Galois invariant smoothness basis

Abstract

This text answers a question raised by Joux and the second author about the computation of discrete logarithms in the multiplicative group of finite fields. Given a finite residue field $\bK$, one looks for a smoothness basis for $\bK^*$ that is left invariant by automorphisms of $\bK$. For a broad class of finite fields, we manage to construct models that allow such a smoothness basis. This work aims at accelerating discrete logarithm computations in such fields. We treat the cases of codimension one (the linear sieve) and codimension two (the function field sieve).