Five-valued conjecture for Weil sums with Niho exponents

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Let pp be an odd prime, let FF be a finite field of order pnp^n, and let LL be a quadratic extension of FF. Let s=1+k(pn−1)s=1+k(p^n-1) be an invertible Niho exponent over LL, and define

d1=gcd⁡(k,pn+1),d2=gcd⁡(k−1,pn+1).d_1=\gcd(k,p^n+1),\qquad d_2=\gcd(k-1,p^n+1).

Five-valued conjecture. If either d1+d2≥5d_1+d_2\geq 5, or d1+d2=3d_1+d_2=3 and pn≡11(mod12)p^n\equiv 11\pmod{12}, then the Weil spectrum over LL is at least five-valued. In the first case its five values are

{0,−pn,pn,2αpn,(2β+1)pn},\{0,-p^n,p^n,2\alpha p^n,(2\beta+1)p^n\},

where lpha,β≥1lpha,\beta\geq 1 are integers; in the second case at least four values are

{0,−pn,pn,2pn}.\{0,-p^n,p^n,2p^n\}.

The paper presents this as a conjecture based on numerical evidence, concerning the possible value distribution of Weil sums for Niho exponents. The supplied text does not give evidence of a resolution.

References

Primary source

Liem Nguyen, “On Weil Sums, Conjectures of Helleseth, and Niho Exponents”, arXiv:2006.15726 (2021).

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