Pulsar

Threshold ML-DSA — a 2-round threshold signing and DKG system whose generated signatures are verifiable by unmodified FIPS 204 ML-DSA verification. Targeting NIST MPTC Class N1 (signing) + N4 (ML keygen / DKG).

Pulsar is the Module-LWE sibling of Pulsar (Ring-LWE). Pulsar's 2-round threshold protocol structure is transplanted onto ML-DSA-65's polynomial-vector-over-R_q algebra so the per-party-aggregated signature is bit-identical to a single-party FIPS 204 signature on the same message + public key.

Status: Research / Reference (not production hardened, not FIPS validated). NIST-profile vectors use SHAKE / cSHAKE / KMAC. Any BLAKE3 deltas are experimental and out-of-scope for the MPTC submission.

Why

NIST FIPS 204 (ML-DSA) is the only NIST-approved post-quantum digital signature in 2026. Threshold variants of ML-DSA are not yet standardized — NIST's Multi-Party Threshold Cryptography project is collecting them now (IR 8214C, January 2026; first call package deadline expected 2026-Nov-16).

Pulsar aims to enter that process with a credible, output-interchangeable threshold ML-DSA candidate — built from the production-tested protocol machinery already shipping in luxfi/pulsar (R-LWE), retargeted to the M-LWE primitives ML-DSA itself uses.

The win, if Pulsar's Sign output is byte-equal to FIPS 204 Sign:

• Threshold-produced signatures verify under unmodified FIPS 204 verifiers.
• Existing FIPS-validated ML-DSA modules (BoringSSL FIPS, AWS-LC, OpenSSL 3.0 PQ provider) consume Pulsar certs without code changes.
• The threshold layer can be Class-N-claimed at NIST without a parallel algorithm standardization track.

Repository layout

pulsar/
├── docs/                     human-readable design notes
│   ├── threat-model.md
│   ├── nist-mptc-category.md
│   ├── design-decisions.md
│   ├── known-limitations.md
│   └── patent-notes-draft.md
├── spec/                     LaTeX technical specification (MPTC package)
│   ├── pulsar.tex          main spec
│   ├── security-games.tex    EUF-CMA / TS-UF / robustness / adaptive corr.
│   ├── system-model.tex      network / setup / abort / preprocessing
│   ├── parameters.tex        concrete parameter sets, lattice-estimator
│   └── references.bib
├── ref/
│   ├── go/                   reference implementation (Go, no assembly)
│   │   ├── cmd/              CLI entry points
│   │   ├── internal/         private helpers
│   │   └── pkg/              public API (sign/, dkg/, primitives/, hash/, fmt/)
│   └── c/                    conformance implementation (post-encoding-freeze)
├── vectors/                  Known Answer Tests (KATs)
│   ├── kat-v1.json           input/output vectors per MPTC §IO-Testing
│   ├── kat-v1.rsp            CAVS-style response file (compatibility)
│   └── transcripts/          full-protocol KATs (n,t sweeps)
├── bench/                    reproducible benchmark harness
├── test/                     fuzz / negative / interoperability tests
├── ct/dudect/                constant-time analysis harness
├── estimator/                lattice-estimator parameter scripts
├── scripts/                  build.sh / test.sh / bench.sh / gen_vectors.sh / sbom.sh
└── go.mod

Quickstart

Pulsar is in pre-spec stage. Reference impl, vectors, and bench harness ship after the spec freezes. Track spec/known-limitations.tex for what's stable vs in-flight.

git clone https://github.com/luxfi/pulsar
cd pulsar
./scripts/build.sh       # checks spec compile + Go build
./scripts/test.sh        # runs unit + KAT suite (when available)
./scripts/bench.sh       # reproduces bench/results/ (when available)
./scripts/gen_vectors.sh # regenerates KATs from reference impl (when available)

NIST MPTC submission

package element	location	status
Technical Specification	spec/pulsar.pdf (built from spec/pulsar.tex)	draft
Reference Implementation	ref/go/	skeleton
Report on Experimental Evaluation	bench/results/REPORT.md	TBD
Notes on Patent Claims	spec/patent-notes.tex	TBD
Open-source license	LICENSE (Apache-2.0)	✓
Build/test/benchmark scripts	scripts/	skeleton
I/O test vectors	vectors/kat-v1.{json,rsp}	TBD

Target dates:

• 2026-Jul-20 preview writeup (NIST third preview deadline)
• 2026-Nov-16 package submission (NIST first call deadline)

Relationship to upstream

repo	what	hash family
luxfi/corona	academic R-LWE 2-round threshold sig (Boschini–Kaviani–Lai–Malavolta–Takahashi–Tibouchi, ePrint 2024/1113)	BLAKE3
luxfi/pulsar	production fork of Corona with Pedersen DKG + proactive resharing	SHA-3 / cSHAKE256 (canonical), BLAKE3 (legacy)
luxfi/pulsar (this repo)	Module-LWE sibling: threshold ML-DSA	SHA-3 / SHAKE256 (NIST profile) only

Security

SECURITY.md describes how to disclose vulnerabilities and what's in-scope for bug bounty.

License

Apache-2.0 — same as luxfi/pulsar and luxfi/corona. See LICENSE.