The key result linking the additive and multiplicative structure of a finite field is the Primitive Normal Basis Theorem; this was established by Lenstra and Schoof in 1987 in a proof which was heavily computational in nature. In this thesis, a new, theoretical proof of the theorem is given, and new estimates (in some cases, exact values) are given for the number of primitive free elements. A natural extension of the Primitive Normal Basis Theorem is to impose additional conditions on the primitive free elements; in particular, we may wish to specify the norm and trace of a primitive free element. The existence of at least one primitive free element of GF(qn) with specified norm and trace was established for n ³ 5 by Cohen in 2000; in this thesis, the result is proved for the most delicate cases, n = 4 and n = 3, thereby completing the general existence theorem.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:270965 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Huczynska, Sophie |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5533/ |
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