Further Results on Sum-Freedom of Binary and $q$-ary Functions

Source abstract

The notion of sum-freedom of binary functions was introduced recently by C. Carlet as a generalization of the APN functions used in cryptography; the $q$-ary version of the notion is a natural extension. For each integer $k$ with $0\le k\le n$, there is a $k$th order sum-free function on $\Bbb F_{2^n}$. It is also known that when $k/n$ is not close to 0 or 1, the multiplicative inverse function on $\Bbb F_{2^n}$ is not $k$th order sum-free. We generalize these two results to $q$-ary functions. APN functions have a coding theoretic characterization. We generalize the characterization to sum-free functions of arbitrary order over any finite field. It is well known that the Welch functions is 2nd order sum-free. We give an alternative proof for this result which leads to a more general algebraic question. We also investigate that the 3rd order sum-freedom of the Welch function and power functions of algebraic degree 3. We formulate a conjecture about the 3rd order sum-freedom of the Welch function which is supported by strong numerical evidence.