This is an accompanying document to [Ethereum 2.0 Altair -- The Beacon Chain](./beacon-chain.md), which describes the expected actions of a "validator" participating in the Ethereum 2.0 protocol.
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## Introduction
This document represents the expected behavior of an "honest validator" with respect to Altair of the Ethereum 2.0 protocol.
It builds on the [previous document for the behavior of an "honest validator" from Phase 0](../phase0/validator.md) of the Ethereum 2.0 protocol.
This previous document is referred to below as the "Phase 0 document".
Altair introduces a new type of committee: the sync committee. Sync committees are responsible for signing each block of the canonical chain and there exists an efficient algorithm for light clients to sync the chain using the output of the sync committees.
See the [sync protocol](./sync-protocol.md) for further details on the light client sync.
Under this network upgrade, validators track their participation in this new committee type and produce the relevant signatures as required.
Block proposers incorporate the (aggregated) sync committee signatures into each block they produce.
## Prerequisites
All terminology, constants, functions, and protocol mechanics defined in the [Altair -- The Beacon Chain](./beacon-chain.md) doc are requisite for this document and used throughout.
Please see this document before continuing and use as a reference throughout.
## Warning
This document is currently illustrative for early Altair testnets and some parts are subject to change, especially pending implementation and profiling of Altair testnets.
A validator determines beacon committee assignments and beacon block proposal duties as defined in the Phase 0 document.
### Sync Committee
To determine sync committee assignments, a validator can run the following function: `is_assigned_to_sync_committee(state, epoch, validator_index)` where `epoch` is an epoch number within the current or next sync committee period.
This function is a predicate indicating the presence or absence of the validator in the corresponding sync committee for the queried sync committee period.
return pubkey in state.next_sync_committee.pubkeys
```
### Lookahead
The sync committee shufflings give validators 1 sync committee period of lookahead which amounts to `EPOCHS_PER_SYNC_COMMITTEE_PERIOD` epochs.
At any given `epoch`, the `BeaconState` contains the current `SyncCommittee` and the next `SyncCommittee`.
Once every `EPOCHS_PER_SYNC_COMMITTEE_PERIOD` epochs, the next `SyncCommittee` becomes the current `SyncCommittee` and the next committee is computed and stored.
*Note*: The data required to compute a given committee is not cached in the `BeaconState` after committees are calculated at the period boundaries.
This means that calling `get_sync_commitee()` in a given `epoch` can return a different result than what was computed during the relevant epoch transition.
For this reason, *always* get committee assignments via the fields of the `BeaconState` (`current_sync_committee` and `next_sync_committee`) or use the above reference code.
A validator should plan for future sync committee assignments by noting which sync committee periods they are selected for participation.
Specifically, a validator should:
* Upon (re)syncing the chain and upon sync committee period boundaries, check for assignments in the current and next sync committee periods.
* If the validator is in the current sync committee period, they can perform the responsibilities below for sync committee rewards.
* If the validator is in the next sync committee period, they should wait until the next `EPOCHS_PER_SYNC_COMMITTEE_PERIOD` boundary and then perform the responsibilities throughout that period.
## Beacon chain responsibilities
A validator maintains the responsibilities given in the Phase 0 document.
Block proposals are modified to incorporate the sync committee signatures as detailed below.
When assigned to a sync committee, validators have a new responsibility to sign beacon block roots during each slot of the sync committee period.
These signatures are aggregated and routed to the proposer over gossip for inclusion into a beacon block.
Assignments to a particular sync committee are infrequent at normal validator counts; however, an action every slot is required when in the current active sync committee.
### Block proposal
Refer to the phase 0 document for the majority of the [block proposal responsibility](../phase0/validator.md#block-proposal).
The validator should follow those instructions to prepare a `SignedBeaconBlock` for inclusion into the chain. All changes are additive to phase 0 and noted below.
#### Preparing a `BeaconBlock`
No change to [Preparing for a `BeaconBlock`](../phase0/validator.md#preparing-for-a-beaconblock).
#### Constructing the `BeaconBlockBody`
Each section of [Constructing the `BeaconBlockBody`](../phase0/validator.md#constructing-the-beaconblockbody) should be followed.
After constructing the `BeaconBlockBody` as per that section, the proposer has an additional task to include the sync committee signatures:
##### Sync committee
The proposer receives a number of `SyncCommitteeContribution`s (wrapped in `SignedContributionAndProof`s on the wire) from validators in the sync committee who are selected to partially aggregate signatures from independent subcommittees formed by breaking the full sync committee into `SYNC_COMMITTEE_SUBNET_COUNT` pieces (see below for details).
The proposer collects these contributions for further aggregation when preparing a block.
Proposers should select the best contribution seen across all aggregators for each subnet/subcommittee when preparing a block.
A contribution with more valid signatures is better than a contribution with fewer signatures.
Recall `block.body.sync_aggregate.sync_committee_bits` is a `Bitvector` where the `i`th bit is `True` if the corresponding validator in the sync committee has produced a valid signature,
and that `block.body.sync_aggregate.sync_committee_signature` is the aggregate BLS signature combining all of the valid signatures.
Given a collection of the best seen `contributions` (with no repeating `subcommittee_index` values) and the `BeaconBlock` under construction,
*Note*: The resulting block must pass the validations for the `SyncAggregate` defined in `process_sync_committee` defined in the [state transition document](./beacon-chain.md#sync-committee-processing).
In particular, this means `SyncCommitteeContribution`s received from gossip must have a `beacon_block_root` that matches the proposer's local view of the chain.
#### Packaging into a `SignedBeaconBlock`
No change to [Packaging into a `SignedBeaconBlock`](../phase0/validator.md#packaging-into-a-signedbeaconblock).
### Attesting and attestation aggregation
Refer to the phase 0 document for the [attesting](../phase0/validator.md#attesting) and [attestation aggregation](../phase0/validator.md#attestation-aggregation) responsibilities.
There is no change compared to the phase 0 document.
### Sync committees
Sync committee members employ an aggregation scheme to reduce load on the global proposer channel that is monitored by all potential proposers to be able to include the full output of the sync committee every slot.
Sync committee members produce individual signatures on subnets (similar to the attestation subnets) via `SyncCommitteeSignature`s which are then collected by aggregators sampled from the sync subcommittees to produce a `SyncCommitteeContribution` which is gossiped to proposers.
This process occurs each slot.
#### Sync committee signatures
##### Prepare sync committee signature
If a validator is in the current sync committee (i.e. `is_assigned_to_sync_committee` above returns `True`), then for every slot in the current sync committee period the validator should prepare a `SyncCommitteeSignature` according to the logic in `get_sync_committee_signature` as soon as they have determined the head block of the current slot.
This logic is triggered upon the same conditions as when producing an attestation.
Meaning, a sync committee member should produce and broadcast a `SyncCommitteeSignature` either when (a) the validator has received a valid block from the expected block proposer for the current `slot` or (b) one-third of the slot has transpired (`SECONDS_PER_SLOT / 3` seconds after the start of the slot) -- whichever comes first.
`get_sync_committee_signature` assumes `state` is the head state corresponding to processing the block at the current slot as determined by the fork choice (including any empty slots processed with `process_slots`), `block_root` is the root of the head block whose processing results in `state`, `validator_index` is the index of the validator in the registry `state.validators` controlled by `privkey`, and `privkey` is the BLS private key for the validator.
*Note*: Subnet assignment does not change during the duration of a validator's assignment to a given sync committee.
*Note*: If a validator has multiple `subnet_id` results from `compute_subnets_for_sync_committee`, the validator should broadcast a copy of the `sync_committee_signature` on each of the distinct subnets.
#### Sync committee contributions
Each slot some sync committee members in each subcommittee are selected to aggregate the `SyncCommitteeSignature`s into a `SyncCommitteeContribution` which is broadcast on a global channel for inclusion into the next block.
A validator is selected to aggregate based on the computation in `is_sync_committee_aggregator` where `signature` is the BLS signature returned by `get_sync_committee_selection_proof`.
The signature function takes a `BeaconState` with the relevant sync committees for the queried `slot` (i.e. `state.slot` is within the span covered by the current or next sync committee period), the `subcommittee_index` equal to the `subnet_id`, and the `privkey` is the BLS private key associated with the validator.
*NOTE*: the set of aggregators generally changes every slot; however, the assignments can be computed ahead of time as soon as the committee is known
##### Construct sync committee contribution
If a validator is selected to aggregate the `SyncCommitteeSignature`s produced on a subnet during a given `slot`, they construct an aggregated `SyncCommitteeContribution`.
Given all of the (valid) collected `sync_committee_signatures: Set[SyncCommitteeSignature]` from the `sync_committee_{subnet_id}` gossip during the selected `slot` with an equivalent `beacon_block_root` to that of the aggregator, the aggregator creates a `contribution: SyncCommitteeContribution` with the following fields:
###### Slot
Set `contribution.slot = state.slot` where `state` is the `BeaconState` for the slot in question.
###### Beacon block root
Set `contribution.beacon_block_root = beacon_block_root` from the `beacon_block_root` found in the `sync_committee_signatures`.
###### Subcommittee index
Set `contribution.subcommittee_index` to the index for the subcommittee index corresponding to the subcommittee assigned to this subnet. This index matches the `subnet_id` used to derive the topic name.
Let `contribution.aggregation_bits` be a `Bitvector[SYNC_COMMITTEE_SIZE // SYNC_COMMITTEE_SUBNET_COUNT]`, where the `index`th bit is set in the `Bitvector` for each corresponding validator included in this aggregate from the corresponding subcommittee.
An aggregator needs to find the index in the sync committee (as returned by `get_sync_committee_indices`) for a given validator referenced by `sync_committee_signature.validator_index` and map the sync committee index to an index in the subcommittee (along with the prior `subcommittee_index`). This index within the subcommittee is the one set in the `Bitvector`.
For example, if a validator with index `2044` is pseudo-randomly sampled to sync committee index `135`. This sync committee index maps to `subcommittee_index``1` with position `7` in the `Bitvector` for the contribution.
Also note that a validator **could be included multiple times** in a given subcommittee such that multiple bits are set for a single `SyncCommitteeSignature`.
###### Signature
Set `contribution.signature = aggregate_signature` where `aggregate_signature` is obtained by assembling the appropriate collection of `BLSSignature`s from the set of `sync_committee_signatures` and using the `bls.Aggregate` function to produce an aggregate `BLSSignature`.
The collection of input signatures should include one signature per validator who had a bit set in the `aggregation_bits` bitfield, with repeated signatures if one validator maps to multiple indices within the subcommittee.
##### Broadcast sync committee contribution
If the validator is selected to aggregate (`is_sync_committee_aggregator`), then they broadcast their best aggregate as a `SignedContributionAndProof` to the global aggregate channel (`sync_committee_contribution_and_proof` topic) two-thirds of the way through the `slot`-that is, `SECONDS_PER_SLOT * 2 / 3` seconds after the start of `slot`.
Selection proofs are provided in `ContributionAndProof` to prove to the gossip channel that the validator has been selected as an aggregator.
`ContributionAndProof` messages are signed by the aggregator and broadcast inside of `SignedContributionAndProof` objects to prevent a class of DoS attacks and message forgeries.
First, `contribution_and_proof = get_contribution_and_proof(state, validator_index, contribution, privkey)` is constructed.
Then `signed_contribution_and_proof = SignedContributionAndProof(message=contribution_and_proof, signature=signature)` is constructed and broadcast. Where `signature` is obtained from:
The sync committee subnets need special care to ensure stability given the relatively low number of validators involved in the sync committee at any particular time.
To provide this stability, a validator must do the following:
* Maintain advertisement of the subnet the validator in the sync committee is assigned to in their node's ENR as soon as they have joined the subnet.
Subnet assignments are known `EPOCHS_PER_SYNC_COMMITTEE_PERIOD` epochs in advance and can be computed with `compute_subnets_for_sync_committee` defined above.
ENR advertisement is indicated by setting the appropriate bit(s) of the bitfield found under the `syncnets` key in the ENR corresponding to the derived `subnet_id`(s).
Any bits modified for the sync committee responsibilities are unset in the ENR after any validators have left the sync committee.
*Note*: The first sync committee from phase 0 to the Altair fork will not be known until the fork happens which implies subnet assignments are not known until then.
Early sync committee members should listen for topic subscriptions from peers and employ discovery via the ENR advertisements near the fork boundary to form initial subnets.
Some early sync committee rewards may be missed while the initial subnets form.
* To join a sync committee subnet, select a random number of epochs before the end of the current sync committee period between 1 and `SYNC_COMMITTEE_SUBNET_COUNT`, inclusive.
Validators should join their member subnet at the beginning of the epoch they have randomly selected.
For example, if the next sync committee period starts at epoch `853,248` and the validator randomly selects an offset of `3`, they should join the subnet at the beginning of epoch `853,245`.
Validators should leverage the lookahead period on sync committee assignments so that they can join the appropriate subnets ahead of their assigned sync committee period.
