously claimed to operate at a 128-bit security level. However, recent improvements in attacks mean that is no longer true. See https://moderncrypto.org/mail-archive/curves/2016/000740.html.
branch master:
BenchmarkG1-4 10000 154995 ns/op
BenchmarkG2-4 3000 541503 ns/op
BenchmarkGT-4 1000 1267811 ns/op
BenchmarkPairing-4 1000 1630584 ns/op
branch lattices:
BenchmarkG1-4 20000 92198 ns/op
BenchmarkG2-4 5000 340622 ns/op
BenchmarkGT-4 2000 635061 ns/op
BenchmarkPairing-4 1000 1629943 ns/op
official version:
BenchmarkG1-4 1000 2268491 ns/op
BenchmarkG2-4 300 7227637 ns/op
BenchmarkGT-4 100 15121359 ns/op
BenchmarkPairing-4 50 20296164 ns/op