Boolean functions as points on the hypersphere in the Euclidean space

Abstract

Abstract A new approach to the study of algebraic, combinatorial, and cryptographic properties of Boolean functions is proposed. New relations between functions have been revealed by consideration of an injective mapping of the set of Boolean functions onto the sphere in a Euclidean space. Moreover, under this mapping some classes of functions have extremely regular localizations on the sphere. We introduce the concept of curvature of a Boolean function, which characterizes its proximity (in some sense) to maximally nonlinear functions.