Arkworks min optimization

An R1CS gadget for computing the minimum of two field elements without using explicit comparisons.

1. Problem Statement

Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a prime field and fix an integer $\ell$ with $\ell < \lfloor\log_{2}|\mathbb{F}|\rfloor$. Given two inputs $a, b \in \mathbb{F}$ satisfying $0 \le a, b < 2^{\ell}$, we want to compute $c = \min(a, b)$ as a field element.

Note: By $\ell < \log_{2} \lfloor|\mathbb{F}|\rfloor$ we assume $a,b$ do not exceed $|\mathbb{F}|/2$, so no modular wraparound occurs.

2. Protocol

Introduce two auxiliary witnesses $over$ and $under$ and enforce the following constraints:

1. (Balance constraint)
   $a + under = b + over$
2. (Mutual-exclusion constraint)
   $over \cdot under = 0$
3. (Bit-length bounds)
   $over,under < 2^{\ell}$

Finally, output $c=a-over$

3. Correctness

1. From constraint 2, at most one of $over$ or $under$ is nonzero.
2. Since $\ell < \log_{2} \lfloor|\mathbb{F}|\rfloor$, adding $under$ or $over$ to $a$ or $b$ never wraps around the modulus: summing two $\ell$-bit numbers will yield a number strictly less than $|\mathbb{F}|$.

• Case $a \le b$
  Balance implies $a + under = b + over$, forcing $over = 0$ (via mutual exclusion).
  Hence $\min(a,b) = a - over = a$

• Case $a > b$
  Then $under = 0$ and $over = a - b$.
  Hence $\min(a,b) = a - over = b$.

4. R1CS Realization

Constraint 1 and constraint 2 each require one rank-1 constraint (R1C).

Constraint 3 (bit-length check) uses a standard bit-decomposition. For $i = 0,\dots,\ell-1$, introduce Boolean variables $over_{i}$ and $under_{i}$ and enforce:

• $over = \sum_{i=0}^{\ell-1}\ 2^{i} \cdot over_{i}$
• $under = \sum_{i=0}^{\ell-1}\ 2^{i} \cdot under_{i}$
• $over_{i} \cdot (1 - over_{i}) = 0$
• $under_{i} \cdot (1 - under_{i}) = 0$

Each of these four equations is one R1C.

4.1 Gadget Overhead

5. Empirical Evaluation

Lib Gadget * refers to a circuit using the above idea. Std Gadget * refers to a circuit using the standard approach of comparing $a$ and $b$.

To reproduce, run cargo run --release

6. Extensions

This idea can be adapted for computing other functions like maximum or absolute difference.