Proofs of two conjectures on ternary weakly regular bent functions

Abstract

We study ternary monomial functions of the form $f(x)=\Tr_n(ax^d)$, where $x\in \Ff_{3^n}$ and $\Tr_n: \Ff_{3^n}\to \Ff_3$ is the absolute trace function. Using a lemma of Hou \cite{hou}, Stickelberger's theorem on Gauss sums, and certain ternary weight inequalities, we show that certain ternary monomial functions arising from \cite{hk1} are weakly regular bent, settling a conjecture of Helleseth and Kholosha \cite{hk1}. We also prove that the Coulter-Matthews bent functions are weakly regular.