Equivalence for generalized Boolean functions

Abstract

Equivalence plays a key-role for the classification of functions between elementary abelian groups $ {{\mathbb V}}_n^{(p)} $ and $ {{\mathbb V}}_k^{(p)} $. One distinguishes between affine equivalence, extended affine (EA) equivalence, and the most general CCZ-equivalence. Recently, there has been an increased interest in functions from elementary abelian groups $ {{\mathbb V}}_n^{(p)} $ to cyclic groups $ {{\mathbb Z}}_{p^k} $. We initiate the study of equivalence for functions from $ {{\mathbb V}}_n^{(p)} $ to $ {{\mathbb Z}}_{p^k} $. We show that CCZ-equivalence is more general than EA-equivalence. For some classes of functions, CCZ-equivalence reduces to EA-equivalence. We show that CCZ-equivalence between two functions from $ {{\mathbb V}}_n^{(p)} $ to $ {{\mathbb Z}}_{p^k} $ implies CCZ-equivalence of two associated vectorial functions from $ {{\mathbb V}}_n^{(p)} $ to $ {{\mathbb V}}_k^{(p)} $.