Non-vanishing of Carlitz-Fermat quotients modulo primes (Q289705)

Let \(A={\mathbb F}_q[T]\) and \(k={\mathbb F}_q(T)\). Let \(\tau\) be the Frobenius automorphism \(\tau(x)=x^q\). Let \(C: A\to k\langle \tau\rangle\) be the Carlitz module. For a monic prime \(\wp\) in \(A\), the ``\textit{Carlitz-Fermat quotient}'' \({\mathcal Q}_{\wp}: A\to A\) is the map \({\mathcal Q}_{\wp}(a)= \frac{C_{\wp-1}(a)}{\wp}\). The main result in this paper is the following. Let \(\wp\) be a monic prime of \(A\) of degree \(d>0\). Let \(a,m\in A\) be nonzero such that \(\wp\) does not divide \(m\). Assume that \(C_m(a)=b\wp\) for some \(b\in A\). Then \({\mathcal Q}_{\wp}(a) \equiv - \frac{b}{m}\bmod \wp\). As a corollary, the author obtains that if \(M_P:=\alpha C_P(1)\) is a Mersenne prime, where \(\alpha\in{\mathbb F}_q^{\ast}\) and \(P\in A\) is a monic prime of positive degree, then \(M_P\) is a non-Wieferich prime. It is also shown the following. Let \(a\in A\) and \(m,n\in A\) be nonzero. Let \(H\) be the unique element of \(A\) such that \(C_{mn}(a)=C_n(a) H\). Write \(H=b\wp\) for some \(b\in A\). Assume that \(v_{\wp}(H)=1\) and that \(m\) and \(C_n(a)\) are relatively prime. Then \({\mathcal Q}_{\wp}(a)\not\equiv 0\bmod \wp\).