On the number of primitive polynomials over finite fields (Q2567160)

The symbol \(P_q^\alpha(m)\) denotes the number of primitive polynomials of degree \(m\) over the finite field of \(q\) elements, \(\mathbb F_q\), with trace \(\alpha\in\mathbb F_q\). The authors present results on the calculation problem for \(P_q^\alpha(m)\). In particular, they provide sufficient conditions for which \(P_q^\alpha(m)\) is a constant for any nonzero trace \(\alpha\in\mathbb F_q\). The last section of the paper is devoted to a tabulation of \(P_q^\alpha(m)\) when \(2\leq m\leq11\).