Variations on a question concerning the degrees of divisors of x^n-1

Abstract

In this paper, we examine a natural question concerning the divisors of the polynomial x^n-1: "How often does x^n-1 have a divisor of every degree between 1 and n?" In a previous paper, we considered the situation when x^n-1 is factored in Z[x]. In this paper, we replace Z[x] with F_p[x], where p is an arbitrary-but-fixed prime. We also consider those n where this condition holds for all p.Comment: Formerly part of arXiv:1111.540