Further Results on Niho Bent Functions

This paper consists of two main contributions. First, the Niho bent function consisting of 2r exponents (discovered by Leander and Kholosha) is studied. The dual of the function is found and it is shown that this new bent function is not of the Niho type. Second, all known univariate representations of Niho bent functions are analyzed for their relation to the completed Maiorana-McFarland class M. In particular, it is proven that two families do not belong to the completed class M. The latter result gives a positive answer to an open problem whether the class H of bent functions introduced by Dillon in his thesis of 1974 differs from the completed class M.