Semifields, relative difference sets, and bent functions

Recently, the interest in semifields has increased due to the discovery of several new families and progress in the classification problem. Commutative semifields play an important role since they are equivalent to certain planar functions (in the case of odd characteristic) and to modified planar functions in even characteristic. Similarly, commutative semifields are equivalent to relative difference sets. The goal of this survey is to describe the connection between these concepts. Moreover, we shall discuss power mappings that are planar and consider component functions of planar mappings, which may be also viewed as projections of relative difference sets. It turns out that the component functions in the even characteristic case are related to negabent functions as well as to $\mathbb{Z}_4$-valued bent functions.Comment: Survey paper for the RICAM workshop "Emerging applications of finite fields", 09-13 December 2013, Linz, Austria. This article will appear in the proceedings volume for this workshop, published as part of the "Radon Series on Computational and Applied Mathematics" by DeGruyte

A new family of semifields with 2 parameters

A new family of commutative semifields with two parameters is presented. Its left and middle nucleus are both determined. Furthermore, we prove that for any different pairs of parameters, these semifields are not isotopic. It is also shown that, for some special parameters, one semifield in this family can lead to two inequivalent planar functions. Finally, using similar construction, new APN functions are given

Symplectic spreads, planar functions and mutually unbiased bases

In this paper we give explicit descriptions of complete sets of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and orthogonal decompositions of special Lie algebras $sl_n(\mathbb{C})$ obtained from commutative and symplectic semifields, and from some other non-semifield symplectic spreads. Relations between various constructions are also studied. We show that the automorphism group of a complete set of MUBs is isomorphic to the automorphism group of the corresponding orthogonal decomposition of the Lie algebra $sl_n(\mathbb{C})$. In the case of symplectic spreads this automorphism group is determined by the automorphism group of the spread. By using the new notion of pseudo-planar functions over fields of characteristic two we give new explicit constructions of complete sets of MUBs.Comment: 20 page

On isotopisms and strong isotopisms of commutative presemifields

In this paper we prove that the $P(q,\ell)$ ($q$ odd prime power and $\ell>1$ odd) commutative semifields constructed by Bierbrauer in \cite{BierbrauerSub} are isotopic to some commutative presemifields constructed by Budaghyan and Helleseth in \cite{BuHe2008}. Also, we show that they are strongly isotopic if and only if $q\equiv 1(mod\,4)$. Consequently, for each $q\equiv -1(mod\,4)$ there exist isotopic commutative presemifields of order $q^{2\ell}$ ($\ell>1$ odd) defining CCZ--inequivalent planar DO polynomials.Comment: References updated, pag. 5 corrected Multiplication of commutative LMPTB semifield

(2^n,2^n,2^n,1)-relative difference sets and their representations

We show that every $(2^n,2^n,2^n,1)$-relative difference set $D$ in $\Z_4^n$ relative to $\Z_2^n$ can be represented by a polynomial f(x)\in \F_{2^n}[x], where $f(x+a)+f(x)+xa$ is a permutation for each nonzero $a$. We call such an $f$ a planar function on \F_{2^n}. The projective plane $\Pi$ obtained from $D$ in the way of Ganley and Spence \cite{ganley_relative_1975} is coordinatized, and we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions of $\Pi$ to be a presemifield plane. We also prove that a function $f$ on \F_{2^n} with exactly two elements in its image set and $f(0)=0$ is planar, if and only if, $f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)$ for any x,y\in\F_{2^n}

MUBs inequivalence and affine planes

There are fairly large families of unitarily inequivalent complete sets of N+1 mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) in C^N for various prime powers N. The number of such sets is not bounded above by any polynomial as a function of N. While it is standard that there is a superficial similarity between complete sets of MUBs and finite affine planes, there is an intimate relationship between these large families and affine planes. This note briefly summarizes "old" results that do not appear to be well-known concerning known families of complete sets of MUBs and their associated planes.Comment: This is the version of this paper appearing in J. Mathematical Physics 53, 032204 (2012) except for format changes due to the journal's style policie

Computational search for isotopic semifields and planar functions in characteristic 3

In this thesis, we investigate the possibility of finding new planar functions and corresponding semifields in characteristic 3 by the construction of isotopic semifields from the known families and sporadic instances of planar functions. Using the conditions laid out by Coulter and Henderson, we are able to deduce that a number of the known infinite families can never produce CCZ-inequivalent functions via isotopism. For the remaining families, we computationally investigate the isotopism classes of their instances over finite fields of order 3^n for n ≤ 8. We find previously unknown isotopisms between the semifields corresponding to some of the known planar functions for n = 6 and n = 8. This allows us to refine the known classification of planar functions up to isotopism, and to provide an updated, partial classification up to isotopism over finite fields of order 3^n for n ≤ 8.Masteroppgave i informatikkINF399MAMN-INFMAMN-PRO