The group of automorphisms of the set of self-dual bent functions

Abstract

A bent function is a Boolean function in even number of variables which is on the maximal Hamming distance from the set of affine Boolean functions. It is called self-dual if it coincides with its dual. It is called anti-self-dual if it is equal to the negation of its dual. A mapping of the set of all Boolean functions in n variables to itself is said to be isometric if it preserves the Hamming distance. In this paper we study isometric mappings which preserve self-duality and anti-self-duality of a Boolean bent function. The complete characterization of these mappings is obtained for $n\geqslant 4$ . Based on this result, the set of isometric mappings which preserve the Rayleigh quotient of the Sylvester Hadamard matrix, is characterized. The Rayleigh quotient measures the Hamming distance between bent function and its dual, so as a corollary, all isometric mappings which preserve bentness and the Hamming distance between bent function and its dual are described.