A lower bound on the number of inequivalent APN functions (Q2062756)

For an even integer \(m\), let \(\alpha\) be a non-cube in the finite field \(\mathbb{F}_{2^m}\). Let \(0 < k < m/2\) be an integer coprime to \(m\), and \(0 \le s \le m/2\) be even. As shown in [\textit{Y. Zhou} and \textit{A. Pott}, Adv. Math. 234, 43--60 (2013; Zbl 1296.12007)], the function \(f_{k,s,\alpha}:\mathbb{F}_{2^m} \times \mathbb{F}_{2^m} \rightarrow \mathbb{F}_{2^m} \times \mathbb{F}_{2^m}\), \[ f_{k,s,\alpha}(x,y) = (x^{2^k+1} + \alpha y^{(2^k+1)2^s}, xy), \] is an APN function. In this article, it is shown that two Pott-Zhou APN-functions \(f_{k,s,\alpha}\) and \(f_{l,t,\beta}\) are CCZ-equivalent if and only if \(k=l\) and \(s=t\). With this result, one immediately obtains a lower bound on the number of inequivalent APN-functions in dimension \(n=2m\), \(m\) even, as the number \((\lfloor m/4\rfloor +1)\varphi(m)/2\) of CCZ-inequivalent Pott-Zhou APN-functions. (\(\varphi\) denotes Euler's totient function.) It should be remarked, that the authors greatly improved this bound in the follow-up article [\textit{C. Kaspers} and \textit{Y. Zhou}, J. Cryptology 34, No. 1, Paper No. 4, 37 p. (2021; Zbl 1483.94081)].