A Complete Hypergeometric Point Count Formula for Dwork Hypersurfaces

Abstract: We extend our previous work on hypergeometric point count formulas by proving that we can express the number of points on families of Dwork hypersurfaces $$X_{\lambda}^d: \hspace{.1in} x_1^d+x_2^d+\ldots+x_d^d=d\lambda x_1x_2\cdots x_d$$ over finite fields of order $q\equiv 1\pmod d$ in terms of Greene's finite field hypergeometric functions. We prove that when $d$ is odd, the number of points can be expressed as a sum of hypergeometric functions plus $(q^{d-1}-1)/(q-1)$ and conjecture that this is also true when $d$ is even. The proof rests on a result that equates certain Gauss sum expressions with finite field hypergeometric functions. Furthermore, we discuss the types of hypergeometric terms that appear in the point count formula and give an explicit formula for Dwork threefolds.