On the difference between permutation polynomials over finite fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates the properties of permutation polynomials over finite fields, providing new lower bounds on the degree of certain polynomial differences based on Carlitz rank, extending previous non-existence and permutation results.

Contribution

It generalizes existing bounds on permutation polynomials by relating the degree of polynomial differences to Carlitz rank over arbitrary finite fields.

Findings

Lower bounds for degree of polynomial differences in terms of Carlitz rank.

Extension of previous non-existence results to broader classes of finite fields.

Specific bounds for permutation polynomials with certain structural properties.

Abstract

The well-known Chowla and Zassenhaus conjecture, proven by Cohen in 1990, states that if $p>(d^2-3d+4)^2$, then there is no complete mapping polynomial $f$ in $\Fp[x]$ of degree $d\ge 2$. For arbitrary finite fields $\Fq$, a similar non-existence result is obtained recently by I\c s\i k, Topuzo\u glu and Winterhof in terms of the Carlitz rank of $f$. Cohen, Mullen and Shiue generalized the Chowla-Zassenhaus-Cohen Theorem significantly in 1995, by considering differences of permutation polynomials. More precisely, they showed that if $f$ and $f+g$ are both permutation polynomials of degree $d\ge 2$ over $\Fp$, with $p>(d^2-3d+4)^2$, then the degree $k$ of $g$ satisfies $k \geq 3d/5$, unless $g$ is constant. In this article, assuming $f$ and $f+g$ are permutation polynomials in $\Fq[x]$, we give lower bounds for $k %=\mathrm{deg(h)} $ in terms of the Carlitz rank of $f$ and $q$. Our results generalize the above mentioned result of I\c s\i k et al. We also show for a special class of polynomials $f$ of Carlitz rank $n \geq 1$ that if $f+x^k$ is a permutation of $\Fq$, with $\gcd(k+1, q-1)=1$, then $k\geq (q-n)/(n+3)$.