On the parity of permanents of circulant matrices (Q2479510)

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.