On the parity of permanents of circulant matrices (Q2479510): Difference between revisions

Introducing new tools derived from determinants and permanents of \((0,1)\) circulant matrices and finite fields with characteristic 2, informations on the parity of values \(\text{per}(A)\) for \(n\) odd are obtained. Using the relation \(\text{per}(A) = \det(A)\pmod 2\), conditions (on certain polynomials in \(\mathbb Z_2 [x]\) associated to \(A\)) characterizing the parity of \(\text{per}(A)\) are derived, which show the reason for which (when \(n\) is prime) very rarely \(\text{per}(A)\) is even (for a significant class of primes \(n\), \(\text{per}(A)\) is always odd). Consequences for specific classes of primes \(n\) are examined: for \(n\) prime such that the group \(\mathbb Z_n^*\) is generated by the residue class 2, it results that for \(k \neq n\) and \(k\) odd the value \(\text{per}(A)\) is always odd; for \(n > 7\) and \(n\) prime with the group of squares in \(\mathbb Z_n^*\) generated by the class 2, it results that for \(k = 3\) the value \(\text{per}(A)\) is always odd. Contrary to such cases, when \(n\) is a Mersenne prime greater than 3, there are a significant number of circulants \(A\) with k odd and \(\text{per}(A)\) even.