Some relations between the irreducible polynomials over a finite field and its quadratic extension (Q6180570)

Let \(\mathbb{F}_q\) be a finite field of characteristic \(p\), \(\mathbb{F}_{q^2}\) a quadratic extension of \(\mathbb{F}_q\), and \(n\) a positive integer. It is well known that the number \(N_q(n)\) of monic irreducible polynomials of degree \(n\) over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) is given by \[ \displaystyle{N_q(n)=\frac{1}{n}\,\sum_{d|n}\,\mu\Big(\frac{n}{d}\Big)\,q^d=\frac{1}{n}\,\sum_{d|n}\,\mu(d)\,q^{n/d}} \] and the product of all monic irreducible polynomials of degree \(n\) over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) is given by \[ \displaystyle{I_{n,q}(x)=\prod_{d|n}\,(x^{q^d}-x)^{\mu(n/d)}=\prod_{d|n}\,(x^{q^{n/d}}-x)^{\mu(d)}}, \] where \(\mu\) is the Möbius function. The reciprocal \(f^*(x)\) of a polynomial \(f(x)\) of degree \(n\) is defined by \(f^*(x) = x^n f(\frac{1}{x})\), i.e. if \begin{center} \(f(x) = a_0 + a_1x + a_2 x^2 + ... + a_n x^n\), \end{center} then \begin{center} \(f^*(x) = a_n + a_{n-1}x + a_{n-2}x^2 + ... + a_0 x^n\). \end{center} A polynomial \(f(x)\) is called self-reciprocal if \(f^*(x) = f(x)\). That is, if \(f(x) = a_0 + a_1 x + a_2 x^2 + ... + a_n x^n, a_n \neq 0,\) is self-reciprocal, then \(a_i = a_{n-i}\) for \(0 \leq i \leq n\). An irreducible polynomial \(f(x)\) of degree at least two is self-reciprocal if and only if its set of roots is closed under inversion; in this case \(f(x)\) necessarily have even degree. A polynomial is said to be self-reciprocal irreducible monic (SRIM) if it is self-reciprocal, irreducible and monic. The \textit{conjugate} of a polynomial \[f(x)=a_nx^n+a_{n-1}x^{n-1}+\cdots + a_1x+a_0\] over \(\mathbb{F}_{q^2}\) is defined to be \[ \overline{f(x)}=a_n^qx^n+a_{n-1}^qx^{n-1}+\cdots + a_1^qx+a_0^q. \] A polynomial \(f(x)\) over \(\mathbb{F}_{q^2}\) is said to be \textit{self-conjugate-reciprocal} if \(f(x)\) equals its conjugate- reciprocal polynomial. If, in addition, \(f(x)\) is monic and irreducible, it is said to be self-conjugate-reciprocal irreducible monic (SCRIM). The degree of a SCRIM polynomial is odd. We denote by \(\mathrm{NSRIM}_q(2n)\) and \(\mathrm{PSRIM}_q(2n)\) the number and the product of all SRIM polynomials of degree \(2n\) over \(\mathbb{F}_q\), respectively. The formulas for \(\mathrm{NSRIM}_q(2n)\) and \(\mathrm{PSRIM}_q(2n)\) were obtained in [\textit{H. Meyn}, Appl. Algebra Eng. Commun. Comput. 1, No. 1, 43--53 (1990; Zbl 0724.11062)]. In the paper under review, the author first considers a relation between the numbers of irreducible polynomials of a given degree over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) and \(\mathbb{F}_{q^2}\). He also establishes the relations between the SRIM polynomials over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) and the SCRIM polynomials over \(\mathbb{F}_{q^2}\). Based on these relations, the author obtains the formulas for \(\mathrm{NSCRIM}_{q^2}(n)\) and \(\mathrm{PSCRIM}_{q^2}(n)\): \textbf{Theorem 1} Let \(n\geq 3\) be odd. Then the number of SCRIM polynomials of degree \(n\) over \(\mathbb{F}_{q^2}\) is \[ \displaystyle{\mathrm{NSCRIM}_{q^2}(n)=\frac{1}{n}\,\sum_{d|n}\,\mu(d)\,q^{n/d}}. \] \textbf{Theorem 2} Let \(n\) be odd. If \(n\geq 3\), then \[ \displaystyle{\mathrm{PSCRIM}_{q^2}(n)=\prod_{d|n}\,\Big(\frac{x^{q^{n/d}+1}-1}{x^{1+e_q}-1}\Big)^{\mu(d)}}, \] where \(e_q\equiv q\pmod{2}\) and \[ \displaystyle{\mathrm{PSCRIM}_{q^2}(1)=x^{q+1}-1.} \]