Improved error bounds for the number of irreducible polynomials and self-reciprocal irreducible monic polynomials with prescribed coefficients over a finite field

Abstract: A polynomial is called self-reciprocal (or palindromic) if the sequence of its coefficients is palindromic. In this paper we obtain improved error bounds for the number of irreducible polynomials and self-reciprocal irreducible monic polynomials with prescribed coefficients over a finite field. The improved bounds imply that self-reciprocal irreducible monic polynomials with degree $2d$ always exist provided that the number of prescribed leading coefficients is slightly less than $ d/2$.