On the number of solutions of systems of diagonal equations through diagonal GP-graphs: the general and the Hermitian-form cases

Abstract

For any $m, s \in \mathbb{N}$, we study the number $N_{m\times s,q}(κ, β)$ of solutions $(x_1,\ldots,x_s) \in (\mathbb{F}_q)^s$ of the monic system of diagonal equations $$ X_{1}^{k_i} + \cdots + X_{s}^{k_i}= β_i, \qquad (1\le i \le m), $$ with $κ=(k_1,\ldots,k_m) \in \mathbb{N}^m$ and $β=(β_1,\ldots,β_m) \in (\mathbb{F}_q)^m$. We show that this number can be obtained in terms of some data of \textit{diagonal} GP-graphs $Γ(κ,q)$. This is a new family of graphs that we introduce here, $Γ(κ,q)$, with $κ= (k_1,\ldots,k_m) \in \mathbb{N}^{m}$, is the directed graph with vertex set the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ and there is an arc from $u$ to $v$ if and only if $v-u \in R_κ = \{ (x^{k_1},\ldots,x^{k_m}) : x \in \mathbb{F}_{q}^*\}$. In particular, we give three different expressions for $N_{m\times s,q}(κ, β)$: one in terms of walks, another in terms of adjacency matrices of $Γ(κ,q)$ and the last one in terms of the spectrum of $Γ(κ,q)$. Finally, we explicitly derive combinatorial formulas for the number of solutions $N_{m}(s,q) = N_{m\times s,q}(κ_\ell, 0)$ of monic homogeneous systems of diagonal equations of the form $$ X_1^{q^{\ell_i}+1} + \cdots + X_s^{q^{\ell_i}+1} = 0 \qquad (1\le i \le m),$$ with $κ_\ell=(\ell_1,\ldots,\ell_m)=(1,3,\ldots,2m-1)$ and $m\ge 2$, via the known spectrum of Hermitian-form graphs, which can be viewed as diagonal GP-graphs. For any $m,s \in \mathbb{N}$, we give general summation and recursive formulas for $N_m(s,q) \in \mathbb{Z}[q]$. For the small cases $N_{1}(s,q)$, $N_{2}(s,q)$ and $N_{m}(s,q)$, with $1\le s \le 5$, we give explicit expressions.