The divisibility modulo 24 of Kloosterman sums on GF(2m)GF(2^m), mm even

In a recent work by Charpin, Helleseth, and Zinoviev Kloosterman sums $K(a)$ over a finite field \F_{2^m} were evaluated modulo 24 in the case $m$ odd, and the number of those $a$ giving the same value for $K(a)$ modulo 24 was given. In this paper the same is done in the case $m$ even. The key techniques used in this paper are different from those used in the aforementioned work. In particular, we exploit recent results on the number of irreducible polynomials with prescribed coefficients.Comment: 15 pages, submitted; an annoying typo corrected in the abstrac

The Divisibility Modulo 4 of Kloosterman Sums over Finite Fields of Characteristic 3

Recently Garashuk and Lisonek evaluated Kloosterman sums K (a) modulo 4 over a finite field F3m in the case of even K (a). They posed it as an open problem to characterize elements a in F3m for which K (a) ≡ 1 (mod4) and K (a) ≡ 3 (mod4). In this paper, we will give an answer to this problem. The result allows us to count the number of elements a in F3m belonging to each of these two classes

Kloosterman sums, elliptic curves, and irreducible polynomials with prescribed trace and norm

Let \F_q ($q=p^r$) be a finite field. In this paper the number of irreducible polynomials of degree $m$ in \F_q[x] with prescribed trace and norm coefficients is calculated in certain special cases and a general bound for that number is obtained improving the bound by Wan if $m$ is small compared to $q$. As a corollary, sharp bounds are obtained for the number of elements in \F_{q^3} with prescribed trace and norm over \F_q improving the estimates by Katz in this special case. Moreover, a characterization of Kloosterman sums over \F_{2^r} divisible by three is given generalizing the earlier result by Charpin, Helleseth, and Zinoviev obtained only in the case $r$ odd. Finally, a new simple proof for the value distribution of a Kloosterman sum over the field \F_{3^r}, first proved by Katz and Livne, is given.Comment: 21 pages; revised version with somewhat more clearer proofs; to appear in Acta Arithmetic

Mathematical aspects of the design and security of block ciphers

Block ciphers constitute a major part of modern symmetric cryptography. A mathematical analysis is necessary to ensure the security of the cipher. In this thesis, I develop several new contributions for the analysis of block ciphers. I determine cryptographic properties of several special cryptographically interesting mappings like almost perfect nonlinear functions. I also give some new results both on the resistance of functions against differential-linear attacks as well as on the efficiency of implementation of certain block ciphers