X = GF(2).polynomial_ring().gen()
F = GF(2^8, name="a", modulus=X^8 + X^6 + X^5 + X + 1)
As example above, the polynomial X^8 + X^6 + X^5 + X + 1 is one of irreducible polynomial defining the finite field GF(2^8).
How can I get all the irreducible polynomial which can define the finite field GF(2^8)?
What you are looking for is the list of all degree-8 irreducible polynomials over $\mathbb F_2$. There is no built-in function for this, but they can be found very easily if you combine polynomials which iterates over all polynomials of a given degree and is_irreducible that tests irreducibilty.
For instance:
sage: R = GF(2)['x']
sage: for p in R.polynomials(8):
....: if p.is_irreducible():
....: print(p)
....:
x^8 + x^4 + x^3 + x + 1
x^8 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^5 + x^3 + x + 1
[...]
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^5 + x^4 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^5 + x^4 + x^3 + 1
You can also built the list of all of them:
sage: Irr = [p for p in R.polynomials(8) if p is_irreducible()]
sage: len(Irr)
30
Finally, you can have access to some specific irreducible polynomials using R.irreducible_element(algorithm='...'). Have a look at the documentation of irreducible_element for details here.
This is a good party, so let me join it!
R.<x> = GF(2)[]
[ p for p, mul in factor( x^(2^8)-x ) if p.degree() == 8 ]
This works since any element in $\mathbb F_{2^8}$ is fixed by the Frobenius morphism $x\to x^{2^8}$. The field generators are among these elements, we insist that they have the maximal degree eight (of the minimal polynomial over $\mathbb F_2$) to pick the generators among all elements. (All ignored multiplicities mul are equal to one.)
This and the other answers show how versatile is sage, and how it supports thinking and experimenting.
Do you mean
sage: for coeffs in product(GF(2), repeat=8):
....: p = GF2x(coeffs + (1,))
....: if p.is_irreducible():
....: print(p)
....:
x^8 + x^7 + x^5 + x^4 + 1
x^8 + x^6 + x^5 + x^4 + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^5 + x^3 + 1
x^8 + x^6 + x^5 + x^3 + 1
x^8 + x^5 + x^4 + x^3 + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^5 + x^4 + x^3 + 1
x^8 + x^6 + x^5 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^5 + x^4 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^3 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^6 + x^3 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^5 + x^3 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^5 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^5 + x + 1
x^8 + x^6 + x^5 + x + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^5 + x^4 + x + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^3 + x + 1
x^8 + x^5 + x^3 + x + 1
x^8 + x^4 + x^3 + x + 1
x^8 + x^6 + x^5 + x^4 + x^3 + x + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^2 + x + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^5 + x^2 + x + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^4 + x^2 + x + 1
x^8 + x^6 + x^5 + x^4 + x^2 + x + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^6 + x^3 + x^2 + x + 1
x^8 + x^7 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + x + 1
x^8 + x^6 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + x + 1
x^8 + x^5 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + x + 1
Some explanations:
GF(2^8) if and only if it has degree 8 and is irreducibleGF(2)^8Asked: 2018-03-10 18:22:06 +0100
Seen: 4,216 times
Last updated: Mar 11 '18
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