54 Finite Fields

This chapter describes the special functionality which exists in GAP for finite fields and their elements. Of course the general functionality for fields (see chapter Fields and Division Rings) also applies to finite fields. Special representations also exist for vectors and matrices over small finite fields (see sections Row Vectors over Finite Fields and Matrices over Finite Fields).

Sections

  1. Finite Field Elements
  2. Operations for Finite Field Elements
  3. Creating Finite Fields
  4. FrobeniusAutomorphism
  5. Conway Polynomials

54.1 Finite Field Elements

  • IsFFE( obj ) C
  • IsFFECollection( obj ) C
  • IsFFECollColl( obj ) C

    An object lies in the category IsFFE if and only if it is an element of a finite field. A collection of finite field elements lies in IsFFECollection and a collection of such collections (e.g., a matrix) lies in IsFFECollColl.

    For creating elements of a finite field the function Z can be used. The call Z( p^d ) returns the designated generator of the multiplicative group of the finite field with p^d elements. p must be a prime and p^d must be less than or equal to 216 = 65536.

    The root returned by Z is a generator of the multiplicative group of the finite field with pd elements, which is cyclic. The order of the element is of course pd-1. The pd-1 different powers of the root are exactly the nonzero elements of the finite field.

    Thus all nonzero elements of the finite field with p^d elements can be entered as Z(p^d)^i. Note that this is also the form that GAP uses to output those elements.

    The additive neutral element is 0*Z(p). It is different from the integer 0 in subtle ways. First IsInt( 0*Z(p) ) (see IsInt) is false and IsFFE( 0*Z(p) ) (see IsFFE) is true, whereas it is just the other way around for the integer 0.

    The multiplicative neutral element is Z(p)^0. It is different from the integer 1 in subtle ways. First IsInt( Z(p)^0 ) (see IsInt) is false and IsFFE( Z(p)^0 ) (see IsFFE) is true, whereas it is just the other way around for the integer 1. Also 1+1 is 2, whereas, e.g., Z(2)^0 + Z(2)^0 is 0*Z(2).

    The various roots returned by Z for finite fields of the same characteristic are compatible in the following sense. If the field GF(pn) is a subfield of the field GF(pm), i.e., n divides m, then Z(pn) = Z(pm)(pm-1)/(pn-1). Note that this is the simplest relation that may hold between a generator of GF(pn) and GF(pm), since Z(pn) is an element of order pm-1 and Z(pm) is an element of order pn-1. This is achieved by choosing Z(p) as the smallest primitive root modulo p and Z(pn) as a root of the n-th Conway polynomial of characteristic p. Those polynomials where defined by J.H. Conway and computed by R.A. Parker.

    Elements of prime fields of order larger than 216 can be handled using the machinery of Residue Class Rings (see section Residue Class Rings).

    gap> a:= Z( 32 );
    Z(2^5)
    gap> a+a;
    0*Z(2)
    gap> a*a;
    Z(2^5)^2
    

    Elements of finite fields can be compared using the operators = and <. The call a = b returns true if and only if the finite field elements a and b are equal. Furthermore a < b tests whether a is smaller than b. Finite field elements are ordered in the following way. If the two elements lie in fields of different characteristics the one that lies in the field with the smaller characteristic is smaller. If the two elements lie in different fields of the same characteristic the one that lies in the smaller field is smaller. If the two elements lie in the same field and one is the zero and the other is not, the zero element is smaller. If the two elements lie in the same field and both are nonzero, and are represented as Z(pd)i1 and Z(pd)i2 respectively, then the one with the smaller i is smaller.

    gap> Z( 16 )^10 = Z( 4 )^2;  # this illustrates the embedding of GF( 4 )
    true                         # in GF( 16 ).
    gap> 0 < 0*Z(101);
    true
    gap> Z(256) > Z(101);
    false
    

    54.2 Operations for Finite Field Elements

  • DegreeFFE( z ) O
  • DegreeFFE( vec ) O
  • DegreeFFE( mat ) O

    DegreeFFE returns the degree of the smallest finite field F containing the element z, respectively all elements of the vector vec over a finite field (see Row Vectors), or matrix mat over a finite field (see Matrices).

    gap> DegreeFFE( Z( 16 )^10 );
    2
    gap> DegreeFFE( Z( 16 )^11 );
    4
    gap> DegreeFFE( [ Z(2^13), Z(2^10) ] );
    130
    

  • LogFFE( z, r ) O

    LogFFE returns the discrete logarithm of the element z in a finite field with respect to the root r. An error is signalled if z is zero, or if z is not a power of r.

    The discrete logarithm of an element z with respect to a root r is the smallest nonnegative integer i such that ri = z.

  • IntFFE( z ) O

    IntFFE returns the integer corresponding to the element z, which must lie in a finite prime field. That is IntFFE returns the smallest nonnegative integer i such that i * One( z ) = z.

    The correspondence between elements from a finite prime field of characteristic p and the integers between 0 and p-1 is defined by choosing Z(p) the smallest primitive root mod p (see PrimitiveRootMod).

  • IntVecFFE( vecffe ) O

    is the list of integers corresponding to the vector vecffe of finite field elements in a prime field (see IntFFE).

    54.3 Creating Finite Fields

  • GaloisField( p^d ) F
  • GaloisField( p, d ) F
  • GaloisField( S, d ) F
  • GaloisField( p, pol ) F
  • GaloisField( S, pol ) F

    GaloisField returns a finite field. It takes two arguments. The form GaloisField( p, d ), where p, d are integers, can also be given as GaloisField( p^d ). GF is an abbreviation for GaloisField.

    The first argument specifies the subfield S over which the new field F is to be taken. It can be a prime or a finite field. If it is a prime p, the subfield is the prime field of this characteristic.

    The second argument specifies the extension. It can be an integer or an irreducible polynomial over the field S. If it is an integer d, the new field is constructed as the polynomial extension with the Conway polynomial (see ConwayPolynomial) of degree d over the subfield S. If it is an irreducible polynomial pol over S, the new field is constructed as polynomial extension of the subfield S with this polynomial; in this case, pol is accessible as the value of DefiningPolynomial (see DefiningPolynomial) for the new field, and a root of pol in the new field is accessible as the value of RootOfDefiningPolynomial (see RootOfDefiningPolynomial).

    Note that the subfield over which a field was constructed determines over which field the Galois group, conjugates, norm, trace, minimal polynomial, and trace polynomial are computed (see GaloisGroup.field, Conjugates, Norm, Trace, MinimalPolynomial, TracePolynomial).

    The field is regarded as a vector space (see Vector Spaces) over the given subfield, so this determines the dimension and the canonical basis of the field.

    gap> F:= GF( 3^5 );
    GF(3^5)
    gap> G:= GaloisGroup ( F );
    <group with 1 generators>
    gap> BasisVectors( Basis( F ) );
    [ Z(3)^0, Z(3^5), Z(3^5)^2, Z(3^5)^3, Z(3^5)^4 ]
    

  • PrimitiveRoot( F ) A

    A primitive root of a finite field is a generator of its multiplicative group.

    gap> F:= GF( 3^5 );
    GF(3^5)
    gap> PrimitiveRoot( F );
    Z(3^5)
    

    54.4 FrobeniusAutomorphism

  • FrobeniusAutomorphism( F ) A

    FrobeniusAutomorphism returns the Frobenius automorphism of the finite field F as a field homomorphism (see Ring Homomorphisms).

    The Frobenius automorphism f of a finite field F of characteristic p is the function that takes each element z of F to its p-th power. Each automorphism of F is a power of f. Thus f is a generator for the Galois group of F, and an appropriate power of f is a generator of the Galois group of F over a subfield (see GaloisGroup.field).

    gap> f := GF(16);
    GF(2^4)
    gap> x := FrobeniusAutomorphism( f );
    FrobeniusAutomorphism( GF(2^4) )
    gap> Z(16) ^ x;
    Z(2^4)^2
    gap> x^2;
    FrobeniusAutomorphism( GF(2^4) )^2
    

    The image of an element z under the i-th power of f is computed as the pi-th power of z. The product of the i-th power and the j-th power of f is the k-th power of f, where k is i j mod Size(F )-1. The zeroth power of f is IdentityMapping( F ).

    54.5 Conway Polynomials

  • ConwayPolynomial( p, n ) F

    is the Conway polynomial of the finite field GF(pn) as polynomial over the prime field in characteristic p.

    The Conway polynomial Fn,p of GF(pn) is defined by the following properties.

    First define an ordering of polynomials of degree n over GF(p) as follows. f = åi = 0n (-1)i fi xi is smaller than g = åi = 0n (-1)i gi xi if and only if there is an index m £ n such that fi = gi for all i > m, and [(fm)\tilde] < [(gm)\tilde], where [(c)\tilde] denotes the integer value in { 0, 1, ¼, p-1 } that is mapped to c Î GF(p) under the canonical epimorphism that maps the integers onto GF(p).

    Fn,p is primitive over GF(p), that is, it is irreducible, monic, and is the minimal polynomial of a primitive element of GF(pn).

    For all divisors d of n the compatibility condition Fd,p( x[(pn-1)/(pm-1)] ) º 0 mod Fn,p(x) holds.

    With respect to the ordering defined above, Fn,p shall be minimal.

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    GAP 4 manual
    July 1999