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Section: New Results

Fast coefficient computation for algebraic power series in positive characteristic

In [5], Alin Bostan and Philippe Dumas, together with Xavier Caruso (CNRS, Rennes) and Gilles Christol (IMJ, Paris) have studied the algorithmic question of coefficient computation of algebraic power series in positive characteristic. They revisited Christol's theorem on algebraic power series in positive characteristic and proposed another proof for it. Their new proof combines several ingredients and advantages of existing proofs, which make it very well-suited for algorithmic purposes. The construction used in the new proof was then applied to the design of a new efficient algorithm for computing the $N$th coefficient of a given algebraic power series over a perfect field of characteristic $p$. This algorithm has several nice features: it is more general, more natural and more efficient than previous algorithms. Not only the arithmetic complexity of the new algorithm is linear in $logN$ and quasi-linear in $p$, but its dependency with respect to the degree of the input is much smaller than in the previously best algorithm. Moreover, when the ground field is finite, the new approach yields an even faster algorithm, whose bit complexity is linear in $logN$ and quasi-linear in $\sqrt{p}$.