Related papers: The modified prime sieve for primitive elements in…

Let $r$, $n$ be positive integers, $k$ be a non-negative integer and $q$ be any prime power such that $r\mid q^n-1.$ An element $\alpha$ of the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ is called an {\it $r$-primitive} element, if its multiplicative…

Let $q$ be a power of a prime number $p$, $\mathbb F_q$ be a finite field with $q$ elements and $\mathcal{G}$ be a subgroup of $(\mathbb F_q,+)$ of order $p$. We give an existence criterion and an algorithm for computing maximally…

Let $r$ be a positive divisor of $q-1$ and $f(x,y)$ a rational function of degree sum $d$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$ with some restrictions, where the degree sum of a rational function $f(x,y) = f_1(x,y)/f_2(x,y)$ is the sum of the degrees of…

An element $\alpha \in \mathbb F_{q^n}$ is \emph{normal} if $\mathcal{B} = \{\alpha, \alpha^q, \ldots, \alpha^{q^{n-1}}\}$ forms a basis of $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ as a vector space over $\mathbb F_{q}$; in this case, $\mathcal{B}$ is a normal…

We derive, for all prime moduli p except those in a very thin set, an upper bound for the least prime primitive root (mod p) of order of magnitude a constant power of log p. The improvement over previous results, where the upper bound was…

We prove that for all $q>61$, every non-zero element in the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ can be written as a linear combination of two primitive roots of $\mathbb{F}_{q}$. This resolves a conjecture posed by Cohen and Mullen.

For an integer $r$, a prime power $q$, and a polynomial $f$ over a finite field ${\mathbb F}_{q^r}$ of $q^r$ elements, we obtain an upper bound on the frequency of elements in an orbit generated by iterations of $f$ which fall in a proper…

We consider the linear vector space formed by the elements of the finite fields $\mathbb{F}_q$ with $q=p^r$ over $\mathbb{F}_p$. Let ${a_1,\ldots,a_r}$ be a basis of this space. Then the elements $x$ of $\mathbb{F}_q$ have a unique…

The centrepiece of this paper is a normal form for primitive elements which facilitates the use of induction arguments to prove properties of primitive elements. The normal form arises from an elementary algorithm for constructing a…

We give a new proof of Fitzgerald's criterion for primitive polynomials over a finite field. Existing proofs essentially use the theory of linear recurrences over finite fields. Here, we give a much shorter and self-contained proof which…

Let $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ be a finite field with $q^n$ elements and $r$ be a positive divisor of $q^n-1$. An element $\alpha \in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}^*$ is called $r$-primitive if its multiplicative order is $(q^n-1)/r$. Also, $\alpha \in…

In this paper we derive a formula for the number of $N$-free elements over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ with prescribed trace, in particular trace zero, in terms of Gaussian periods. As a consequence, we derive a simple explicit formula…

In this paper, we consider rational functions $f$ with some minor restrictions over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^n},$ where $q=p^k$ for some prime $p$ and positive integer $k$. We establish a sufficient condition for the existence of a…

In this paper we strengthen Kolchin's theorem ([1]) in the ordinary case. It states that if a differential field $E$ is finitely generated over a differential subfield $F \subset E$, $trdeg_F E < \infty$, and $F$ contains a nonconstant,…

We classify those finite fields $\mathbb{F}_q$, for $q$ a power of some fixed prime number, whose members are the sum of an $n$-potent element with $n>1$ and a 4-potent element. It is shown that there are precisely ten non-trivial pairs…

This is an essay about a certain family of elements in the general linear group GL(d,q) called primitive prime divisor elements, or ppd-elements. A classification of the subgroups of GL(d,q) which contain such elements is discussed, and the…

Denote by $\mathbb F_q$ the finite field of order $q$ and by $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ its extension of degree $n$. Some $a\in\mathbb F_{q^n}$ is called primitive if it generates the multiplicative group $\mathbb F_{q^n}^*$ and it is called…

For each positive integer $n$, let $\mathbb F_{q^n}$ be the unique $n$-degree extension of the finite field $\mathbb F_q$ with $q$ elements, where $q$ is a prime power. It is known that for arbitrary $q$ and $n$, there exists an element…

Let $q, n, m \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $q$ is a prime power, $m \geq 3$ and $a \in \mathbb{F}$. We establish a sufficient condition for the existence of a primitive normal pair ($\alpha$, $f(\alpha)$) in $\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$ over…

Given a prime power $q$ and an integer $n\geq2$, we establish a sufficient condition for the existence of a primitive pair $(\alpha,f(\alpha))$ where $\alpha \in \mathbb{F}_q$ and $f(x) \in \mathbb{F}_q(x)$ is a rational function of degree…