Permutation binomials over finite fields (Q2065904)

Let \(\mathbb{F}_q\) be the finite field of \(q\) elements with characteristic \(p\). A polynomial \(f\in \mathbb{F}_q[x]\) is a permutation polynomial if the mapping \(a \to f(a)\), \(a \in \mathbb{F}_q\), is a permutation over \(\mathbb{F}_q\). The problem of characterizing which polynomials over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) permute \(\mathbb{F}_q\) is an interesting, but difficult one. A simple family of permutation polynomials is the one formed by the monomials \(x^k\) such that \(\gcd(k,q-1)=1\). On the other hand, the characterization of permutation polynomials is more complex for binomials than for monomials. \textit{H. Niederreiter} and \textit{K. H. Robinson} give a characterization of permutation binomials of the form \(x (x^{\frac{q-1}{2}}+a)\), \(a \in \mathbb{F}_q\) [J. Aust. Math. Soc., Ser. A 33, 197--212 (1982; Zbl 0495.12018)]. \textit{S. Sarkar} et al. compute the number of elements \(a\in \mathbb{F}_{2^t}\) such that \(x (x^{\frac{2^n-1}{3}}+a)\) is a permutation binomial, \(n={{2^i}}t\) with odd \(t\) [Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 7369, 236--246 (2012; Zbl 1292.11132)]. Determining the exact number of permutation binomials of the form \(x^n (x^{\frac{q-1}{m}}+a)\) is an open problem. An advance in this direction is the estimate on the number of permutation binomials of the form \(x(x^{\frac{q-1}{m}}+a)\) given by \textit{D. Wan} et al. [Proc. Edinb. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 38, No. 1, 133--149 (1995; Zbl 0827.11076)]. There is a connection between permutation binomials and algebraic curves; and this allowed \textit{A. M. Masuda} and \textit{M. E. Zieve} to give a refined estimate of the number of certain binomial permutations (see, Theorem 3.1 and Remark 3.7, [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 361, No. 8, 4169--4180 (2009; Zbl 1239.11139)]). In this work under review, the authors compute the exact number of permutation binomials of the form \(x^n (x^{\frac{q-1}{3}}+a)\). More precisely, they assume that \(q \equiv 1 \pmod 3\) and \(n\) is a positive integer such that \(\gcd(n,\frac{q-1}{3})=1\). The number of elements \(a\in \mathbb{F}_q\) such that the binomial \(f(x)= x^n (x^{\frac{q-1}{3}}+a)\) permutes \(\mathbb{F}_q\) is given by \[ \frac{2q-3(\epsilon_1+\epsilon_2)-10-2(\pi_p^k+\overline{\pi}_p^k)}{9}, \] for certain complex number \(\pi_p\) such that \(|\pi_p|=\sqrt{p}\) and certain numbers \(\epsilon_1\) and \(\epsilon_2\) that depend on \(q\) and \(n\) (Theorem 3.5). The proof of this result relates the number of permutation binomials of the form \( x^n (x^{\frac{q-1}{3}}+a)\) to the number of \(\mathbb{F}_q\)-rational points on the elliptic curve \(E: y^2=x^3+4^{-1}\) over \(\mathbb{F}_p\), \(p \neq \{2,3\}\). To calculate the number of such points they use classical results of Hasse and Witt concerning the \(\pmod p\) reduction of the zeta function of the elliptic curves (Lemmas 3.1, 3.2, 3,3 and 3.4).