Robert S. Coulter

Planar Functions and Planes of Lenz-Barlotti Class II

Planar functions were introduced by Dembowski and Ostrom [4] to describe projective planes possessing a collineation group with particular properties. Several classes of planar functions over a finite field are described, including a class whose associated affine planes are not translation planes or dual translation planes. This resolves in the negative a question posed in [4]. These planar functions define at least one such affine plane of order 3e for every e ≥ 4 and their projective closures are of Lenz-Barlotti type II. All previously known planes of type II are obtained by derivation or lifting. At least when e is odd, the planes described here cannot be obtained in this manner.

Permutations amongst the Dembowski-Ostrom polynomials

We note that certain Dembowski-Ostrom polynomials can be obtained from the product of two linearised polynomials. We examine this subclass for permutation behaviour over finite fields. In particular, a new infinite class of permutation polynomials is identified.

Planar polynomials for commutative semifields with specified nuclei

We consider the implications of the equivalence of commutative semifields of odd order and planar Dembowski-Ostrom polynomials. This equivalence was outlined recently by Coulter and Henderson. In particular, following a more general statement concerning semifields we identify a form of planar Dembowski-Ostrom polynomial which must define a commutative semifield with the nuclei specified. Since any strong isotopy class of commutative semifields must contain at least one example of a commutative semifield described by such a planar polynomial, to classify commutative semifields it is enough to classify planar Dembowski-Ostrom polynomials of this form and determine when they describe non-isotopic commutative semifields. We prove several results along these lines. We end by introducing a new commutative semifield of order 38 with left nucleus of order 3 and middle nucleus of order 32.

A note on constructing permutation polynomials

Let H be a subgroup of the multiplicative group of a finite field. In this note we give a method for constructing permutation polynomials over the field using a bijective map from H to a coset of H. A similar, but inequivalent, method for lifting permutation behaviour of a polynomial to an extension field is also given.

The compositional inverse of a class of permutation polynomials over a finite field

A new class of bilinear permutation polynomials was recently identified. In this note we determine the class of permutation polynomials which represents the functional inverse of the bilinear class.

Modelling Trust Structures for Public Key Infrastructures

The development of Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) is highly desirable to support secure digital transactions and communications throughout existing networks. It is important to adopt a particular trust structure or PKI model at an early stage as this forms a basis for the PKIs development. Many PKI models have been proposed but use only natural language descriptions. We apply a simple formal approach to describe the essential factors of a PKI model. Rule sets for some PKI models are given and can be used to distinguish and classify the different PKI models. Advantages for this approach with conglomerate PKIs, those that are built from multiple distinct PKI models, are discussed.

Bent polynomials over finite fields

Abstract. The definition of bent is redefined for any finite field. Our main result is a complete description of the relationship between bent polynomials and perfect non-linear functions over finite fields: we show they are equivalent. This result shows that bent polynomials can also be viewed as the generalisation to several variables of the class of polynomials known as planar polynomials. An explicit method for obtaining large sets of not necessarily distinct maximal orthogonal systems using bent polynomials is given and we end with a short discussion on the existence of bent polynomials over finite fields.

A class of functions and their application in constructing semi-biplanes and association schemes

We give an alternative proof of the fact that a planar function cannot exist on groups of even order. The argument involved leads us to define a class of functions which we call semi-planar. Through the introduction of an incidence structure we construct semi-biplanes using semi-planar functions. The method involved represents a new approach to constructing semi-biplanes and provides infinite classes of semi-biplanes unlike any known to the authors. For a particular class of semi-planar functions, we provide a method to construct association schemes with two associate classes. Such an association scheme is equivalent to a strongly regular graph

The classification of planar monomials over fields of prime square order

Planar functions were introduced by Dembowski and Ostrom in 1968 to describe affine planes possessing collineation groups with particular properties. To date their classification has only been resolved for functions over fields of prime order. In this article we classify planar monomials over fields of order p 2 with p a prime.

On decomposition of sub-linearised-polynomials

We give a detailed exposition of the theory of decompositions of linearised polynomials, using a well-known connection with skew-polynomial rings with zero derivative. It is known that there is a one-to-one correspondence between decompositions of linearised polynomials and sub-linearised polynomials. This correspondence leads to a formula for the number of indecomposable sub-linearised polynomials of given degree over a finite field. We also show how to extend existing factorisation algorithms over skew-polynomial rings to decompose sub-linearised polynomials without asymptotic cost.