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The combination of this paper and its companion complete the classification of monodromy groups of indecomposable coverings of complex curves $f:X\rightarrow \mathbb P^1$ of sufficiently large degree in comparison to the genus of $X$. In this paper we determine all such coverings with monodromy group $G\leq S_\ell\wr S_t$ of product type for $t\ge 2$.

For each nonnegative integer $g$, we classify the ramification types and monodromy groups of indecomposable coverings of complex curves $f: X\to Y$ where $X$ has genus $g$, under the hypothesis that $n:=\deg(f)$ is sufficiently large and the monodromy group is not $A_n$ or $S_n$. This proves a conjecture of Guralnick and several conjectures of Guralnick and Shareshian.

For each odd prime power q, and each integer k, we determine the sum of the k-th powers of all elements x in F_q for which both x and x+1 are squares in F_q^*. We also solve the analogous problem when one or both of x and x+1 is a nonsquare. We use these results to determine the sum of the elements of the image set f(F_q) for each f(X) in F_q[X] of the form X^4+aX^2+b, which resolves two conjectures by Finch-Smith, Harrington, and Wong., Comment: 11 pages

If S is a set of q+2 points in P^2(F_q) such that some point of S is not on any line containing two other points of S, then in suitable coordinates S has the form S_f:={(c:f(c):1) : c in F_q} U {(1:0:0),(0:1:0)} for some f(X) in F_q[X]. Let T be a subset of S_f which contains the two infinite points and at least 3+log_3(q)/4 finite points. We show that if there is no line passing through a point of T and two other points of S_f, and deg(f)<=q^{1/4}, then no three points of S_f are collinear, so that S_f is a hyperoval. We also determine all f(X) with deg(f)<=q^{1/4} for which S_f is a hyperoval, which strengthens a result that was proved by Caullery and Schmidt using entirely different methods., Comment: 20 pages

We determine all permutations in two large classes of polynomials over finite fields, where the construction of the polynomials in each class involves the denominators of a class of rational functions generalizing the classical Redei functions. Our results generalize eight recent results from the literature, and our proofs of our more general results are much shorter and simpler than the previous proofs of special cases., Comment: 6 pages

We determine the roots in F_{q^3} of the polynomial X^{2q^k+1} + X + c for each positive integer k and each c in F_q, where q is a power of 2. We introduce a new approach for this type of question, and we obtain results which are more explicit than the previous results in this area. Our results resolve an open problem and a conjecture of Zheng, Kan, Zhang, Peng, and Li., Comment: 19 pages

We show that all of the "new" permutation polynomials in the recent paper arXiv:2207.13335 (H. Song et al.) are in fact known. We also present a new type of question in this area., Comment: 3 pages

We determine all permutation polynomials over F_{q^2} of the form X^r A(X^{q-1}) where, for some Q which is a power of the characteristic of F_q, the integer r is congruent to Q+1 (mod q+1) and all terms of A(X) have degrees in {0, 1, Q, Q+1}. We then use this classification to resolve eight conjectures and open problems from the literature, and we show that the simplest special cases of our result imply 58 recent results from the literature. Our proof makes a novel use of geometric techniques in a situation where they previously did not seem applicable, namely to understand the arithmetic of high-degree rational functions over small finite fields, despite the fact that in this situation the Weil bounds do not provide useful information., Comment: 42 pages

Recently Lima and Campello de Souza introduced a new class of rational functions over odd-order finite fields, and explained their potential usefulness in cryptography. We show that these new functions are conjugate to the classical family of Redei rational functions, so that the properties of the new functions follow from properties of Redei functions. We also prove new properties of these functions, and introduce analogous functions in characteristic 2, while also introducing a new version of trigonometry over finite fields of even order, which is of independent interest., Comment: 7 pages

For each odd prime power q, we construct an infinite sequence of rational functions f(X) in F_q(X), each of which is exceptional, which means that for infinitely many n the map c-->f(c) induces a bijection of P^1(F_{q^n}). Moreover, each of our functions f(X) is indecomposable, which means that it cannot be written as the composition of lower-degree rational functions in F_q(X). In case q is not a power of 3, these are the first known examples of indecomposable exceptional rational functions f(X) over F_q which have non-solvable monodromy groups and have arbitrarily large degree. These are also the first known examples of wildly ramified indecomposable exceptional rational functions f(X), other than linear changes of polynomials., Comment: 16 pages

For any nonconstant f,g in C(x) such that the numerator H(x,y) of f(x)-g(y) is irreducible, we compute the genus of the normalization of the curve H(x,y)=0. We also prove an analogous formula in arbitrary characteristic when f and g have no common wildly ramified branch points, and generalize to (possibly reducible) fiber products of nonconstant morphisms of curves f:A-->D and g:B-->D., Comment: 11 pages

We prove a new bound on the number of shared values of distinct meromorphic functions on a compact Riemann surface, explain a mistake in a previous paper on this topic, and give a survey of related questions., Comment: 5 pages

We determine all degree-4 rational functions f(X) in F_q(X) which permute P^1(F_q), and answer two questions of Ferraguti and Micheli about the number of such functions and the number of equivalence classes of such functions up to composing with degree-one rational functions. We also determine all degree-8 rational functions f(X) in F_q(X) which permute P^1(F_q) in case q is sufficiently large, and do the same for degree 32 in case either q is odd or f(X) is a nonsquare. Further, for most other positive integers n<4096, for each sufficiently large q we determine all degree-n rational functions f(X) in F_q(X) which permute P^1(F_q) but which are not compositions of lower-degree rational functions in F_q(X). Some of these results are proved by using a new Galois-theoretic characterization of additive (linearized) polynomials among all rational functions, which is of independent interest., Comment: 31 pages

We describe the absolute values on a field which simultaneously extend absolute values on two subfields. We also give a common generalization of many versions of Abhyankar's lemma on ramification indices, which is both widely applicable and easy to state. We then apply these results to count points on the fibered product of two curve morphisms C --> X and D --> X which lie over prescribed points on C and D., Comment: 14 pages

We determine all F,G in C[X] of degree at least 2 for which the semigroup generated by F and G under composition is not the free semigroup on the letters F and G. We also solve the same problem for F,G in X^2 C[[X]], and prove partial analogues over arbitrary fields.

We determine the factorization of X*f(X)-Y*g(Y) over K[X,Y] for all squarefree additive polynomials f,g in K[X] and all fields K of odd characteristic. This answers a question of Kaloyan Slavov, who needed these factorizations in connection with an algebraic-geometric analogue of the Kakeya problem., Comment: 5 pages

We examine the different ways of writing a cover of curves $\phi\colon C\to D$ over a field $K$ as a composition $\phi=\phi_n\circ\phi_{n-1}\circ\dots\circ\phi_1$, where each $\phi_i$ is a cover of curves over $K$ of degree at least $2$ which cannot be written as the composition of two lower-degree covers. We show that if the monodromy group $\textrm{Mon}(\phi)$ has a transitive abelian subgroup then the sequence $(\deg\phi_i)_{1\le i\le n}$ is uniquely determined up to permutation by $\phi$, so in particular the length $n$ is uniquely determined. We prove analogous conclusions for the sequences $(\textrm{Mon}(\phi_i))_{1\le i\le n}$ and $(\textrm{Aut}(\phi_i))_{1\le i\le n}$. Such a transitive abelian subgroup exists in particular when $\phi$ is tamely and totally ramified over some point in $D(\overline{K})$, and also when $\phi$ is a morphism of one-dimensional algebraic groups (or a coordinate projection of such a morphism). Thus, for example, our results apply to decompositions of polynomials of degree not divisible by $\textrm{char}(K)$, additive polynomials, elliptic curve isogenies, and Latt\`es maps., Comment: 23 pages

Let G(q) be the group of permutations of the finite field F_q which is generated by those permutations that can be written as c-->ac^m+bc^n with 0

We present a general technique for obtaining permutation polynomials over a finite field from permutations of a subfield. By applying this technique to the simplest classes of permutation polynomials on the subfield, we obtain several new families of permutation polynomials. Some of these have the additional property that both f(x) and f(x)+x induce permutations of the field, which has combinatorial consequences. We use some of our permutation polynomials to exhibit complete sets of mutually orthogonal latin squares. In addition, we solve the open problem from a recent paper by Wu and Lin, and we give simpler proofs of much more general versions of the results in two other recent papers., Comment: 13 pages; many new results

We construct Belyi maps having specified behavior at finitely many points. Specifically, for any curve C defined over Q-bar, and any disjoint finite subsets S, T in C(Q-bar), we construct a finite morphism f: C -> P^1 such that f ramifies at each point in S, the branch locus of f is {0,1, infty}, and f(T) is disjoint from {0,1, infty}. This refines a result of Mochizuki's. We also prove an analogous result over fields of positive characteristic, and in addition we analyze how many different Belyi maps f are required to imply the above conclusion for a single C and S and all sets T in C(Q-bar) \ S of prescribed cardinality., Comment: 14 pages

The Mordell-Lang conjecture describes the intersection of a finitely generated subgroup with a closed subvariety of a semiabelian variety. Equivalently, this conjecture describes the intersection of closed subvarieties with the set of images of the origin under a finitely generated semigroup of translations. We study the analogous question in which the translations are replaced by algebraic group endomorphisms (and the origin is replaced by another point). We show that the conclusion of the Mordell-Lang conjecture remains true in this setting if either (1) the semiabelian variety is simple, (2) the semiabelian variety is $A^2$, where $A$ is a one-dimensional semiabelian variety, (3) the subvariety is a connected one-dimensional algebraic subgroup, or (4) each endomorphism has diagonalizable Jacobian at the origin. We also give examples showing that the conclusion fails if we make slight modifications to any of these hypotheses.

We give an explicit description of the F_{q^i}-rational points on the Fermat curve u^{q-1}+v^{q-1}+w^{q-1}=0 for each i=1,2,3. As a consequence, we observe that for any such point (u,v,w), the product uvw is a cube in F_{q^i}. We also describe the F_{q^2}-rational points on the Fermat surface u^{q-1}+v^{q-1}+w^{q-1}+x^{q-1}=0, and show that the product of the coordinates of any such points is a square., Comment: 8 pages

Planar functions over finite fields give rise to finite projective planes and other combinatorial objects. They exist only in odd characteristic, but recently Zhou introduced an even characteristic analogue which has similar applications. In this paper we determine all planar functions on F_q of the form c-->uc^t, where q is a power of 2, t is an integer with 0

We give conditions on the rational numbers a,b,c which imply that there are infinitely many triples (x,y,z) of rational numbers such that x+y+z=a+b+c and xyz=abc. We do the same for the equations x+y+z=a+b+c and x^3+y^3+z^3=a^3+b^3+c^3. These results rely on exhibiting families of positive-rank elliptic curves., Comment: 12 pages

Planar functions over finite fields give rise to finite projective planes and other combinatorial objects. They were originally defined only in odd characteristic, but recently Zhou introduced a definition in even characteristic which yields similar applications. In this paper we show that certain functions over $\mathbb{F}_{2^r}$ are planar, which proves a conjecture of Schmidt and Zhou. The key to our proof is a new result about the $\mathbb{F}_{q^3}$-rational points on the degree-$(q-1)$ Fermat curve $x^{q-1}+y^{q-1}=z^{q-1}$., Comment: 7 pages

Recently Bassa, Garcia and Stichtenoth constructed a tower of function fields over GF(q^3) having many rational places relative to their genera. We show that, by removing the bottom field from this tower, we obtain the same tower we would obtain by removing certain fields from a tower constructed previously by Bezerra, Garcia and Stichtenoth., Comment: 4 pages

Every symplectic spread of PG(3,q), or equivalently every ovoid of Q(4,q), is shown to give rise to a certain family of permutation polynomials of GF(q) and conversely. This leads to an algebraic proof of the existence of the Tits-Luneburg spread of W(2^{2h+1}) and the Ree-Tits spread of W(3^{2h+1}), as well as to a new family of low-degree permutation polynomials over GF(3^{2h+1}). We prove the permutation property of the latter polynomials via an odd characteristic analogue of Dobbertin's approach to uniformly representable permutation polynomials over GF(2^n). These new permutation polynomials were later used by Ding, Wang, and Xiang in arXiv:math/0609586 to produce new skew Hadamard difference sets., Comment: 9 pages. This paper was published in 2004. I post it now for greater accessibility

I present a construction of permutation polynomials based on cyclotomy, an additive analogue of this construction, and a generalization of this additive analogue which appears to have no multiplicative analogue. These constructions generalize recent results of J. Marcos from arXiv:0810.2738v1., Comment: 8 pages. Dedicated to Mel Nathanson on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday

Carlitz proved that, for any prime power q other than 2, the group of all permutations of the finite field F_q is generated by the permutations induced by degree-one polynomials and x^{q-2}. His proof relies on a remarkable polynomial which appears to have been found by magic. We show here that no magic is required: there is a straightforward way to produce a simple polynomial which has the same remarkable properties as the complicated polynomial in Carlitz's proof. We also identify the crucial subtlety which allows such simple polynomials to exist, and discuss some consequences., Comment: 2 pages

Ritt studied the functional decomposition of a univariate complex polynomial f into prime (indecomposable) polynomials, f = u_1 o u_2 o ... o u_r. His main achievement was a procedure for obtaining any decomposition of f from any other by repeatedly applying certain transformations. However, Ritt's results provide no control on the number of times one must apply the basic transformations, which makes his procedure unsuitable for many theoretical and algorithmic applications. We solve this problem by giving a new description of the collection of all decompositions of a polynomial. Our results have been used by Ghioca, Tucker and Zieve (arXiv:0807.3576) to describe the polynomials f,g having orbits with infinite intersection; they have also been used by Medvedev and Scanlon to describe the affine curves invariant under a coordinatewise polynomial action., Comment: 38 pages

We study the orbits of a polynomial f in C[X], namely the sets {e,f(e),f(f(e)),...} with e in C. We prove that if nonlinear complex polynomials f and g have orbits with infinite intersection, then f and g have a common iterate. More generally, we describe the intersection of any line in C^d with a d-tuple of orbits of nonlinear polynomials, and we formulate a question which generalizes both this result and the Mordell--Lang conjecture., Comment: 27 pages

For any elements b,c of a number field K, let G(b,c) denote the backwards orbit of b under the map f_c: C-->C given by f_c(x)=x^2+c. We prove an upper bound on the number of elements of G(b,c) whose degree over K is at most some constant B. This bound depends only on b, [K:Q], and B, and is valid for all b outside an explicit finite set. We also show that, for any N>3 and any b in K outside a finite set, there are only finitely many pairs of complex numbers (y,c) for which [K(y,c):K]<2^(N-3) and the value of the N-th iterate of f_c(x) at x=y is b. Moreover, the bound 2^(N-3) in this result is optimal., Comment: 15 pages; very minor changes from v1

We show that one can find two nonisomorphic curves over a field K that become isomorphic to one another over two finite extensions of K whose degrees over K are coprime to one another. More specifically, let K_0 be an arbitrary prime field and let r and s be integers greater than 1 that are coprime to one another. We show that one can find a finite extension K of K_0, a degree-r extension L of K, a degree-s extension M of K, and two curves C and D over K such that C and D become isomorphic to one another over L and over M, but not over any proper subextensions of L/K or M/K. We show that such C and D can never have genus 0, and that if K is finite, C and D can have genus 1 if and only if {r,s} = {2,3} and K is an odd-degree extension of F_3. On the other hand, when {r,s}={2,3} we show that genus-2 examples occur in every characteristic other than 3. Our detailed analysis of the case {r,s} = {2,3} shows that over every finite field K there exist nonisomorphic curves C and D that become isomorphic to one another over the quadratic and cubic extensions of K. Most of our proofs rely on Galois cohomology. Without using Galois cohomology, we show that two nonisomorphic genus-0 curves over an arbitrary field remain nonisomorphic over every odd-degree extension of the base field., Comment: LaTeX, 32 pages. Further references added to the discussion in Section 10

In the 1920's, Ritt studied the operation of functional composition g o h(x) = g(h(x)) on complex rational functions. In the case of polynomials, he described all the ways in which a polynomial can have multiple `prime factorizations' with respect to this operation. Despite significant effort by Ritt and others, little progress has been made towards solving the analogous problem for rational functions. In this paper we use results of Avanzi--Zannier and Bilu--Tichy to prove analogues of Ritt's results for decompositions of Laurent polynomials, i.e., rational functions with denominator a power of x., Comment: 31 pages

We produce a new family of polynomials f(x) over fields K of characteristic 2 which are exceptional, in the sense that f(x)-f(y) has no absolutely irreducible factors in K[x,y] besides the scalar multiples of x-y; when K is finite, this condition is equivalent to saying there are infinitely many finite extensions L/K for which the map c --> f(c) is bijective on L. Our polynomials have degree (2^e-1)*2^(e-1), where e is odd. Combined with our previous paper arxiv:0707.1835, this completes the classification of indecomposable exceptional polynomials of degree not a power of the characteristic. The strategy of our proof is to identify the curves that can arise as the Galois closure of the branched cover P^1 --> P^1 induced by an exceptional polynomial f. In this case, the curves turn out to be x^(q+1)+y^(q+1)=a+T(xy), where T(z)=z^(q/2)+z^(q/4)+...+z. Our proofs rely on new properties of ramification in Galois covers of curves, as well as the computation of the automorphism groups of all curves in a certain 2-parameter family., Comment: 30 pages; changed notation, fixed some minor errors, added Corollary 1.3, and removed the perfectness hypothesis in Theorem 1.2

Let K be a field of characteristic p>0, and let q be a power of p. We determine all polynomials f in K[t]\K[t^p] of degree q(q-1)/2 such that the Galois group of f(t)-u over K(u) has a transitive normal subgroup isomorphic to PSL_2(q), subject to a certain ramification hypothesis. As a consequence, we describe all polynomials f in K[t], of degree not a power of p, such that f is functionally indecomposable over K but f decomposes over an extension of K. Moreover, except for one ramification setup (which is treated in the companion paper arxiv:0707.1837), we describe all indecomposable polynomials f in K[t] of non-p-power degree which are exceptional, in the sense that x-y is the only absolutely irreducible factor of f(x)-f(y) which lies in K[x,y]. It is known that, when K is finite, a polynomial f is exceptional if and only if it induces a bijection on infinitely many finite extensions of K., Comment: 44 pages; changed notation throughout and made various minor changes

Let f and g be nonconstant polynomials over an arbitrary field K. In this paper we study the intersection of the polynomial rings K[f] and K[g], and in particular we ask whether this intersection is larger than K. We completely resolve this question when K has characteristic zero, and in positive characteristic we present various results, examples, and algorithms., Comment: 20 pages; various minor changes, and some alternate proofs suggested by the referee

In a recent paper, Akbary and Wang gave a sufficient condition for x^u + x^r to permute GF(q), in terms of the period of a certain sequence involving sums of cosines. As an application they gave necessary and sufficient conditions in case u,r,q satisfy certain special properties. We show that the Akbary-Wang sufficient condition follows from a more general sufficient condition which does not involve sums of cosines. This leads to vastly simpler proofs of the Akbary-Wang results, as well as generalizations to polynomials of the form x^r*h(x^{(q-1)/d})., Comment: 10 pages

We give necessary and sufficient conditions for a polynomial of the form x^r*(1+x^v+x^(2v)+...+x^(kv))^t to permute the elements of the finite field GF(q). Our results yield especially simple criteria in case (q-1)/gcd(q-1,v) is a small prime., Comment: 7 pages

We prove that if x^m + c*x^n permutes the prime field GF(p), where m>n>0 and c is in GF(p)^*, then gcd(m-n,p-1) > sqrt{p} - 1. Conversely, we prove that if q>=4 and m>n>0 are fixed and satisfy gcd(m-n,q-1) > 2q*(log log q)/(log q), then there exist permutation binomials over GF(q) of the form x^m + c*x^n if and only if gcd(m,n,q-1) = 1., Comment: 12 pages; various minor changes

Suppose x^m + c*x^n is a permutation polynomial over GF(p), where p>5 is prime, m>n>0, and c is in GF(p)^*. We prove that gcd(m-n,p-1) is not 2 or 4. In the special case that either (p-1)/2 or (p-1)/4 is prime, this was conjectured in a recent paper by Masuda, Panario and Wang., Comment: 6 pages