Propagation Characteristics of the Divergence of Elementary Cellular Automata

Abstract

In this work the notion of divergence of elementary cellular automata is introduced and it is analyzed from a cryptographic point of view. Specifically, the balancedness and propagation characteristics are analyzed.

Boolean differential operators

“…As is well known, elementary cellular automata (ECA for short) are a particular type of finite state machine where the evolution of states of the cells is governed by means of a 3 -variable boolean function (see [17]). The boolean derivative of ECA has been extensively studied (see, for example, [2,15]) and also the cryptographic significance of its boolean divergence has been analyzed (see [9]). …”