Hyperderivative power sums, Vandermonde matrices, and Carlitz multiplication coefficients (Q2055948)

In the theory of Drinfeld modules and Anderson A-modules, derivatives and higher derivatives (usually called hyperderivatives) of periods and logarithms became a point of great interest in the last years. With this increase of importance, one also has the need for computations and identities involving hyperderivatives. The author provides several such computations and identities. Using these identities, he is able to give new proofs for theorems of Thakur and Anderson. Let \(\mathbb{F}\) be the finite field with \(q\) elements, and \(A=\mathbb{F}[\theta]\) the polynomial ring over \(\mathbb{F}\) in the indeterminate \(\theta\). The \(j\)-th hyperderivative of a polynomial \(a=\sum_{\nu=0}^n c_\nu \theta^\nu\in A=\mathbb{F}[\theta]\) is given as \[ \partial_\theta^{(j)}(a) = \sum_{\nu=j}^n \binom{\nu}{j} c_{\nu} \theta^{\nu-j}, \] i.e., \(\partial_\theta^{(j)}\) is the positive characteristic equivalent of the differential operator \(\frac{1}{j!}\left(\frac{\partial}{\partial \theta}\right)^j\). A central part of the paper is about the \emph{hyperderivative power sums}, i.e., for integers \(\ell\geq 1\), \(j_1,\ldots, j_\ell\geq 0\), \(k_1,\ldots, k_\ell\in \mathbb{Z}\), and \(i\geq 0\), the sums \[ H_i(j_1,\ldots, j_\ell; k_1,\ldots, k_\ell):= \sum_{a\in A_{i,+}} \left( \partial_\theta^{(j_1)}(a)\right)^{k_1} \cdots \left( \partial_\theta^{(j_\ell)}(a)\right)^{k_\ell}, \] where \(A_{i,+}\) denotes the set of monic polynomials of degree \(i\). Formulas for these hyperderivative power sums that the author derives are then used for reproving log-algebraicity results of Anderson. The paper is very well written, and further supplies a large list of references for the reader.