Let p be a prime and q = pk. The polynomial gn,q isin Fp[x] defined by the functional equation Sigmaa isin Fq (x+a)n = gn,q(xq- x) gives rise to many permutation polynomials over finite fields. We are interested in triples (n,e;q) for which gn,q is a permutation polynomial of Fqe. In Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of this dissertation, we present many new families of permutation polynomials in the form of gn,q. The permutation behavior of gn,q is becoming increasingly more interesting and challenging. As we further explore the permutation behavior of gn,q, there is a clear indication that gn,q is a plenteous source of permutation polynomials. We also describe a piecewise construction of permutation polynomials over a finite field Fq which uses a subgroup of Fq*, a “selection” function, and several “case” functions. Chapter 5 of this dissertation is devoted to this piecewise construction which generalizes several recently discovered families of permutation polynomials.

S-boxes are key components of many symmetric cryptographic primitives. Among them, some block ciphers and hash functions are vulnerable to attacks based on differential cryptanalysis, a technique introduced by Biham and Shamir in the early 90’s. Resistance against attacks from this family depends on the so-called differential properties of the S-boxes used. When we consider S-boxes as functions over finite fields of characteristic 2, monomials turn out to be good candidates. In this Master’s Thesis, we study the differential properties of a particular family of monomials, namely those with exponent 2ͭᵗ-1 In particular, conjectures from Blondeau’s PhD Thesis are proved. More specifically, we derive the differential spectrum of monomials with exponent 2ͭᵗ-1 for several values of t using a method similar to the proof Blondeau et al. made of the spectrum of x -<img src="http://www.diva-portal.org/cgi-bin/mimetex.cgi?%5Crightarrow" /> x⁷. The first two chapters of this Thesis provide the mathematical and cryptographic background necessary while the third and fourth chapters contain the proofs of the spectra we extracted and some observations which, among other things, connect this problem with the study of particular Dickson polynomials.