LogUp*

Introduction

LogUp was originally designed as a protocol to prove non-indexed lookup arguments. In contrast, permutation arguments are defined in the indexed lookup form, and one typically reduces indexed lookup to non-indexed lookup in order to apply LogUp.

A non-indexed lookup argument deals with the problem of proving that, for two arrays $X, T$ with $|X| = n, |T| = m$, the relation $X \subseteq T$ holds. In contrast, an indexed lookup argument introduces an index array $I$ in place of $X$ to carry out the proof. (Let's see how $I$ looks like later!)

LogUp* focuses on the following setting:

1. $m \ll n$ ⇒ small table

2. $I$ consists of $n$ small elements.

3. $T$ consists of $m$ large elements ≈ 128-bit

In this situation, the standard reduction requires committing to the array $I^*T$ (the pullback). While elliptic curve–based commitments offer some solutions, hash-based commitments do not provide an efficient method. The problem becomes particularly severe when the elements of $I^*T$ must be defined over an extension field in order to achieve 128-bit security; the commitment cost grows prohibitively large according to the paper, roughly 6× the cost compared to plain LogUp.

LogUp* addresses this challenge by proposing an efficient alternative that is agnostic to both the underlying field and the commitment scheme.

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Background

Non-indexed lookup

• Pre-commitment: $X, T, \mathsf{acc}$ ($\mathsf{acc}$, also called the multiplicity , indicates how many times each table element in $T$ is looked up by $X$).

• Claim: $X \subseteq T$

• Challenge: $c$

• Verification:

$$\sum_{0 \le i < n}\frac{1}{c - X[i]} = \sum_{0 \le j < m} \frac{\mathsf{acc}[j]}{c - T[j]}$$

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Indexed lookup

• Claim:

$$(I^* T)[i] \stackrel{?}{=} T[I[i]]$$

• Example: If $X = (1,2,1,3,4)$ and $T = (1, 2, 3, 4)$, then in the indexed lookup setting we have $I = (0,1,0,2,3)$, so that $I^*T = X$.

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Reduction: indexed to non-indexed lookup

• Pre-commitment: $I, T, \textcolor{red}{I^*T}, \mathsf{acc}$

• Claim: $(I^*T, I) \subseteq (T, [0, |T|))$ (or you can say that $I^*T$ is claimed to be pullback)

• Challenge: $c, \gamma$

• Verification:

$$\sum_{0 \le i < n}\frac{1}{c - (I^*T[i] + \gamma I[i])} = \sum_{0 \le j < m} \frac{\mathsf{acc}[j]}{c - (T[j] + \gamma j)}$$

LogUp* aims to eliminate the need for committing to $\textcolor{red}{I^*T}$ in this reduction.

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Protocol Explanation

Pullback and pushforward

Notations

• $A: \mathbf{n} = [0,n) \to \mathbb{F}$

• $B: \mathbf{m} = [0,m) \to \mathbb{F}$

• $I: \mathbf{n} \to \mathbf{m}$

• Pullback:

$$I^*B[i] = B[I[i]]$$

• Pushforward:

$$I_*A[j] = \sum_{i \mid I[i] = j} A[i]$$

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Lemma 1. Duality

$$\langle I_*A, B \rangle = \langle A, I^*B \rangle$$

Proof

$$\langle I_*A, B \rangle = \sum_{0 \le j < m} I_*A[j]B[j] = \sum_{0 \le j < m}\left(\sum_{i \mid I[i] = j} A[i]\right)B[j] = \sum_{0 \le i < n} A[i]B[I[i]] = \langle A, I^*B \rangle$$

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Intuitive example

Let $A = (1, 2, 1, 3, 4), B = (1, 2, 3, 4), I = (0, 1, 0, 2, 3)$. Then $I^*B = A$.

If $A = (a_0, \dots, a_{n-1})$, then the right hand is computed as follows:

$$\sum_{0 \le i < n} a_i^2 = 1^2 + 2^2 + 1^2 + 3^2 + 4^2 = 31$$

If $B = (b_0, \dots, b_{m-1})$, then the left hand is computed as follows:

$$\sum_{0 \le j < m} \left(\sum_{i \mid I[i] = j} a_i\right)b_j = (1+1)\cdot 1 + 2\cdot 2 + 3\cdot 3 + 4\cdot 4 = 31$$

Both sides match, confirming the duality.

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Trading pullback for pushforward

• Pre-commitment: $I, T$

• Claim: $I^*T(r) \stackrel{?}{=} e$

Protocol

1. Commit to $I_*\mathsf{eq}_r$, where

$$\mathsf{eq}_r(x) = \prod_{0 \le i < k}(r_i x_i + (1-r_i)(1-x_i)), \quad n < 2^k$$

1. Observe that

$$I^*T(r) = \langle I^*T, \mathsf{eq}_r \rangle = \langle T, I_* \mathsf{eq}_r \rangle$$

Evaluation of a polynomial $P$ in a point $r = (r_0, \dots, r_{k−1})$ can be computed as an inner product with the multilinear Lagrange kernel: $P(r) = \lang P, \mathsf{eq}_r \rang$.

1. Run sumcheck for the claim $\langle T, I_* \mathsf{eq}_r \rangle \stackrel{?}{=} e$, obtaining additional evaluation claims $T(r') \stackrel{?}{=} c, \; I_*\mathsf{eq}_r(r') \stackrel{?}{=} c'$.

2. Open $T$ and $I_* \mathsf{eq}_r$.

This protocol proves the evaluation of $I^*T(r)$, provided that $I_*\mathsf{eq}_r$ was committed correctly. Note that the commitment to $\textcolor{red}{I^*T}$ is not performed.

Then we need to check whether $I_*\mathsf{eq}_r$ indeed is pushforward.

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Pushforward proof with LogUp*

General Case

• Pre-commitment: $I, T, X, Y$

• Claim: $Y$is claimed to be pushforward as follows:

$$Y[j] \stackrel{?}{=} I_*X[j] = \sum_{i \mid I[i] = j} X[i]$$

• Challenge: $c$

• Verification:

$$\sum_{0 \le i < n} \frac{X[i]}{c - I[i]} = \sum_{0 \le j < m} \frac{Y[j]}{c - j}$$

Intuitively, if $I[i = 1,5,7] \mapsto j=3$, then the left-hand side contributes $\frac{X[1] + X[5] + X[7]}{c-3}$, while the right-hand side uses $\frac{Y[3]}{c-3}$ to represent the same value.

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Our Case

• Pre-commitment: $I, T, Y$ (here $X = \mathsf{eq}_r$, and since the verifier can compute $\mathsf{eq}_r$ directly, there is no need to commit to $X$).

• Challenge: $c$

• Verification:

$$\sum_{0 \le i < n}\frac{\mathsf{eq}_r[i]}{c - I[i]} = \sum_{0 \le j < m} \frac{I_*\mathsf{eq}_r[j]}{c - j}$$

Thus, the prover only commits to $I, T, Y$, while the verifier computes $\mathsf{eq}_r$ on its own to complete the verification.

References

• https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/946.pdf

Written by ryan Kim from A41