Exact values of the sums of multiplicative characters of polynomials over finite fields (Q650284)

Let \(p\) be a prime number, \(q=p^{\nu}\) a power of \(p\), \(\mathbb F_q\) a finite field with \(q\) elements and \(\mathbb F_{q^m}\) a finite extension of \(\mathbb F_q\) of degree \(m \geq 1\). If \( \beta\) is a fixed primitive element of \(\mathbb F_{q^m}\) and \(s \geq 1\) is a divisor of \(q^{m}-1\), let \[ \chi_{s,m}( \beta^{u})= \exp \left\{ \frac{2 \pi i}{s} \cdot u \right\}, \quad u=0,1, \ldots ,q^{m}-2, \] denote a fixed multiplicative character of the field \(\mathbb F_{q^m}\) of order \(s\). The authors prove the following two results: (i) Let \(f(x)\) be a polynomial from \(\mathbb F_{q^m}[x]\). Then \[ \sum_{x \in \mathbb F_{q^m}} \chi_{s,m}(f(x))=q^{m}- \# \{x \in \mathbb F_{q^m} \mid f(x)=0 \} \] if and only if there exists a polynomial \(g(x) \in\mathbb F_{q^m}[x]\) such that \[ f(x)=(g(x))^{s} \pmod{x^{q^m}-x}; \] (ii) Let \(l \geq 2\) be an integer such that \(l\mid m\) and \(l\mid s\). If \(f(x) \in\mathbb F_{q^m}[x]\) is a polynomial such that all of its values for \(x \in\mathbb F_{q^m}\) lie in the subfield \(\mathbb F_{q^{m/l}}\) then \[ \sum_{x \in \mathbb F_{q^m}} \chi_{s,m}(f(x)^{s/l}) = q^m- \# \{x \in\mathbb F_{q^m} \mid f(x)=0 \}. \] This generalizes the results obtained earlier by the reviewer [Discrete Math. Appl. 2, No. 5, 523--532 (1992); translation from Diskretn. Mat. 3, No. 2, 77--86 (1991; Zbl 0736.11070)] and \textit{M. M. Glukhov} [Discrete Math. Appl. 4, No. 5, 467--472 (1994); translation from Diskretn. Mat. 6, No. 3, 136--142 (1994; Zbl 0832.11043)]. The final section of paper concerns the special case of prime finite fields and character sums of polynomials with the quadratic character (Legendre symbol). In this case the authors improve the corresponding results of \textit{A. A. Karatsuba} [Mat. Zametki 14, 67--72 (1973; Zbl 0277.10029)], \textit{D. A. Mit'kin} [Usp. Mat. Nauk 30, No. 5(185), 214 (1975; Zbl 0314.10025)], \textit{A. Tietäväinen} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. (2) 29, 204--210 (1984; Zbl 0499.10039)], \textit{H. Tarnanen} [Discrete Math. 57, 285--295 (1985; Zbl 0592.10032)] and the reviewer [Proc. Steklov Inst. Math. 143, 187--189 (1980); translation from Tr. Mat. Inst. Steklova 143, 175--177 (1977; Zbl 0431.10023)].