In this subsection, we will build a Vandermonde matrix (§A-11.2) with the distinct roots of the -th cyclotomic polynomial over complex numbers (where is a power of 2) as follows:
Theorem A-12.4 Vandermonde Matrix with the Roots of (power-of-2)-th Cyclotomic Polynomial over Complex Numbers
Suppose we have an (where is a power of 2) Vandermonde matrix comprised of distinct roots of the -th cyclotomic polynomial (explained in Theorem A-8.2.1 in §A-8.2), where is a power of 2 and . In other words, , where each for (i.e., the primitive -th roots of unity). Then, the following holds:
And
Proof.
This means that The matrix’s anti-diagonal elements are .
For this proof, we will leverage the Geometric Sum formula :
Theorem A-12.4.1 Geometric Sum Formula
Let the geometric sum
Then,
with the constraint that
Leveraging the Geometric Sum formula ,
for since
Therefore,
# since
Later in the CKKS scheme (§D-3), we will use to encode a complex vector into a real number vector, and to decode a real number vector into a complex vector (§D-3.2).
Condition for : The identity relies only on (step 3), so it holds for any (i.e., any even number). The nodes are likewise the roots of for any , since .
Nevertheless, the reason we take to be a power of 2 does not come from this theorem, but from the FHE schemes themselves. In practice, CKKS, BFV, and BGV are most commonly instantiated over the power-of-2 cyclotomic ring with a power of 2, because this choice makes irreducible over rational numbers (which holds precisely when is a power of 2), and also enables efficient negacyclic-NTT multiplication and a clean Ring-LWE security reduction. Once (hence ) is fixed as a power of 2, the nodes are automatically the primitive -th roots of unity: by Theorem A-7.2.4 (§A-7.2), is a primitive -th root iff , and every odd exponent is coprime to iff has no odd prime factor—i.e. iff is a power of 2. So being exactly the primitive -th roots is a consequence of the power-of-2 ring choice. Meanwhile, as far as is an even number, still holds.