Let $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ be a finite field with $q^n$ elements, and let $m_1$ and $m_2$ be positive integers. Given polynomials $f_1(x), f_2(x) \in \mathbb{F}_q[x]$ with $\textrm{deg}(f_i(x)) \leq m_i$, for $i = 1, 2$, and such that the rational function $f_1(x)/f_2(x)$ belongs to a certain set which we define, we present a sufficient condition for the existence of a primitive element $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}$, normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$, such that $f_1(α)/f_2(α)$ is also primitive.
The celebrated Primitive Normal Basis Theorem states that for any $n\ge 2$ and any finite field $\mathbb F_q$, there exists an element $α\in \mathbb F_{q^n}$ that is simultaneously primitive and normal over $\mathbb F_q$. In this paper, we prove some variations of this result, completing the proof of a conjecture proposed by Anderson and Mullen (2014). Our results also imply the existence of elements of $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ with multiplicative order $(q^n-1)/2$ and prescribed trace over $\mathbb F_q$.
Let $\mathbb{F}_q$ be the finite field of characteristic $p$ with $q$ elements and $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ its extension of degree $n$. We prove that there exists a primitive element of $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ that produces a completely normal basis of $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$, provided that $n=p^{\ell}m$ with $(m,p)=1$ and $q>m$.
An element w of the extension E of degree n over the finite field F=GF(q) is called free over F if {w, w^q,...,w^{q^{n-1}}} is a (normal) basis of E/F. The Primitive Normal Basis Theorem, first established in full by Lenstra and Schoof (1987), asserts that for any such extension E/F, there exists an element w in E such that w is simultaneously primitive (i.e., generates the multiplicative group of E) and free over F. In this paper we prove the following strengthening of this theorem: aside from five specific extensions E/F, there exists an element w in E such that both w and w^{-1} are simulta…
We demonstrate, using character sum arguments, the existence of primitive polynomials of degree n over a finite field GF(q) with the coefficients for x^(n-1), x^(n-2), and x^(n-3) prescribed, so long as char(GF(q)) is at least 5 and n is at least 9. The cases n=7, 8 are also considered.
Let $q$ be a prime power of a prime $p$, $n$ a positive integer and $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ the finite field with $q^n$ elements. The $k-$normal elements over finite fields were introduced and characterized by Huczynska et al (2013). Under the condition that $n$ is not divisible by $p$, they obtained an existence result on primitive $1-$normal elements of $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ over $\mathbb F_q$ for $q>2$. In this note, we extend their result to the excluded case $q=2$.
For $q=3^r$ ($r>0$), denote by $\mathbb{F}_q$ the finite field of order $q$ and for a positive integer $m\geq2$, let $\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$ be its extension field of degree $m$. We establish a sufficient condition for existence of a primitive normal element $α$ such that $f(α)$ is a primitive element, where $f(x)= ax^2+bx+c$, with $a,b,c\in \mathbb{F}_{q^m}$ satisfying $b^2\neq ac$ in $\Fm$ except for at most 9 exceptional pairs $(q,m)$.
We study the difference between the number of primitive roots modulo $p$ and modulo $p+k$ for prime pairs $p,p+k$. Assuming the Bateman-Horn conjecture, we prove the existence of strong sign biases for such pairs. More importantly, we prove that for a small positive proportion of prime pairs $p,p+k$, the dominant inequality is reversed.
An element $α\in \mathbb F_{q^n}$ is \emph{normal} if $\mathcal{B} = \{α, α^q, \ldots, α^{q^{n-1}}\}$ forms a basis of $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ as a vector space over $\mathbb F_{q}$; in this case, $\mathcal{B}$ is a normal basis of $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ over $\mathbb F_{q}$. The notion of $k$-normal elements was introduced in Huczynska et al (2013). Using the same notation as before, $α$ is $k$-normal if $\mathcal{B}$ spans a co-dimension $k$ subspace of $\mathbb F_{q^n}$. It can be shown that $1$-normal elements always exist in $\mathbb F_{q^n}$, and Huczynska et al (2013) show that elements that are s…
In 2013, Huczynska, Mullen, Panario and Thomson introduced the concept of $k$-normal elements: an element $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ is $k$-normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$ if the greatest common divisor of the polynomials $g_α(x)= αx^{n-1}+α^qx^{n-2}+\ldots +α^{q^{n-2}}x+α^{q^{n-1}}$ and $x^n-1$ in $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}[x]$ has degree $k$, generalizing the concept of normal elements (normal in the usual sense is $0$-normal). In this paper we discuss the existence of $r$-primitive, $k$-normal elements in $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ over $\mathbb{F}_{q}$, where an element $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}^*$ is $r$-primitive i…
In this paper we generalize the results of Sharma, Awasthi and Gupta (see \cite{SAG}). We work over a field of any characteristic with $q = p^k$ elements and we give a sufficient condition for the existence of a primitive element $α\in \mathbb{F}_{p^k}$ such that $f(α)$ is also primitive in $\mathbb{F}_{p^k}$, where $f(x) \in \mathbb{F}_{p^k}(x)$ is a quotient of polynomials with some restrictions. We explicitly determine the values of $k$ for which such a pair exists for $p=2,3,5$ and $7$.
Let $\mathcal C_Q$ be the cyclic group of order $Q$, $n$ a divisor of $Q$ and $r$ a divisor of $Q/n$. We introduce the set of $(r,n)$-free elements of $\mathcal C_Q$ and derive a lower bound for the the number of elements $θ\in \mathbb F_q$ for which $f(θ)$ is $(r,n)$-free and $F(θ)$ is $(R,N)$-free, where $ f, F \in \mathbb F_q[x]$. As an application, we consider the existence of $\mathbb F_q$-primitive points on curves like $y^n=f(x)$ and find, in particular, all the odd prime powers $q$ for which the elliptic curves $y^2=x^3 \pm x$ contain an $\mathbb F_q$-primitive point.
The so called $k$-normal elements appear in the literature as a generalization of normal elements over finite fields. Recently, questions concerning the construction of $k$-normal elements and the existence of $k$-normal elements that are also primitive have attracted attention from many authors. In this paper we give alternative constructions of $k$-normal elements and, in particular, we obtain a sieve inequality for the existence of primitive, $k$-normal elements. As an application, we show the existence of primitive $k$-normal elements for a significant proportion of $k$'s in many field ext…
Given $m, n, q\in \mathbb{N}$ such that $q$ is a prime power and $m\geq 3$, $a\in \mathbb{F}_q$, we establish a sufficient condition for the existence of primitive pair $(α, f(α))$ in $\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$ such that $α$ is normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$ and $\text{Tr}_{\mathbb{F}_{q^m}/\mathbb{F}_q}(α^{-1})=a$, where $f(x)\in \mathbb{F}_{q^m}(x)$ is a rational function of degree sum $n$. Further, when $n=2$ and $q=5^k$ for some $k\in \mathbb{N}$, such a pair definitely exists for all $(q, m)$ apart from at most $20$ choices.
With $\Fq$ the finite field of $q$ elements, we investigate the following question. If $γ$ generates $\Fqn$ over $\Fq$ and $β$ is a non-zero element of $\Fqn$, is there always an $a \in \Fq$ such that $β(γ+ a)$ is a primitive element? We resolve this case when $n=3$, thereby proving a conjecture by Cohen. We also improve substantially on what is known when $n=4$.
The previous paper [4] proved the existence of primitive polynomials and primitive normal polynomials of degree n with k prescribed coefficients in the finite field GF(q) for all sufficiently large q. This paper presents a loger versions of the result on primitve normal polynomials.
Let $F=\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$, $m>6$, $n$ a positive integer, and $f=p/q$ with $p$, $q$ co-prime irreducible polynomials in $F[x]$ and deg$(p)$ $+$ deg$(q)= n$. A sufficient condition has been obtained for the existence of primitive pairs $(α, f(α))$ in $F$ such that for any prescribed $a, b$ in $E=\mathbb{F}_q$, Tr$F/E (α) = a$ and Tr$F/E (α^{-1}) = b$. Further, for every positive integer $n$, such a pair definitely exists for large enough $(q,m)$. The case $n = 2$ is dealt separately and proved that such a pair exists for all $(q,m)$ apart from at most $64$ choices.
Let $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ be a finite field with $q^n$ elements and $r$ be a positive divisor of $q^n-1$. An element $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}^*$ is called $r$-primitive if its multiplicative order is $(q^n-1)/r$. Also, $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ is $k$-normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$ if the greatest common divisor of the polynomials $g_α(x) = αx^{n-1}+ α^q x^{n-2} + \ldots + α^{q^{n-2}}x + α^{q^{n-1}}$ and $x^n-1$ in $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}[x]$ has degree $k$. These concepts generalize the ideas of primitive and normal elements, respectively. In this paper, we consider non-negative integers $m_1,m_2,k_1,k_2$, po…
We present computational results which strongly support a conjecture of Morgan and Mullen (1996), which states that for every extension $E/F$ of Galois fields there exists a primitive element of $E$ which is completely normal over $F$.
An element $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ is normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$ if $\mathcal{B}=\{α, α^q, α^{q^2}, \cdots, α^{q^{n-1}}\}$ forms a basis of $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ as a vector space over $\mathbb{F}_q$. It is well known that $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ is normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$ if and only if $g_α(x)=αx^{n-1}+α^q x^{n-2}+ \cdots + α^{q^{n-2}}x+α^{q^{n-1}}$ and $x^n-1$ are relatively prime over $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$, that is, the degree of their greatest common divisor in $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}[x]$ is $0$. Using this equivalence, the notion of $k$-normal elements was introduced in Huczynska et al. ($2013$):…
One unsolved mathematical problem remains the perfect cuboid problem. A perfect cuboid is a rectangular parallelepiped whose edges, face diagonals and space diagonal are all expressed as integers. No such cuboid has yet been discovered and its existence has also not been proven. This paper shows a proof of the non-existence of a perfect cuboid.
A primitive completely normal element for an extension $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}/\mathbb{F}_{q}$ of Galois fields is a generator of the multiplicative group of $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$, which simultaneously is normal over every intermediate field of that extension. We are going to prove that such a generator exists when $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}/\mathbb{F}_{q}$ is an 'exceptional' regular extension. In combination with [6] our investigations altogether settle the existence of primitive completely normal bases for any regular extension. An important feature of the class of regular extensions is that they comprise ev…
In this paper, we consider rational functions $f$ with some minor restrictions over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^n},$ where $q=p^k$ for some prime $p$ and positive integer $k$. We establish a sufficient condition for the existence of a pair $(α,f(α))$ of primitive normal elements in $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ over $\mathbb{F}_{q}.$ Moreover, for $q=2^k$ and rational functions $f$ with quadratic numerators and denominators, we explicitly find that there are at most $55$ finite fields $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ in which such a pair $(α,f(α))$ of primitive normal elements may not exist.
Given $F= \mathbb{F}_{p^{t}}$, a field with $p^t$ elements, where $p $ is a prime power, $t\geq 7$, $n$ are positive integers and $f=f_1/f_2$ is a rational function, where $f_1, f_2$ are relatively prime, irreducible polynomials with $deg(f_1) + deg(f_2) = n $ in $F[x]$. We construct a sufficient condition on $(p,t)$ which guarantees primitive pairing $(ε, f(ε))$ exists in $F$ such that $Tr_{\mathbb{F}_{p^t}/\mathbb{F}_p}(ε) = a$ and $Tr_{\mathbb{F}_{p^t}/\mathbb{F}_p}(f(ε)) = b$ for any prescribed $a,b \in \mathbb{F}_{p}$. Further, we demonstrate for any positive integer $n$, such a pair defi…
Let $r$, $n$ be positive integers, $k$ be a non-negative integer and $q$ be any prime power such that $r\mid q^n-1.$ An element $α$ of the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ is called an {\it $r$-primitive} element, if its multiplicative order is $(q^n-1)/r$, and it is called a {\it $k$-normal} element over $\mathbb{F}_q$, if the greatest common divisor of the polynomials $m_α(x)=\sum_{i=1}^{n} α^{q^{i-1}}x^{n-i}$ and $x^n-1$ is of degree $k.$ In this article, we define the characteristic function for the set of $k$-normal elements, and with the help of this, we establish a sufficient condition f…
Let $n\ge 2$ be an integer and let $\mathbb F_q$ be the finite field with $q$ elements, where $q$ is a prime power. Given $\mathbb F_q$-affine hyperplanes $\mathcal A_1, \ldots, \mathcal A_n$ of $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ in general position, we study the existence and distribution of primitive elements of $\mathbb F_{q^n}$, avoiding each $\mathcal A_i$. We obtain both asymptotic and concrete results, relating to past works on digits over finite fields.
In this paper we study some structure properties of primitive weird numbers in terms of their factorization. We give sufficient conditions to ensure that a positive integer is weird. Two algorithms for generating weird numbers having a given number of distinct prime factors are presented. These algorithms yield primitive weird numbers of the form $mp_1\dots p_k$ for a suitable deficient positive integer $m$ and primes $p_1,\dots,p_k$ and generalize a recent technique developed for generating primitive weird numbers of the form $2^np_1p_2$. The same techniques can be used to search for odd weir…
Given a prime power $q$ and a positive integer $n$, let $\mathbb{F}_{q^{n}}$ denote the finite field with $q^n$ elements. Also let $a,b$ be arbitrary members of the ground field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$. We investigate the existence of a non-zero element $ξ\in \mathbb{F}_{q^{n}}$ such that $ξ+ ξ^{-1}$ is primitive and $T(ξ)=a, T(ξ^{-1})=b$, where $T(ξ)$ denotes the trace of $ξ$ in $\mathbb{F}_{q}$. This was a question intended to be addressed by Cao and Wang in 2014. Their work dealt instead with another problem already in the literature. Our solution deals with all values of $n \geq 5$. A related stu…
Let $(a, b, c)$ be a primitive Pythagorean triple parameterized as $a=u^2-v^2,\ b=2uv,\ c=u^2+v^2$,\ where $u>v>0$ are co-prime and not of the same parity. In 1956, L. Je{ś}manowicz conjectured that for any positive integer $n$, the Diophantine equation $(an)^x+(bn)^y=(cn)^z$ has only the positive integer solution $(x,y,z)=(2,2,2)$. In this connection we call a positive integer solution $(x,y,z)\ne (2,2,2)$ with $n>1$ exceptional. In 1999 M.-H. Le gave necessary conditions for the existence of exceptional solutions which were refined recently by H. Yang and R.-Q. Fu. In this paper we give a un…
For $q$ an odd prime power with $q>169$ we prove that there are always three consecutive primitive elements in the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$. Indeed, there are precisely eleven values of $q \leq 169$ for which this is false. For $4\leq n \leq 8$ we present conjectures on the size of $q_{0}(n)$ such that $q>q_{0}(n)$ guarantees the existence of $n$ consecutive primitive elements in $\mathbb{F}_{q}$, provided that $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ has characteristic at least~$n$. Finally, we improve the upper bound on $q_{0}(n)$ for all $n\geq 3$.
We prove existence and compute the limiting distribution of the image of rank-$\left(d-1\right)$ primitive subgroups of $\mathbb{Z}^{d}$ of large covolume in the space $X_{d-1,d}$ of homothety classes of rank-$\left(d-1\right)$ discrete subgroups of $\mathbb{R}^{d}$. This extends a theorem of Aka, Einsiedler and Shapira.
We prove the existence of primitive sets (sets of integers in which no element divides another) in which the gap between any two consecutive terms is substantially smaller than the best known upper bound for the gaps in the sequence of prime numbers. The proof uses the probabilistic method. Using the same techniques we improve the bounds obtained by He for gaps in geometric-progression-free sets.
Given a prime power $q$ and an integer $n\geq2$, we establish a sufficient condition for the existence of a primitive pair $(α,f(α))$ where $α\in \mathbb{F}_q$ and $f(x) \in \mathbb{F}_q(x)$ is a rational function of degree $n$. (Here $f=f_1/f_2$, where $f_1, f_2$ are coprime polynomials of degree $n_1,n_2$, respectively, and $n_1+n_2=n$.) For any $n$, such a pair is guaranteed to exist for sufficiently large $q$. Indeed, when $n=2$, such a pair definitely does {\em not} exist only for 28 values of $q$ and possibly (but unlikely) only for at most $3911$ other values of $q$.
In this article, we establish a sufficient condition for the existence of a primitive element $α\in {\mathbb{F}_{q^n}}$ such that the element $α+α^{-1}$ is also a primitive element of ${\mathbb{F}_{q^n}},$ and $Tr_{\mathbb{F}_{q^n}|\mathbb{F}_{q}}(α)=a$ for any prescribed $a \in \mathbb{F}_q$, where $q=p^k$ for some prime $p$ and positive integer $k$. We prove that every finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}~ (n \geq5),$ contains such primitive elements except for finitely many values of $q$ and $n$. Indeed, by computation, we conclude that there are no actual exceptional pairs $(q,n)$ for $n\geq5.$
