A characterization of the number of roots of linearized and projective polynomials in the field of coefficients (Q2422155)

Let \(\mathbb F_q\) denote the finite field with \(q\) elements. Let \(\sigma\) be a generator of the automorphism group \(\text{Aut}(\mathbb F_{q^n}/\mathbb F_q)\), so \(x^\sigma=x^{q^s}\) for some \(1\le s\le n\) with \(\text{gcd}(n,s)=1\). A {\em \(\sigma\)-linearized polynomial} over \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) is a polynomial of the form \(L(x)=a_0x+a_1x^\sigma+\cdots+a_dx^{\sigma^d}\in\mathbb F_{q^n}[x]\), where \(a_d\ne0\) and \(d\) is called the \(\sigma\)-degree of \(L\). A \(\sigma\)-linearized polynomial over \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) represents an \(\mathbb F_q\)-linear map from \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) to \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) and every \(\mathbb F_q\)-linear map from \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) to \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) is represented by a unique \(\sigma\)-linearized polynomial over \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) with \(\sigma\)-degree \(\le n-1\). For each \(\sigma\)-linearized polynomial \(L(x)=\sum_{i=0}^da_ix^{\sigma^i}\), there is an associated {\em projective polynomial} \(P_L(x)=\sum_{i=0}^da_ix^{(\sigma^i-1)/(\sigma-1)}\). The objective of the paper is to develop a method that will allow people to determine the number of roots of \(L(x)\) and \(P_L(x)\) in \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) from the coefficients \(a_0,\dots,a_d\). It is well known that the number of roots of \(L(x)\) in \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) equals \(q^k\), where \(k\) is the nullity of the Dickson matrix of \(L\) which is an \(n\times n\) matrix. Instead of the Dickson matrix, the approach of the present paper is based a \(d\times d\) matrix \[ A_L=C_lC_L^\sigma\cdots C_L^{\sigma^{n-1}}, \] where \[ C_L=\left[ \begin{matrix} 0&\cdots&0&-a_0/a_d\cr 1&\cdots&0&-a_1/a_d\cr \vdots&\ddots&\vdots&\vdots\cr 0&\cdots&1&-a_{d-1}/a_d \end{matrix}\right]. \] The main results of the paper are the following statements: \begin{itemize} \item The number of roots of \(L(x)\) in \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) is \(q^{\text{null}(A_L-I)}\). More generally, for \(\alpha\in\mathbb F_{q^n}^*\), the number of roots of \(L_\alpha(x)=\sum_{i=0}^da_i\alpha^{(\sigma^i-1)/(\sigma-1)}x^{\sigma^i}\) in \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) is \(q^{\text{null}(A_L-\lambda I)}\), where \(\lambda\) is the norm of \(\alpha\) in \(\mathbb F_q\). \item The number of roots of \(P_L(x)\) in \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\) is \(\sum_{\lambda\in\mathbb F_q}(q^{n_\lambda}-1)/(q-1)\), where \(n_\lambda=\text{null}(A_L-\lambda I)\). \end{itemize} A good portion of the paper is devoted to the cases \(d=2\) and \(3\). In each of these two cases, the entries of \(A_L\) are expressed in terms of a sequence which can be computed from the coefficients of \(L\). Consequently, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for \(L(x)\) and \(P_L(x)\) to have a given number of roots in \(\mathbb F_{q^n}\).