Bent and \(\mathbb{Z}_{2^k}\)-bent functions from spread-like partitions (Q2220761)

For any two additive finite abelian groups, call a function \(f:A\to B\) \textit{bent} if \[ |\sum_{a\in A} \chi(x, f(a))| = \sqrt{|A|}, \] for all characters \(\chi\) of \(A\times B\). In this case, it is known that the graph \(G_f = \{(x,f(x))\ |\ x\in A\}\) is a relative difference set in \(A\times B\). In this paper, the authors are interested in the case \(A = \mathrm{GF}(2)^n\) and \(B = \mathbb{Z}_{2^k}\mathbb{Z}\). The character sum in the above displayed equation is the Walsh-Hadamard transform \[ {\mathcal{H}}_f(x,y) = \sum_{a\in A} \zeta^{x f(a)}(-1)^{(y,a)_A}, \] where \(\zeta\in \mathbb{C}\) is a primitive \(2^k\)th root of unity, and \((\ ,\ )_A\) denotes the standard inner product on the \(\mathrm{GF}(2)\)-vector space \(A\). The authors review constructions of bent functions \(\mathrm{GF}(2)^{2m}\to\mathbb{Z}_{2^m}\mathbb{Z}\) obtained via spreads. Then they present a new construction of a family of bent functions \(\mathrm{GF}(2^m)\times \mathrm{GF}(2^m)\to\mathbb{Z}_{2^k}\mathbb{Z}\), for \(k\leq m/3\), what do not arise via these spread constructions. The inverse images of these \(\mathbb{Z}_{2^k}\mathbb{Z}\)-bent functions are used to create a family of partitions of \(\mathrm{GF}(2^m)\times \mathrm{GF}(2^m)\). Using these sets, the authors construct a family of Boolean bent functions by explicitly constructing their supports. See the well-written paper for more precise details.