Carlitz module analogues of Mersenne primes, Wieferich primes, and certain prime elements in cyclotomic function fields (Q741677): Difference between revisions

The aim of this paper is the study of the analogue of Mersenne primes in the context of global function fields. Let \(C_T\) be the Carlitz module, that is, \(C_T a=Ta+a^q\) for every \(a\in \bar{k}\), where \(k={\mathbb F}_q (T)\). We have that \(C_m(x)\) is analogous to the polynomial \((1+x)^m -1\in{\mathbb Z}[x]\). A prime in \(A={\mathbb F}_q[T]\) is called a \textit{Mersenne prime} if it is of the form \(\alpha C_P(1)\), for \(P\in A^+\), where \(A^+\) denotes the set of monic irreducible polynomials in \(A\), and \(\alpha\in{\mathbb F}_q^{\ast}\). For any \(m\in A\setminus\{0\}\), let \(K_m=k(\Lambda_m)\) be the cyclotomic function field, where \(\Lambda_m=\{\lambda\in \bar{k}\mid C_m(\lambda)=0\}\). First, the author proves that if \(m\in A\) is monic and \(\alpha\in A\), then for \(q\geq 3\) and assuming that \(C_m(\alpha)\in A^+\), we have \(m\in A^+\) and \(\alpha \in {\mathbb F}_q^{\ast}\). As corollary it is obtained that if \(P\in A^+\), then \(C_{P-1}(1)\equiv 0\bmod P\). The first main result of the paper is that for \(q>2\), there exist infinitely many \(P\in A^+\) such that the Mersenne numbers \(C_P(1)\) are composite. Next, the author uses the notion of Wieferich primes in \(A\) introduced by \textit{D. S. Thakur} [Finite Fields Appl. 32, 192--206 (2015; Zbl 1378.11102)] and proves an analogue of a classical result, that is, for \(q>3\), let \(M_P=\alpha C_P(1)\) be a Mersenne prime where \(\alpha\) is a unit in\(A\) and \(P\in A^+\). Then \(M_P\) is a non-Wieferich prime. It is also proved that if \(P\in A^+\) and \(M_P=\alpha C_P(1)\) is a Mersenne number, where \(\alpha \in {\mathbb F}_q^{\ast}\), then \(Q\equiv 1\bmod P\) for every \(Q\in A^+\) dividing \(M_P\). In the last section is proved a criterion that determines whether a Mersenne number is prime or not. If \(P\in A^+\) and \(M_P=\alpha C_P(1)\) with \(\alpha \in {\mathbb F}_q^{\ast}\), then \(M_P\) is prime if and only if \(1-\lambda_P\) is prime in the ring of integers \({\mathcal O}_P\) of \(K_P\), where \(\lambda_P\) is a generator of \(\Lambda_P\).