dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaRecovering polynomials over finite fields from noisy character values
| Authors | Swastik Kopparty |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | 2601.07137vv1 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07137 |
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Abstract
Let $g(X)$ be a polynomial over a finite field ${\mathbb F}_q$ with degree $o(q^{1/2})$, and let $\chi$ be the quadratic residue character. We give a polynomial time algorithm to recover $g(X)$ (up to perfect square factors) given the values of $\chi \circ g$ on ${\mathbb F}_q$, with up to a constant fraction of the values having errors. This was previously unknown even for the case of no errors. We give a similar algorithm for additive characters of polynomials over fields of characteristic $2$. This gives the first polynomial time algorithm for decoding dual-BCH codes of polynomial dimension from a constant fraction of errors. Our algorithms use ideas from Stepanov's polynomial method proof of the classical Weil bounds on character sums, as well as from the Berlekamp-Welch decoding algorithm for Reed-Solomon codes. A crucial role is played by what we call *pseudopolynomials*: high degree polynomials, all of whose derivatives behave like low degree polynomials on ${\mathbb F}_q$. Both these results can be viewed as algorithmic versions of the Weil bounds for this setting.
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"abstract": "Let $g(X)$ be a polynomial over a finite field ${\\mathbb F}_q$ with degree $o(q^{1/2})$, and let $\\chi$ be the quadratic residue character. We give a polynomial time algorithm to recover $g(X)$ (up to perfect square factors) given the values of $\\chi \\circ g$ on ${\\mathbb F}_q$, with up to a constant fraction of the values having errors. This was previously unknown even for the case of no errors.\n We give a similar algorithm for additive characters of polynomials over fields of characteristic $2$. This gives the first polynomial time algorithm for decoding dual-BCH codes of polynomial dimension from a constant fraction of errors.\n Our algorithms use ideas from Stepanov\u0027s polynomial method proof of the classical Weil bounds on character sums, as well as from the Berlekamp-Welch decoding algorithm for Reed-Solomon codes. A crucial role is played by what we call *pseudopolynomials*: high degree polynomials, all of whose derivatives behave like low degree polynomials on ${\\mathbb F}_q$.\n Both these results can be viewed as algorithmic versions of the Weil bounds for this setting.",
"arxiv_id": "2601.07137",
"authors": [
"Swastik Kopparty"
],
"categories": [
"cs.CC",
"cs.IT",
"math.IT",
"math.NT"
],
"license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"title": "Recovering polynomials over finite fields from noisy character values",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07137",
"version": "v1"
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