A Note on APN Permutations and Their Derivatives

Prior to the discovery of an APN permutation in six dimension it was conjectured that such functions do not exist in even dimension, as none had been found at that time. However, finding APN permutations in even dimension <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML&...

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Main Author: Augustine Musukwa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Mathematics
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/12/22/3477
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author Augustine Musukwa
author_facet Augustine Musukwa
author_sort Augustine Musukwa
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description Prior to the discovery of an APN permutation in six dimension it was conjectured that such functions do not exist in even dimension, as none had been found at that time. However, finding APN permutations in even dimension <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>≥</mo><mn>8</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> remains a significant challenge. Understanding and determining more properties of these functions is a crucial approach to discovering them. In this note, we study the properties of vectorial Boolean functions based on the weights of the first-order and second-order derivatives of their components. We show that a function is an APN permutation if and only if the sum of the squares of the weights of the first-order derivatives of its components is exactly <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mn>2</mn><mrow><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mrow><mi>n</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi></msup><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. Additionally, we determined that the sum of the weights of the second-order derivatives of the components of any vectorial Boolean function is at most <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mn>2</mn><mrow><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi></msup><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi></msup><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. This bound is achieved if and only if a function is APN.
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spelling doaj-art-f91c557f2372401c9bdfa0cfbb2ec2b42025-08-20T02:04:54ZengMDPI AGMathematics2227-73902024-11-011222347710.3390/math12223477A Note on APN Permutations and Their DerivativesAugustine Musukwa0Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Mzuzu University, P/Bag 201, Mzuzu 2, MalawiPrior to the discovery of an APN permutation in six dimension it was conjectured that such functions do not exist in even dimension, as none had been found at that time. However, finding APN permutations in even dimension <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>≥</mo><mn>8</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> remains a significant challenge. Understanding and determining more properties of these functions is a crucial approach to discovering them. In this note, we study the properties of vectorial Boolean functions based on the weights of the first-order and second-order derivatives of their components. We show that a function is an APN permutation if and only if the sum of the squares of the weights of the first-order derivatives of its components is exactly <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mn>2</mn><mrow><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mrow><mi>n</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi></msup><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. Additionally, we determined that the sum of the weights of the second-order derivatives of the components of any vectorial Boolean function is at most <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mn>2</mn><mrow><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi></msup><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mi>n</mi></msup><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. This bound is achieved if and only if a function is APN.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/12/22/3477Boolean functionsweightfirst-order derivativessecond-order derivativesAPN functionsAPN permutations
spellingShingle Augustine Musukwa
A Note on APN Permutations and Their Derivatives
Mathematics
Boolean functions
weight
first-order derivatives
second-order derivatives
APN functions
APN permutations
title A Note on APN Permutations and Their Derivatives
title_full A Note on APN Permutations and Their Derivatives
title_fullStr A Note on APN Permutations and Their Derivatives
title_full_unstemmed A Note on APN Permutations and Their Derivatives
title_short A Note on APN Permutations and Their Derivatives
title_sort note on apn permutations and their derivatives
topic Boolean functions
weight
first-order derivatives
second-order derivatives
APN functions
APN permutations
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/12/22/3477
work_keys_str_mv AT augustinemusukwa anoteonapnpermutationsandtheirderivatives
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