Davenport pairs over finite fields (Q1764356)

Let \(F:=\mathbb F_q\) denote the finite field with \(q\) elements. Suppose that \(f,g \in \mathbb F_q[t]\). Then \(f\) and \(g\) are called a Davenport pair (DP) if there are infinitely many finite extensions \(E\) of \(F\) such that \(f(E)= g(E)\) (the definition can be weakened slightly). They are called a strong Davenport pair (SDP) if this is true for all finite extensions. Note that this generalizes the notion of an exceptional polynomial -- i.e. a polynomial that is bijective for infinitely many extensions. So \(f\) is an exceptional polynomial if and only if \(f\) and \(t\) are a DP. The second author has been a leading proponent of the study of such objects for over thirty years -- see the references in the paper. The best techniques for studying this involve translating the problem to group theory. Davenport first studied this for polynomials over \(\mathbb{Q}\). We give a summary of a few of the results. The reader should consult the paper for more results, questions and references. Theorem 3.13 asserts that if \((f,g)\) is an SDP and \(f\) has degree at least \(2\), then \(f(x)-g(y)\) is reducible. This is extended in Corollary 4.12: if \(f\) is not exceptional and \((f,g)\) is a DP, then \(f(x)-g(y)\) is reducible over the algebraic closure of \(F\). Theorem 5.4 asserts that if \((f,g)\) is a DP with \(f\) of degree \(m\) and \(g\) of degree \(n\), then \(\gcd(n,q^t-1)=\gcd(m,q^t-1)\) for all \(t\) such that \(f\) and \(g\) have the same value sets over \(\mathbb F_{q^t}\) (the set of such \(t\) always includes a residue class modulo some positive integer \(n\)). A special case of this gives a proof of the Carlitz-Wan conjecture that if \(f\) is an exceptional polynomial over \(\mathbb F_q\) of degree \(n\), then \(n\) is relatively prime to \(q-1\) (take \(t=1\)). In particular, this yields a proof of the Carlitz conjecture -- if \(q\) is odd, then \(n\) is odd . Reviewer's remark: The reviewer independently obtained a generalization of some of these resuls to maps \(\phi_i:X_i \rightarrow Y\) where \(X_i, Y\) are smooth projective curves over \(\mathbb F_q\) and there is a totally ramified point. See [\textit{R. M. Guralnick}, ``Rational maps and images of rational points of curves over finite fields'', Ir. Math. Soc. Bull. 50, 71--95 (2003; Zbl 1061.11029)]. In particular, the analog of the theorem of degrees is proved there.