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Rank-metric codes have been a central topic in coding theory due to their theoretical and practical significance, with applications in network coding, distributed storage, crisscross error correction, and post-quantum cryptography. Recent research has focused on constructing new families of rank-metric codes with distinct algebraic structures, emphasizing the importance of invariants for distinguishing these codes from known families and from random ones. In this paper, we introduce a novel geometric invariant for linear rank-metric codes, inspired by the Schur product used in the Hamming metric. By examining the sequence of dimensions of Schur powers of the extended Hamming code associated with a linear code, we demonstrate its ability to differentiate Gabidulin codes from random ones. From a geometric perspective, this approach investigates the vanishing ideal of the linear set corresponding to the rank-metric code., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

We introduce the concept of a sum-rank saturating system and outline its correspondence to a covering properties of a sum-rank metric code. We consider the problem of determining the shortest sum-rank-$\rho$-saturating systems of a fixed dimension, which is equivalent to the covering problem in the sum-rank metric. We obtain upper and lower bounds on this quantity. We also give constructions of saturating systems arising from geometrical structures.

Intersecting codes are linear codes where every two nonzero codewords have non-trivially intersecting support. In this article we expand on the theory of this family of codes, by showing that nondegenerate intersecting codes correspond to sets of points (with multiplicites) in a projective space that are not contained in two hyperplanes. This correspondence allows the use of geometric arguments to demonstrate properties and provide constructions of intersecting codes. We improve on existing bounds on their length and provide explicit constructions of short intersecting codes. Finally, generalizing a link between coding theory and the theory of the Davenport constant (a combinatorial invariant of finite abelian groups), we provide new asymptotic bounds on the weighted $2$-wise Davenport constant. These bounds then yield results on factorizations in rings of algebraic integers and related structures., Comment: 31 pages

We establish dihedral quantum codes of short block length, a class of CSS codes obtained by the lifted product construction. We present the code construction and give a formula for the code dimension, depending on the two classical codes that the CSS code is based on. We also give a lower bound on the code distance and construct an example of short dihedral quantum codes.

Saturating sets are combinatorial objects in projective spaces over finite fields that have been intensively investigated in the last three decades. They are related to the so-called covering problem of codes in the Hamming metric. In this paper, we consider the recently introduced linear version of such sets, which is, in turn, related to the covering problem in the rank metric. The main questions in this context are how small the rank of a saturating linear set can be and how to construct saturating linear sets of small rank. Recently, Bonini, Borello, and Byrne provided a lower bound on the rank of saturating linear sets in a given projective space, which is shown to be tight in some cases. In this paper, we provide construction of saturating linear sets meeting the lower bound and we develop a link between the saturating property and the scatteredness of linear sets. The last part of the paper is devoted to show some parameters for which the bound is not tight., Comment: 26 pages

The main purpose of this paper is to further study the structure, parameters and constructions of the recently introduced minimal codes in the sum-rank metric. These objects form a bridge between the classical minimal codes in the Hamming metric, the subject of intense research over the past three decades partly because of their cryptographic properties, and the more recent rank-metric minimal codes. We prove some bounds on their parameters, existence results, and, via a tool that we name geometric dual, we manage to construct minimal codes with few weights. A generalization of the celebrated Ashikhmin-Barg condition is proved and used to ensure minimality of certain constructions., Comment: 26 pages

Strong blocking sets, introduced first in 2011 in connection with saturating sets, have recently gained a lot of attention due to their correspondence with minimal codes. In this paper, we dig into the geometry of the concatenation method, introducing the concept of outer strong blocking sets and their coding theoretical counterpart. We investigate their structure and provide bounds on their size. As a byproduct, we improve the best-known upper bound on the minimum size of a strong blocking set. Finally, we present a geometric construction of small strong blocking sets, whose computational cost is significantly smaller than the previously known ones.

In this paper we investigate left ideals as codes in twisted skew group rings. The considered rings, which are often algebras over a finite field, allows us to detect many of the well-known codes. The presentation, given here, unifies the concept of group codes, twisted group codes and skew group codes.

In this paper we introduce left ideal low-rank parity-check codes by using group algebras and we finally use them to extend ROLLO-I KEM., Comment: This is an extended abstract. Comments are welcome!

We introduce the concept of a rank saturating system and outline its correspondence to a rank-metric code with a given covering radius. We consider the problem of finding the value of $s_{q^m/q}(k,\rho)$, which is the minimum $\mathbb{F}_q$-dimension of a $q$-system in $\mathbb{F}_{q^m}^k$ which is rank $\rho$-saturating. This is equivalent to the covering problem in the rank metric. We obtain upper and lower bounds on $s_{q^m/q}(k,\rho)$ and evaluate it for certain values of $k$ and $\rho$. We give constructions of rank $\rho$-saturating systems suggested from geometry., Comment: 26 pages, to appear in Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics

In this paper we investigate some properties of ideals in group algebras of finite groups over fields. First, we highlight an important link between their dimension, their minimal Hamming distance and the group order. This is a generalized version of an uncertainty principle shown in 1992 by Meshulam. Secondly, we introduce the notion of the Schur product of ideals in group algebras and investigate the module structure and the dimension of the Schur square. We give a structural result on ideals that coincide with their Schur square, and we provide conditions for an ideal to be such that its Schur square has the projective cover of the trivial module as a direct summand. This has particularly interesting consequences for group algebras of p-groups over fields of characteristic p., Comment: 12 pages

Strong blocking sets and their counterparts, minimal codes, attracted lots of attention in the last years. Combining the concatenating construction of codes with a geometric insight into the minimality condition, we explicitly provide infinite families of small strong blocking sets, whose size is linear in the dimension of the ambient projective spaces. As a byproduct, small saturating sets are obtained., Comment: 16 pages

This work investigates the structure of rank-metric codes in connection with concepts from finite geometry, most notably the $q$-analogues of projective systems and blocking sets. We also illustrate how to associate a classical Hamming-metric code to a rank-metric one, in such a way that various rank-metric properties naturally translate into the homonymous Hamming-metric notions under this correspondence. The most interesting applications of our results lie in the theory of minimal rank-metric codes, which we introduce and study from several angles. Our main contributions are bounds for the parameters of a minimal rank-metric codes, a general existence result based on a combinatorial argument, and an explicit code construction for some parameter sets that uses the notion of a scattered linear set. Throughout the paper we also show and comment on curious analogies/divergences between the theories of error-correcting codes in the rank and in the Hamming metric.

We develop three approaches of combinatorial flavour to study the structure of minimal codes and cutting blocking sets in finite geometry, each of which has a particular application. The first approach uses techniques from algebraic combinatorics, describing the supports in a linear code via the Alon-F\"uredi Theorem and the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz. The second approach combines methods from coding theory and statistics to compare the mean and variance of the nonzero weights in a minimal code. Finally, the third approach regards minimal codes as cutting blocking sets and studies these using the theory of spreads in finite geometry. Applying and combining these approaches with each other, we derive several new bounds and constraints on the parameters of minimal codes. Moreover, we obtain two new constructions of cutting blocking sets of small cardinality in finite projective spaces. In turn, these allow us to give explicit constructions of minimal codes having short length for the given field and dimension., Comment: 27 pages

In this paper we study the uncertainty principle (UP) connecting a function over a finite field and its Mattson-Solomon polynomial, which is a kind of Fourier transform in positive characteristic. Three versions of the UP over finite fields are studied, in connection with the asymptotic theory of cyclic codes. We first show that no finite field satisfies the strong version of UP, introduced recently by Evra, Kowalsky, Lubotzky, 2017. A refinement of the weak version is given, by using the asymptotic Plotkin bound. A naive version, which is the direct analogue over finite fields of the Donoho-Stark bound over the complex numbers, is proved by using the BCH bound. It is strong enough to show that there exist sequences of cyclic codes of length $n$, arbitrary rate, and minimum distance $\Omega(n^\alpha)$ for all $0<\alpha<1/2$. Finally, a connection with Ramsey Theory is pointed out., Comment: 13 pages

Dihedral codes, particular cases of quasi-cyclic codes, have a nice algebraic structure which allows to store them efficiently. In this paper, we investigate it and prove some lower bounds on their dimension and minimum distance, in analogy with the theory of BCH codes. This allows us to construct dihedral codes with prescribed minimum distance. In the binary case, we present some examples of optimal dihedral codes obtained by this construction., Comment: 13 pages

In this note, an intrinsic description of some families of linear codes with symmetries is given, showing that they can be described more generally as quasi group codes, that is, as linear codes allowing a group of permutation automorphisms which acts freely on the set of coordinates. An algebraic description, including the concatenated structure, of such codes is presented. This allows to construct quasi group codes from codes over rings, and vice versa. The last part of the paper is dedicated to the investigation of self-duality of quasi group codes., Comment: 11 pages

In this paper, we give a geometric characterization of minimal linear codes. In particular, we relate minimal linear codes to cutting blocking sets, introduced in a recent paper by Bonini and Borello. Using this characterization, we derive some bounds on the length and the distance of minimal codes, according to their dimension and the underlying field size. Furthermore, we show that the family of minimal codes is asymptotically good. Finally, we provide some geometrical constructions of minimal codes., Comment: 22 pages

We give a short and elementary proof of the fact that for a linear complementary pair $(C,D)$, where $C$ and $D$ are $2$-sided ideals in a group algebra, $D$ is uniquely determined by $C$ and the dual code $D^\perp$ is permutation equivalent to $C$. This includes earlier results of Carlet et al. and G\"uneri et al. on nD cyclic codes which have been proved by subtle and lengthy calculations in the space of polynomials., Comment: 5 pages

Minimal linear codes are algebraic objects which gained interest in the last twenty years, due to their link with Massey's secret sharing schemes. In this context, Ashikhmin and Barg provided a useful and a quite easy to handle sufficient condition for a linear code to be minimal, which has been applied in the construction of many minimal linear codes. In this paper, we generalize some recent constructions of minimal linear codes which are not based on Ashikhmin-Barg's condition. More combinatorial and geometric methods are involved in our proofs. In particular, we present a family of codes arising from particular blocking sets, which are well-studied combinatorial objects. In this context, we will need to define cutting blocking sets and to prove some of their relations with other notions in blocking sets' theory. At the end of the paper, we provide one explicit family of cutting blocking sets and related minimal linear codes, showing that infinitely many of its members do not satisfy the Ashikhmin-Barg's condition., Comment: 13 pages

A finite group with a cyclic normal subgroup N such that G/N is cyclic is said to be metacyclic. A code over a finite field F is a metacyclic code if it is a left ideal in the group algebra FG for G a metacyclic group. Metacyclic codes are generalizations of dihedral codes, and can be constructed as quasi-cyclic codes with an extra automorphism. In this paper, we prove that metacyclic codes form an asymptotically good family of codes. Our proof relies on a version of Artin's conjecture for primitive roots in arithmetic progression being true under the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis (GRH)., Comment: 6 pages

Group codes are right or left ideals in a group algebra of a finite group over a finite field. Following ideas of Bazzi and Mitter on group codes over the binary field, we prove that group codes over finite fields of any characteristic are asymptotically good., Comment: 8 pages

Let $G$ be the simple group ${\rm PSL}(3,2^p)$, where $p$ is a prime number. For any subgroup $H$ of $G$, we compute the M\"obius function of $H$ in the subgroup lattice of $G$. To this aim, we describe the intersections of maximal subgroups of $G$. We point out some connections of the M\"obius function with other combinatorial objects, and, in this context, we compute the reduced Euler characteristic of the order complex of the subposet of $r$-subgroups of ${\rm PGL}(3,q)$, for any prime $r$ and any prime power $q$.

We classify, in terms of the structure of the finite group G, all group algebras KG for which all right ideals are right annihilators of principal left ideals. This means in the language of coding theory that we classify code-checkable group algebras KG which have been considered so far only for abelian groups G. Optimality of checkable codes and asymptotic results are discussed., Comment: 11 pages - to appear in Journal of Algebra and its Applications

The decomposition of a quasi-abelian code into shorter linear codes over larger alphabets was given in (Jitman, Ling, (2015)), extending the analogous Chinese remainder decomposition of quasi-cyclic codes (Ling, Sol\'e, (2001)). We give a concatenated decomposition of quasi-abelian codes and show, as in the quasi-cyclic case, that the two decompositions are equivalent. The concatenated decomposition allows us to give a general minimum distance bound for quasi-abelian codes and to construct some optimal codes. Moreover, we show by examples that the minimum distance bound is sharp in some cases. In addition, examples of large strictly quasi-abelian codes of about a half rate are given. The concatenated structure also enables us to conclude that strictly quasi-abelian linear complementary dual codes over any finite field are asymptotically good., Comment: 13 pages

Gleason's 1970 theorem on weight enumerators of self-dual codes has played a crucial role for research in coding theory during the last four decades. Plenty of generalizations have been proved but, to our knowledge, they are all based on the symmetries given by MacWilliams' identities. This paper is intended to be a first step towards a more general investigation of symmetries of weight enumerators. We list the possible groups of symmetries, dealing both with the finite and infinite case, we develop a new algorithm to compute the group of symmetries of a given weight enumerator and apply these methods to the family of Reed-Muller codes, giving, in the binary case, an analogue of Gleason's theorem for all parameters., Comment: 14 pages. Improved and extended version of arXiv:1511.00803. To appear in Advances in Mathematics of Communications

The existence of an extremal self-dual binary linear code of length 120 is a long-standing open problem. We continue the investigation of its automorphism group, proving that automorphisms of order 30 and 57 cannot occur. Supposing the involutions acting fixed point freely, we show that also automorphisms of order 8 cannot occur and the automorphism group is of order at most 120, with further restrictions. Finally, we present some necessary conditions for the existence of the code, based on shadow and design theory., Comment: 23 pages, 6 tables, to appear in Finite Fields and Their Applications

We establish an explicit upper bound for the Euclidean minimum of a number field which depends, in a precise manner, only on its discriminant and the number of real and complex embeddings. Such bounds were shown to exist by Davenport and Swinnerton-Dyer. In the case of totally real fields, an optimal bound was conjectured by Minkowski and it is proved for fields of small degree. In this note we develop methods of McMullen in the case of mixed signature in order to get explicit bounds for the Euclidean minimum., Comment: To appear in the Journal of Number Theory

This paper investigates the relation between linear codes and the stabilizer in ${\rm GL}_2(\mathbb{C})$ of their weight enumerators. We prove a result on the finiteness of stabilizers and give a complete classification of linear codes with infinite stabilizer in the non-binary case. We present an efficient algorithm to compute explicitly the stabilizer of weight enumerators and we apply it to the family of Reed-Muller codes to show that some of their weight enumerators have trivial stabilizer., Comment: 11 pages. An improved and extended version of this paper has been resubmitted at arXiv:1707.00575

A classical result of Conway and Pless is that a natural projection of the fixed code of an automorphism of odd prime order of a self-dual binary linear code is self-dual. In this paper we prove that the same holds for involutions under some (quite strong) conditions on the codes. In order to prove it, we introduce a new family of binary codes: the semi self-dual codes. A binary self-orthogonal code is called semi self-dual if it contains the all-ones vector and is of codimension 2 in its dual code. We prove upper bounds on the dual distance of semi self-dual codes. As an application we get the following: let C be an extremal self-dual binary linear code of length 24m and s in Aut(C) be a fixed point free automorphism of order 2. If m is odd or if m=2k with binom{5k-1}{k-1} odd then C is a free F_2-module. This result has quite strong consequences on the structure of the automorphism group of such codes., Comment: 12 pages