Questions tagged [finite-fields]
A finite field is a field with a finite number of elements. For each prime power $q^k$, there is a unique (up to isomorphism) finite field with $q^k$ elements. Up to isomorphism, these are the only finite fields.
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The "interplay" between additive and multiplicative structure in a field
A field is an ordered triple $(F, +,\cdot)$ of a set $F$ and binary operations $+,\times$ on $F$ such that $(F,+)$ and $(F\backslash 0,\times)$ are abelian groups satisfying the distributive laws
$\...
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computer algebra system for polynomial algebras over finite fields
Is there a computer algebra system that can do arithmetic over polynomial algebras over finite fields where I can specify the extension?
Exempli gratia, if $f(x), g(x) \in \mathbb{F}_p[\mu]/(m(\mu))[...
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What is a function field analog of Giuga's conjecture?
Giuga's conjecture (1950), which is still open and has strong numerical support, reads :
Let $n$ be a positive integer. If $1+\sum_{k=1}^{n-1}k^{n-1} \equiv 0\pmod{n}$ then $n$ is prime.
What would ...
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What is an example of a smooth variety over a finite field F_p which does not lift to Z_p?
Somebody answered this question instead of the question here, so I am asking this with the hope that they will cut and paste their solution.
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A mixing property of linear map over finite fields
Let $F$ be a finite field of odd size $q$, and $\phi_0 : F \mapsto F$ be any map from $F$ to itself. For each $a \in F$, set $\phi_a : x \in F \mapsto \phi_0 (x) + ax $.
When $\phi_0 : x \mapsto x^2 ...
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Restriction theorems over finite fields
A short while ago, Dvir proved the Kakeya conjecture over finite fields. Does this have any implications for restriction theorems over finite fields? I am aware only of implications going in the ...
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Are there functions $\mathbb{F}_2^n \to \mathbb{F}_2$ satisfying these special relations?
Let $\mathbb{F}_2=\{0,1\}$ be the field with two elements, and let
$u:\mathbb{F}_2^n\rightarrow \mathbb{F}_2$. Suppose that $n$ is odd.
Is it possible that
$$
\sum_{x \in \mathbb{F}_2^n}(-1)^{u(x)+u(...
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Chevalley-Warning-Ax for double covers
Let $f(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ be a polynomial of degree $d$ with coefficients in the finite field $\mathbb F_q$ and let $V(f)\subseteq\mathbb F_q^n$ be its set of zeroes. Assume $d<n$. Then Chevalley ...
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Standard conjecture on u-invariants?
This is well beyond my expertise, but I just learned some of the history behind
$u$-invariants of fields $F$,
where ($u(F)+1$)-variable quadratic equations always have a non-trivial solution,
but $u(F)...
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Find the order of a class of finite matrices over finite fields
Consider matrices $M$ of size $L\times L$ over a finite field $\mathbb{Z}_p$, for simplicity focus on $p$ prime. The size $L$ is even. We want to find the order of a specific class of matrices, namely ...
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Solving cubic equations in characteristic 2
Consider the cubic polynomial
$$
f = x^3+px+q,
$$
where $p,q$ are elements of a fixed algebraic closure $\overline{\mathbb{F}}_2$ of $\mathbb{F}_2$.
Is there an elegant criterion for deciding ...
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All polynomials over a finite field are sums of $2$ square-free polynomials
I quote Proposition 2.3, page 14 lines -3 and -4 of Michael Rosen's book
Number Theory in Function Fields:
Let $b_n$ be the number of square-free monics in $A= \mathbb{F}_q[t]$ of degree $n.$
Then $...
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algorithm for calculating the Chow groups of a variety over a finite field
Is there an algorithm for calculating the Chow groups of a variety over a finite field?
It is know that $H^{2i,i}_\mathrm{mot}(X,\mathbf{Z}) = CH^i(X)$. In how many cases does this help us?
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étale cohomology with G_m coefficients
Most calculations of étale cohomology in Milne's book deal with constructible or torsion sheaves. Are there references where the cohomology of varieties with $\mathbf{G}_m$ coefficients are calculated?...
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Motives over finite field not generated by hyperelliptic curves
So the question is that, over a finite field, does there exist an abelian variety $A$ for which there does not exist a generically one-to-one morphism from a hyperelliptic curve $C$ to $A$.
p.s. A ...
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On the number of polynomials that divide $x^{q-1}-1$ in some subspaces of $\mathbb F_q[x]$
Let $\mathbb F_q$ be a finite field (where $q$ is in general a power of a prime), and let $e, k$ be positive integers with $k \leq e < q-1$. Let $f_0(x), \ldots,
f_k(x) \in \mathbb F_q[x]$ be ...
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Invariant functor for admissible representations of reductive groups over local fields
Hello,
I have a question concerning a certain functor between represention categories. I'm rather sure this is already known, but I could not find a reference.
Let $F$ be a local non-archimedean ...
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Who was the first to prove that the automorphism group of a finite field is cyclic and is generated by the Frobenius automorphism?
$\DeclareMathOperator\Aut{Aut}$It is well-known that the automorphism group $\Aut(F)$ of a finite field $F$ of characteristic $p$ is cyclic of order $n$ where $|F|=p^n$. Moreover, the cyclic group $\...
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Who realized the finite fields $\mathbb F_{p^n}$ first? Gauss or Galois?
Let $p$ be a prime, and let $n$ be a positive integer. The finite field $\mathbb F_{p^n}$ is often called a Galois field and denoted by $\mathrm{GF}(p^n)$ by researchers on coding theory.
On the other ...
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The number of non-singular $n\times n$ matrices over $\mathbb{F}_2$ with exactly $k$ non-zero entries
Suppose $M_{n}^{k}$ is the number of non-singular $n\times n$ matrices over $\mathbb{F}_2$, that have exactly $k$ non-zero entries.
Is there some sort of formula to calculate $M_n^k$?
If $k < n$ ...
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Almost blocking sets in $\mathbb F_q^2$
$\newcommand{\F}{{\mathbb F}}$
Let $q$ be an odd prime power. A blocking set in the affine plane $\F_q^2$ is a set blocking (meeting) every line.
A union of two non-parallel lines is a blocking set ...
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Integer solutions for a simple cubic
What are the integer solutions to $x^3 - 7xy + y + 1 = 0$? A computation only finds $(0, -1), (-1, 0), (-6, 5), (-49, 342)$. This is surprisingly few.
Are these all of them? Is there an algebraic ...
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Distribution of primitive roots, as p varies
For a prime number $p$, let $\Phi(p)$ be the subset of $\{ 1, 2, \ldots, p-1 \}$ consisting of primitive roots modulo $p$. (Thus $\# \Phi(p) = \phi(p-1)$, where $\phi$ denotes the totient.)
I am ...
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Isomorphic endomorphism algebras implies isogenous (for abelian varieties over finite fields)?
$\newcommand{\F}{\mathbb{F}}
\newcommand{\End}{\mathrm{End}}
\newcommand{\Q}{\mathbb{Q}}
\newcommand{\Z}{\mathbb{Z}}$
I would like to know if the following is true:
Proposition A : Let $A_1, A_2$ ...
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A question on algebraic independence
Let $f_1,f_2,\ldots,f_n, g \in \mathbb{F}_q[x_1,...,x_m]$. Assume that $f_1,\ldots,f_n$ vanish at $0$, so that $\mathbb{F}_q[[f_1,...,f_n]]$ is a subring of $\mathbb{F}_q[[x_1,...,x_n]]$. Suppose that ...
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Cyclic subgroups of GL(n,q)
Let $q$ be a prime power. It is well known that all Singer subgroups (subgroups of order $q^n-1$) in $GL(n,q)$ are conjugate. My question is: If $H$ is a cyclic subgroup of order $m$ in $GL(n,q)$, $m\...
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How to prove $(\phi-1)(\phi-2)...(\phi-p) = \sqrt{5} + p\left(\frac{1}{2}+A\sqrt{5}\right) \bmod p^2$?
We consider the solution of $x^2=x+1$ and denote them as $\phi=\frac{1}{2}(1-\sqrt{5}),\bar\phi=\frac{1}{2}(1+\sqrt{5})$.
Suppose $\phi \not\in \mathbb{F}_p$. In other words, $\sqrt{5} \not \in \...
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Number of irreducible polynomials with some coefficients fixed over a finite field
I am interested in the following problem: I have a finite field $F_q$, two positive integers
$n>m$ and elements $a_1,...,a_m\in F_q$. How many of the polynomials
$x^n+a_1x^{n-1}+...+a_mx^{n-m}+c_{m+...
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What is the minimum $k$ such that $A^k \equiv I$ mod p for invertible matrices?
Let $F$ be a finite field of order $p$, where $p$ is prime. For any $n\times n$ matrix $A$ that is invertible over $F$, then there would appear to exist integers $k$ such that $A^{k} = I$. My question ...
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Zero trace elements in finite fields
There is so much literature on the relation between the multiplicative structure of a finite field and elements having zero trace, that I am hoping that the following is known.
Let $q$ be a prime ...
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Why do we have fewer distinct Gauss sums over a field of characteristic $2$?
Let $p$ be a prime number and $q$ be a power of $p$. Fix a non-trivial additive character $\psi\colon \mathbb{F}_q\to \mathbb{C}^\times$ and, for each non-trivial multiplicative character $\chi\colon \...
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Self-reciprocal polynomials over finite fields
Let $SRMI_q(2n)$ denote the number of self-reciprocal
irreducible monic polynomials of even degree $2n$ over the finite
field $\mathbf{F}_q$ with $q$ elements. Recall that
a polynomial $p(x) \in \...
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Algorithms to find irreducible polynomials of a given degree
I need to know what are the efficient algorithms to find all the irreducible polynomials of a given degree, say $d$ over a given finite field, say $\mathbb{F}_{p^n}.$
One way is to factorize the ...
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The product of two supersingular elliptic curves is independent of which ones we pick
In a comment on this MO question, Qing Liu says "In positive characteristic p, if you take two supersingular elliptic curves $E_1,E_2$, then $E_i×E_j$ is isomorphic to $E^2_1$ for any pair $i,j$."
...
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The distribution of certain Galois groups
Let $f(x)$ be a polynomial of degree $d$ with integer coefficients. Let $G_p^+$ be the Galois group of the polynomial $f(x)-y$ over $\overline{\mathbb{F}}_p(y)$ and $G_p$ be the Galois group of the ...
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Question about polynomials over finite fields
This is a special case of this question.
Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a finite field and $\mathbb{F}_{\leq d}[x,y]$ the set of bivariate polynomials over $\mathbb{F}$ of degree at most $d\ll|\mathbb{F}|$. Do ...
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A Balog-Szemeredi-Gowers-type question
A nice Lemma due to Konyagin asserts that for any subset $B \subset \mathbb{F}_p$ holds
$$
|B.B - B.B + B.B - B.B + B.B - B.B| \geq \frac{1}{2}\min\{p, |B|^2 \},
$$
where the standard notation for the ...
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How large can the dimension of a 'Span of powers of a finite field basis' be?
Let $p$ be a prime. For finite field $\mathbb{F}_{p^k}$ and $d\in\mathbb{Z}^+$, I am considering the following quantity, where we interpret the field $\mathbb{F}_{p^k}$ also as a $\mathbb{F}_p$-vector ...
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Maximum probability of a set of vectors from $ \mathbb{F}_2^n $ being linearly independent
Suppose $ m $ vectors from the vector space $ \mathbb{F}_2^n $ are selected independently according to a distribution $ P $ over $ \mathbb{F}_2^n $. Here $ \mathbb{F}_2 $ denotes the field with two ...
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A factorization game
This is a toy version of a problem I have posted recently.
Imagine playing the following game. You choose a polynomial $B$ over a finite field $\mathbb F_p$, of degree $\deg B\le p-1$ (where $p$ is a ...
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Order of zeros for sparse polynomials mod $p$
It is a fairly well known fact that sparse polynomials $f(x)$ cannot have large order zeros other than at $x=0$. If $f(x)=a_1x^{r_1}+\cdots+a_kx^{r_k}$ then at $c
\neq 0$, $f$ has a zero of order at ...
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Does the fundamental group identify group structure on subvarieties of products of curves?
Let $C_1,\dots, C_n$ be smooth curves over $\overline{\mathbb F}_p$, not necessarily proper. Let $X$ be a subvariety of $C_1 \times \dots \times C_n$. I'm interested in the natural map:
$$ \pi_1^{ab}(...
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A strong sum-product "for translates" in finite fields
In the course of some recent research, I've sketched out a proof of the following result. My basis question is: is the result interesting?
Proposition There exists an absolute constant $c$ such ...
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roots of quadratic forms
This may be a very silly question, but I was wondering what is known about the roots of a quadratic form over variables $x_1,\ldots,x_n,y_1,\ldots,y_m$ in the finite field $\mathbb{F}_p$. I'm not ...
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Does the equation $x^2+x=a$ have an integer solution?
I am writing a paper on the topological structure of the Golomb space (defined here) and arrived to the following question:
Question 1. Is it true that for a number $a\in\mathbb N$ the equation $x^2+...
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Roots of a polynomial in a finite field related to Fermat's Last Theorem
In my class, we proved the following condition: define the polynomial $P_l(x)$ as
$$P_l(x) = \sum_{r=1}^{l-1}{\frac{1}{r}x^{l-1-r}}$$
Then if for all $a \in \mathbb{Z}/l\mathbb{Z}-\{0,1\},$ $P_l(x)$...
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Polynomials which are functionally equivalent over finite fields
Recall that two polynomials over a finite field are not necessarily considered equal, even if they evaluate to the same value at every point. For example, suppose $f(x) = x^2 + x + 1$ and $g(x) = 1$. ...
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Linear permutations commuting with $x\rightarrow x^{-1}$
Let $F = \operatorname{GF}(2^n)$ be a finite field. Define a permutation $\phi:F \rightarrow F$ by the formula
$$
\phi(x) = x^{-1}, \ x\neq 0; \ \phi(0) =0.
$$
We say that a permutations $\psi$ of $F$ ...
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Sum of two $n$th powers in finite fields
Let $q$ be a prime power, let $n$ be a positive integer and let $\mathbb{F}_q$ be the finite field of cardinality $q$. I have some computational evidence that the set $$\{x^n+(-1)^nay^n:x,y\in\mathbb{...
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Algebraic dynamics in finite fields
What is known about combinatorial structure of the rational maps of degree 2 over finite fields? From some general reasons I think it was studied. For being more specific, consider the field $\mathbb{...
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