A new class of monomial bent functions (Q2469484)

For a polynomial \(P(x) \in \mathbb F_{2^n}[x]\) the function \(f(x) = \text{Tr}(P(x))\) where Tr denotes the trace function from \(\mathbb F_{2^n}\) to \(\mathbb F_2\) naturally induces a Boolean function. If \(P(x) = \lambda x^d\) for some \(\lambda \in \mathbb F_{2^n}\) and an integer \(d\), then \(f(x) = \text{Tr}(P(x))\) is called a monomial Boolean function. The characterization of monomial Boolean functions which are bent functions is a difficult open problem [see also \textit{N. G. Leander}, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 52, 738--743 (2006; Zbl 1161.94414)]. The authors study monomial Boolean functions \(f_{\lambda}: \mathbb F_{2^n}\rightarrow\mathbb F_2\), \(n = 6r\), given by \[ f(x) = \text{Tr}(\lambda x^d)\;\text{with}\;d = 2^{2r}+2^r+1\;\text{and}\;\lambda \in \mathbb F_{2^n}. \tag{1} \] As a main result it is shown that \(f(x)\) with \(\lambda = \alpha^{j(2^{3r}+1)}\) for some \(j\), \(0 \leq j \leq d-1\), and primitive element \(\alpha\) of \(\mathbb F_{2^n}\), is a monomial bent function if and only if \(T_r^{3r}(\lambda) = 0\), where \(T_r^{3r}\) is the trace function from \(\mathbb F_{2^{3r}}\) to \(\mathbb F_{2^r}\). By an observation of the authors, this characterizes all monomial bent functions of the form (1). It is also shown that the set \(\mathcal{B} = \{f_\lambda\;| \;\lambda \in \mathbb F_{2^{3r}},\;T_r^{3r}(\lambda) = 0\}\) induces is a subspace of bent functions of the vector space of Boolean functions from \(\mathbb F_2^n\) to \(\mathbb F_2\). Moreover there exist \((2^{2r}-1)(2^{3r}+1)\) monomial bent functions of the form (1).