Lehmer's totient problem over \(\mathbb{F}_q [x]\) (Q524846)

The \textit{Lehmer's totient problem} is the study of the equation \(k\varphi(n)=n-1\) for \(k, n\) nonnegative integers. If \(n=p\) is prime, \(n\) is a solution of the Lehmer's totient problem. A \textit{Lehmer number} is a composite number \(n\) satisfying Lehmer's equation. R.G.E. Pinch proved that the number of prime factors of a Lehmer number \(n\) is at least \(15\) and \(n\geq 10^{30}\). No example of a Lehmer number is known In function fields, we consider \textit{Euler's totient function} over \({\mathbb F}_q[x]\), \(\varphi(q,f(x))=|\{g(x)\in {\mathbb F}_q[x]\mid \deg (g(x)) \leq \deg (f(x))-1\) and \(\gcd(f(x),g(x))=1\}|\). The \textit{Lehmer's totient problem} for \({\mathbb F}_q[x]\) is to determine the polynomials \(f(x)\in {\mathbb F}_q[x]\) such that \(\varphi(q,{\mathbb F}_q[x])\mid (q^{\deg(f(x))}-1)\). Let \(L_{{\mathbb F}_q[x]}=\{f(x)\in {\mathbb F}_q[x]\setminus\{0\}\mid f(x)\) is irreducible and \(\varphi(q,f(x))\mid(q^{\deg(f(x))}-1)\}\). The main result of the paper is: (i) If \(q\geq 4\), \(L_{{\mathbb F}_q[x]}=\emptyset\). (ii) If \(q=3\), \(L_{{\mathbb F}_3[x]}=\{ax(x+1), ax(x-1), a(x+1)(x-1) \in {\mathbb F}_3[x], a=1,2\}\). (iii) If \(q=2\), \(L_{{\mathbb F}_2[x]}\) consists of the products of all irreducibles of degree \(1\), the products of all irreducibles of degree \(1\) and \(2\), and the products of any \(3\) irreducibles each one of degree \(1,2\) and \(3\). The proof considers necessary and sufficient conditions for \(\varphi(q,f(x))\mid (q^{\deg(f(x))}-1)\) and is divided in the cases \(q\geq 3\) and \(q=2\).