A converse to a theorem of Gauss on Gauss sums

Abstract

In this note we prove (under mild hypotheses) that $f$ is a nontrivial character of $\mathbb{F}_p$ if and only if the Fourier transform of $f$ has magnitude 1 somewhere in $\mathbb{F}_p^\times$. This implies a converse to a theorem of Gauss on the magnitude of the Gauss sum, in addition to other consequences.