On algebraic cellular automata

We investigate some general properties of algebraic cellular automata, i.e., cellular automata over groups whose alphabets are affine algebraic sets and which are locally defined by regular maps. When the ground field is assumed to be uncountable and algebraically closed, we prove that such cellular automata always have a closed image with respect to the prodiscrete topology on the space of configurations and that they are reversible as soon as they are bijective

Convolution equations on lattices: periodic solutions with values in a prime characteristic field

These notes are inspired by the theory of cellular automata. A linear cellular automaton on a lattice of finite rank or on a toric grid is a discrete dinamical system generated by a convolution operator with kernel concentrated in the nearest neighborhood of the origin. In the present paper we deal with general convolution operators. We propose an approach via harmonic analysis which works over a field of positive characteristic. It occurs that a standard spectral problem for a convolution operator is equivalent to counting points on an associate algebraic hypersurface in a torus according to the torsion orders of their coordinates.Comment: 30 pages, a new editio

Periodic harmonic functions on lattices and points count in positive characteristic

This survey addresses pluri-periodic harmonic functions on lattices with values in a positive characteristic field. We mention, as a motivation, the game "Lights Out" following the work of Sutner, Goldwasser-Klostermeyer-Ware, Barua-Ramakrishnan-Sarkar, Hunzikel-Machiavello-Park e.a.; see also 2 previous author's preprints for a more detailed account. Our approach explores harmonic analysis and algebraic geometry over a positive characteristic field. The Fourier transform allows us to interpret pluri-periods of harmonic functions on lattices as torsion multi-orders of points on the corresponding affine algebraic variety.Comment: These are notes on 13p. based on a talk presented during the meeting "Analysis on Graphs and Fractals", the Cardiff University, 29 May-2 June 2007 (a sattelite meeting of the programme "Analysis on Graphs and its Applications" at the Isaac Newton Institute from 8 January to 29 June 2007

Revisiting LFSMs

Linear Finite State Machines (LFSMs) are particular primitives widely used in information theory, coding theory and cryptography. Among those linear automata, a particular case of study is Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSRs) used in many cryptographic applications such as design of stream ciphers or pseudo-random generation. LFSRs could be seen as particular LFSMs without inputs. In this paper, we first recall the description of LFSMs using traditional matrices representation. Then, we introduce a new matrices representation with polynomial fractional coefficients. This new representation leads to sparse representations and implementations. As direct applications, we focus our work on the Windmill LFSRs case, used for example in the E0 stream cipher and on other general applications that use this new representation. In a second part, a new design criterion called diffusion delay for LFSRs is introduced and well compared with existing related notions. This criterion represents the diffusion capacity of an LFSR. Thus, using the matrices representation, we present a new algorithm to randomly pick LFSRs with good properties (including the new one) and sparse descriptions dedicated to hardware and software designs. We present some examples of LFSRs generated using our algorithm to show the relevance of our approach.Comment: Submitted to IEEE-I