On the Recursive Behaviour of the Number of Irreducible Polynomials with Certain Properties over Finite Fields

Abstract

Let $\mathbb{F}_q$ be the field with $q$ elements and of characteristic $p$. For $a\in\mathbb{F}_p$ consider the set \begin{equation*} S_a(n)=\{f\in\mathbb{F}_q[x]\mid\operatorname{deg}(f)=n,~f\text{ irreducible, monic and} \operatorname{Tr}(f)=a\}. \end{equation*} In a recent paper, Robert Granger proved for $q=2$ and $n\ge 2$ that $|S_1(n)|-|S_0(n)|= 0$ if $2\nmid n$ and $|S_1(n)|-|S_0(n)|=|S_1(n/2)|$ if $2\mid n$. We will prove a generalization of this result for all finite fields. This is possible due to an observation about the size of certain subsets of monic irreducible polynomials arising in the context of a group action of subgroups of $\operatorname{PGL}_2(\mathbb{F}_q)$ on monic polynomials. Additionally, it enables us to apply these methods to prove two further results that are very similar in nature.