On Prime-Order Elliptic Curves with Embedding Degrees 3, 4 and 6

Abstract

Bilinear pairings on elliptic curves have many cryptographic applications such as identity based encryption, one-round three-party key agreement protocols, and short signature schemes. The elliptic curves which are suitable for pairing-based cryptography are called pairing friendly curves. The prime-order pairing friendly curves with embedding degrees k=3,4 and 6 were characterized by Miyaji, Nakabayashi and Takano. We study this characterization of MNT curves in details. We present explicit algorithms to obtain suitable curve parameters and to construct the corresponding elliptic curves. We also give a heuristic lower bound for the expected number of isogeny classes of MNT curves. Moreover, the related theoretical findings are compared with our experimental results.