Gauss sums for \(O(2n+1,q)\) (Q1267006)

Let \(F_{q}\) be a finite field of characteristic \(p > 2\) with \(q=p^{r}\) elements, \( \psi\) a nontrivial additive character, and \( \chi\) a multiplicative character of \(F_{q}\). The author studies the sums \[ G(2n+1, q, \chi, \psi)= \sum_{w \in O(2n+1, q)} \chi ( \det w) \psi (\text{tr } w), \] where \(O(2n+1, q)\) is an orthogonal group of \((2n+1) \times (2n+1)\) matrices with entries in \(F_{q}\), and \( \det w\) and \(\text{tr } w\) denote respectively the determinant and the trace of \(w\). The sum \(G(2n+1, q, \chi, \psi)\) may be considered as a character sum along an affine variety over \(F_{q}\) defined by a special system of bilinear equations. Making use of his previous result [\textit{D. S. Kim}, Monatsh. Math., to appear] concerning the similar sum \[ S(2n, q, \psi)= \sum_{w \in Sp(2n,q)}\psi(\text{tr }w) \] for the symplectic group \(Sp(2n, q)\), the author shows that \(G(2n+1, q, \chi, \psi)\) is a polynomial in \(q\) with coefficients involving powers of ordinary Kloosterman sums \[ K( \psi, 1, 1)= \sum_{x \in F_{q}^{*}} \psi (x+x^{-1}). \] This result is used to make more precise a result of \textit{J. H. Hodges} [Math. Z. 66, 13-24 (1956; Zbl 0080.01201)] and also to find an explicit expression for some generalized Kloosterman sums over nonsingular symmetric matrices of size \(2n+1\) in terms of ordinary quadratic Gauss sums and sums \(G(2n+1, q, \chi_{0}, \psi)\).