Linear sets and MRD-codes arising from a class of scattered linearized polynomials

A class of scattered linearized polynomials covering infinitely many field extensions is exhibited. More precisely, the q-polynomial over $${{\mathbb {F}}}_{q^6}$$ F q 6 , $$q \equiv 1\pmod 4$$ q ≡ 1 ( mod 4 ) described in Bartoli et al. (ARS Math Contemp 19:125–145, 2020) and Zanella and Zullo (Discrete Math 343:111800, 2020) is generalized for any even $$n\ge 6$$ n ≥ 6 to an $${{{\mathbb {F}}}_q}$$ F q -linear automorphism $$\psi (x)$$ ψ ( x ) of $${{\mathbb {F}}}_{q^n}$$ F q n of order n. Such $$\psi (x)$$ ψ ( x ) and some functional powers of it are proved to be scattered. In particular, this provides new maximum scattered linear sets of the projective line $${{\,\mathrm{{PG}}\,}}(1,q^n)$$ PG ( 1 , q n ) for $$n=8,10$$ n = 8 , 10 . The polynomials described in this paper lead to a new infinite family of MRD-codes in $${{\mathbb {F}}}_q^{n\times n}$$ F q n × n with minimum distance $$n-1$$ n - 1 for any odd q if $$n\equiv 0\pmod 4$$ n ≡ 0 ( mod 4 ) and any $$q\equiv 1\pmod 4$$ q ≡ 1 ( mod 4 ) if $$n\equiv 2\pmod 4$$ n ≡ 2 ( mod 4 ) .