A criterion for primitiveness of polynomials over \(\mathbb{Z}{}/(2^ d)\) (Q1179352)

Define the period of the polynomial \(f(x)=x^ n+c_{n-1}x^{n- 1}+\dots+c_ 0\in\mathbb{Z}[x]\) with \(2\nmid c_ 0\) over the ring \(\mathbb{Z}/(2^ d)\) to be the least positive integer such that \(x^ t\equiv 1\mod(2^ d,f(x))\), and denote it by \(per(f)_{2^ d}\). It is known that the maximal value of \(per(f)_{2^ d}\) is \(2^{d-1}(2^ n-1)\). The polynomial \(f(x)\) is called primitive over \(\mathbb{Z}/(2^ d)\) if \(per(f)_{2^ d}=2^{d-1}(2^ n-1)\). Let \(f(x)=\sum_{i=0}^{d- 1}2^ i f_ i(x)\) where \(f_ i(x)\) (\(0\leq i\leq d-1\)) are polynomials with coefficients 0 or 1 and \(\deg f_ i(x)<n\) for \(i\geq 1\). It is proved in this paper that \(f(x)\) is primitive if and only if \(f_ 0(x)= \sum_{i\in S} x^ i\) is primitive over \(\mathbb{F}_ 2\) and \[ (\pi f'_ 0(\pi))^{-1} \{f_ 1(\pi) +(\sum_{(i,j)} \pi^{i+j})^{1/2}\} \neq \begin{cases} 0 &\text{if \(d=2\),}\\ 0,1 &\text{if \(d\geq 3\),} \end{cases} \] where \(\pi\) is a root of \(f_ 0(x)\) in \(\overline{\mathbb{F}_ 2}\) and the pair \((i,j)\) runs over all \(i,j\in S\) and \(i<j\). The proof is elegant.