Lenstra's proof of the Carlitz-Wan conjecture on exceptional polynomials: An elementary version (Q1897206)

The authors prove a conjecture of Wan (1993), which in turn generalized a conjecture of Carlitz (1966). The conjecture of Wan is that there are no exceptional polynomials of degree \(n\) over a finite field of \(q\) elements when \(\text{gcd} (n,q - 1) > 1\). The authors were inspired by Lenstra's proof of the result communicated to them by him. The authors give a more elementary account. They comment that Lenstra may incorporate, in a later paper, a proof of his own which will illuminate the concepts used by the authors.