A remark on the minimal polynomial of the product of linear recurring sequences (Q1267007)

Let \(F\) be an arbitrary field and \(F^{\infty}\) the space of sequences over \(F\). Let \(E\) be the right shift operator on \(F^{\infty}\). A sequence \(\sigma \in F^{\infty}\) is a linear recurring sequence over \(F\) if it satisfies an equation of the form \(f(E) \sigma= 0\), where \(f(x)\) is a monic polynomial over \(F\). The solution space of such sequences is denoted \(S_F (f)\). For a linear recurring sequence \(\sigma\), its minimal polynomial \(m_{\sigma} \in F[x]\) is the least degree polynomial that satisfies the equation. The linear complexity of \(\sigma\) is \(L(\sigma) = \deg (m_{\sigma})\). For a monic polynomial \(f \in F[x]\), let \(M_{F} (f)\) be the set of all linear recurring sequences over \(F\) with minimal polynomial \(f\). For two such polynomials, \(f,g \in F[x]\), a polynomial \(B(f,g)\) is defined. The main result of the paper is: Theorem: Let \(f(x)\) and \(g(x)\) be nonconstant monic polynomials over \(F\) with \(f(0)g(0) \neq 0\). Then for all \(\sigma \in M_F (f)\) and \(\tau \in M_F (g)\), the minimal polynomial \(m_{\sigma \tau} \in F[x]\) of the product sequence \(\sigma \tau\) is divisible by \(B(f,g)\). The result implies that \(L( \sigma \tau) \geq \deg (B(f,g))\), and conditions are given for when equality is achieved. The result improves a result of \textit{R. Göttfert} and \textit{H. Niederreiter} [Finite Fields Appl. 1, 204-218 (1995; Zbl 0819.11059)].