On existence of primitive pairs ( <i>ξ</i> + <i>ξ</i> ⁻¹ , <i>f</i> ( <i>ξ</i> )) with arbitrary traces (Q7000239)

Let \(\mathbb{F}_q\) denote a finite field with \(q\) elements, where \(q\) is a prime power and \(\mathbb{F}_{q^n}\) be a finite extension of \(\mathbb{F}_q\) of degree \(n\), where \(n\) is a positive integer. In this article, the authors search for pairs \((q,n)\), such that there exists an element \(\xi \in \mathbb{F}^*_{q^n}\) such that for any non-exceptional rational function \(f(x) \in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}(x)\) and any \(a,b \in \mathbb{F}_q\), the pair \((\xi + \xi^{-1}, f(\xi))\) is a primitive pair (i.e., both \(\xi + \xi^{-1}\) and \( f(\xi)\) are primitive elements of \(\mathbb{F}_{q^n}\)), with \(\operatorname{Tr}_{\mathbb{F}_{q^n}/\mathbb{F}_q}(\xi) = a\) and \(\operatorname{Tr}_{\mathbb{F}_{q^n}/\mathbb{F}_q}(\xi^{-1}) = b\). Initially they have found a sufficient condition for existence of such primitive pairs, that was further improved by prime sieve and modified prime sieve techniques. Finally, they have addressed the problem in the case of non-exceptional rational function of degree sum \(m = 3\) where \(n \geq 6\) and found that the required primitive pairs exist for all the pairs \((q, n)\) except for finitely many possible exceptions.