On the parity of the number of irreducible factors of self-reciprocal polynomials over finite fields (Q2469476)

The authors consider the parity of the number of irreducible factors of a self-reciprocal even-degree polynomial over a finite field. They characterize these by employing the Stickelberger-Swan Theorem. In the case of binary fields, they present the conditions in terms of the exponents of the monomials of the corresponding self-reciprocal polynomials.