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Consider a Maximal-length sequence (hereby M-sequence) $S$ of minimal period $2^n-1$, as produced by an LFSR with a binary primitive polynomial. Note $s_0,s_1,\ldots$ the bits of $S$.

For some integer $i$ coprime with $2^n-1$, consider the sequence $S'$ obtained by decimation (aka subsampling) of $S$ at regular interval $i$, that is with the bits of $S'$ built as $s'_j=s_{(i\cdot j)}$

Is $S'$ an M-sequence? Is it $S$ with an offset ?

If not, what if we make $n$ a Mersenne exponent A000043 (thus $n$ prime), equivalently $2^n-1$ a Mersenne prime A000668?


Example: the primitive binary polynomial $x^5+x^2+1$ generates the following M-sequence $S$ of minimal period $2^5-1=31$. I've started with a beginning consisting of $n$ consecutive ones. With $i=2$, the terms in $S$ indicated by ^ are kept, forming $S'$.

S   1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 …
    ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
S'  1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 …

Here $S'$ is $S$ with an offset.

fgrieu
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    Maybe an example would be useful to make it clearer what the "subsampling" means. – Peter Sep 15 '23 at 07:10
  • Thank you , but I am confused why $S'$ does not start then with "$1110000100010$" and why $S'$ is $S$ with an offset since the two ones from $S$ do not occur in $S'$ where it should be. – Peter Sep 15 '23 at 09:03
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    The sequences you get by subsampling are often called decimations. Using that as a buzzword may give more search engine hits. – Jyrki Lahtonen Sep 18 '23 at 04:09

1 Answers1

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Yes, decimating an $m$-sequence of length $L=2^k-1$ generated by a primitive feedback polynomial by taking every $i$th bit yields another $m$-sequence whenever $\gcd(i,L)=1$. So in the Mersenne case when $L$ is a prime number, we get this for all decimation exponents $i, 0<i<L$.

My answer uses a few facts about finite fields: their construction as well as trace function. If you have not heard of them, then this may be difficult to follow. As you seem to know what a primitive polynomial means in the context of finite fields, you probably won't have too many difficulties. Do ask, if you need clarifications.


If $m(x)\in\Bbb{F}_2[x]$ is a primitive polynomial of degree $k$, and $\alpha$ is its zero in the extension field $K=\Bbb{F}_{2^k}$, then $\ell=L$ is the lowest positive exponent with the property that $\alpha^\ell=1$. This is the defining property of primitive polynomials (in this context), and $\alpha$ is called a primitive element of $K$ as it generater the multiplicative group $K^*$.

If $tr:K\to\Bbb{F}_2$ is the trace function: $$ tr(x)=x+x^2+x^4+x^8+\cdots+x^{2^{k-1}}=\sum_{j=0}^{k-1}x^{2^j}, $$ then the $m$-sequences $(s[i])_{0\le i<L}$ generated by the feedback polynomial $m(x)$ all have the form $$ s[t]=tr(\alpha^{t+\tau}), t=0,1,\ldots,L-1. $$ Here $\tau$ gives the phase shift of the sequence, and the sum $t+\tau$ can be computed modulo $L$ as $\alpha^L=1$. If $$ m(x)=\sum_{j=0}^km_jx^j=1+m_1x+m_2x^2+\cdots+m_{k-1}x^{k-1}+x^k, $$ then for all $t$ we first get the relation $$ 0=\sum_{j=0}^km_j\alpha^{t+j}\tag{1} $$ by multiplying the equation $m(\alpha)=0$ by $\alpha^t$. And then, because the trace respects sums $$ 0=\sum_{j=0}^k m_j s[t+j].\tag{2} $$ In other words, the sequence $(s[t])_{0\le t<L}$ satisfies the recurrence relation corresponding to the feedback polynomial $m(x)$. Caveat: IIRC some authors use the reciprocal polynomial $\tilde{m}(x)=x^km(1/x)$ here. This is something I always need to check when reading any source :-)

The idea here is that the choice of the phase shift $\tau$ ($L$ possible values) gives us the freedom to initialize the linear feedback shift register with any combination of bits. Or, any combination of choices for the bits $s[0], s[1],\ldots, s[k-1]$ such that at least one of them is $\neq0$ can be obtained with a careful choice of $\tau$. This is the magic of $m$-sequences.

On with the decimations. Let us select a decimation exponent $i$ such that $\gcd(i,L)=1$. We are looking at the decimated sequence $$s'[t]:=s[ti],\tag{3}$$ where, again, $ti$ is computed modulo $L$. So $$s'[t]=tr(\alpha^{ti+\tau}).$$ From the basic properties of cyclic groups it follows that $\beta=\alpha^i$ is another primitive element. Consequently we can find an exponent $\tau'$ such that $\beta^{\tau'}=\alpha^\tau$. Hence $$ s'[t]=tr(\alpha^{ti}\cdot\alpha^\tau)=tr(\beta^{i+\tau'}).\tag{4} $$ Tracing our earlier steps backwards we see that if $m'(x)$ is the minimal polynomial of $\beta$, then the decimated sequence satisfies the linear feedback recurrence corresponding to the primitive polynomial $m'(x)$. This proves the main claim.


To give us a way of verifying the above theory let's consider the case $$m(x)=x^5+x^2+1.$$ By the so called Freshman's dream (of characteristic two fields) we see that $$ m(\alpha^2)=\alpha^{10}+\alpha^4+1=(\alpha^5+\alpha^2+1)^2=m(\alpha)^2=0. $$ In other words, with decimation exponent $i=2$ we see that the decimated $m$-sequence satisfies the same recurrence relation as the original one — something you observed yourself already. This happens always. Whenever we decimate such an $m$-sequence with an exponent that is a power of two, we get back the same sequence (possibly with a different shift).

With the decimation exponent $i=3$ the situation is different in the sense that $\beta=\alpha^3$ has a different minimal polynomial. I shamelessly refer you to an earlier answer of mine, where I try to explain how we can see that in this very instance the minimal polynomial of $\beta$ is $$m'(x)=1+x^2+x^3+x^4+x^5.$$ As a check I invite you to verify that the $m$-sequence you get, starting from your given sequence $S$ and using the decimation exponent $i=3$, satisfies the recurrence relation corresponding to the feedback polynomial $m'(x)$.

Jyrki Lahtonen
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