The action of \rm{GL}_2(\mathbb{F}_q) on irreducible polynomials over \F_q

Abstract: Let

F_{q}

be the finite field with

q

elements,

p = C h a r F_{q}

. The group

G L_{2} (F_{q})

acts naturally in the set of irreducible polynomials over

F_{q}

of degree at least

2

. In this paper we are interested in the characterization and number of the irreducible polynomials that are fixed by the elements of a subgroup

H

of

G L_{2} (F_{q})

. We make a complete characterization of the fixed polynomials in the case when

H

has only elements of the form

, corresponding to translations

x m a p s t o x + b

and, as a consequence, the case when

H

is a

p -

subgroup of

G L_{2} (F_{q})

. This paper also contains alternative solutions for the cases when

H

is generated by an element of the form

, obtained by Garefalakis (2010) and

H = m P G L

_{2} (F_{q})

, obtained by Stichtenoth and Topuzoglu (2011).

This page was built for publication: The action of $\rm{GL}_2(\mathbb{F}_q)$ on irreducible polynomials over $\F_q$