Automorphisms of finite fields (Q909714)

Let F be a finite field, and let \(\phi\) be a non-trivial homomorphism of \(F^*\). Extending results of Carlitz, McConnel, and the reviewer, the author proves the following. A permutation \(\sigma\) of F satisfies \(\phi (\sigma x-\sigma y)=\phi (x-y)\) for all \(x,y\in F\), \(x\neq y\), if and only if \(\sigma\) is of the form \(\sigma x=a\cdot \alpha x+b\) with suitable elements \(a,b\in F\) and a field automorphism \(\alpha\) of F such that \(\phi \alpha =\phi\). The permutations \(\sigma\) of F satisfying \(\phi (\sigma x-\sigma y)=\kappa \phi (x-y)\) for some permutation \(\kappa\) of \(\phi (F^*)\) form the group \(A\Gamma L(F,K)=\{x\mapsto \beta x+b| b\in F\), \(\beta\) a K-semilinear automorphism of \((F,+)\}\), where K is the subfield of F generated by the kernel of \(\phi\). Finally, for an arbitrary field \(L\neq GF(2)\), the author shows that a surjective L-linear map \(\sigma\) between two extensions of L of finite degree preserves the norms of the two extensions if and only if \(\sigma\) is an L-linear field isomorphism, followed by multiplication with an element of norm 1.