On permutation binomials over finite fields

Abstract

Let $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ be the finite field of characteristic $p$ containing $q = p^{r}$ elements and $f(x)=ax^{n} + x^{m}$ a binomial with coefficients in this field. If some conditions on the greatest common divisor of $n-m$ an $q-1$ are satisfied then this polynomial does not permute the elements of the field. We prove in particular that if $f(x) = ax^{n} + x^{m}$ permutes $\mathbb{F}_{p}$, where $n>m>0$ and $a \in {\mathbb{F}_{p}}^{*}$, then $p -1 \leq (d -1)d$, where $d = {\mbox{gcd}}(n-m,p-1)$, and that this bound of $p$ in term of $d$ only, is sharp. We show as well how to obtain in certain cases a permutation binomial over a subfield of $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ from a permutation binomial over $\mathbb{F}_{q}$. 10.1017/S0004972713000208