HalftimeHash: Modern Hashing without 64-bit Multipliers or Finite Fields

Abstract: HalftimeHash is a new algorithm for hashing long strings. The goals are few collisions (different inputs that produce identical output hash values) and high performance. Compared to the fastest universal hash functions on long strings (clhash and UMASH) HalftimeHash decreases collision probability while also increasing performance by over 50%, exceeding 16 bytes per cycle. In addition, HalftimeHash does not use any widening 64-bit multiplications or any finite field arithmetic that could limit its portability.