Weight distributions of a class of cyclic codes with arbitrary number of nonzeros in quadratic case

Cyclic codes are an important class of linear codes, whose weight distribution have been extensively studied. So far, most of previous results obtained were for cyclic codes with no more than three nonzeros. Recently, the authors of [37] constructed a class of cyclic codes with arbitrary number of nonzeros, and computed the weight distribution for several cases. In this paper, we determine the weight distribution for a new family of such codes. This is achieved by introducing certain new methods, such as the theory of Jacobi sums over finite fields and subtle treatment of some complicated combinatorial identities.     

A characterization of a class of optimal three-weight cyclic codes of dimension 3 over any finite field

It is well known that the problem of determining the weight distributions of families of cyclic codes is, in general, notoriously difficult. An even harder problem is to find characterizations of families of cyclic codes in terms of their weight distributions. On the other hand, it is also well known that cyclic codes with few weights have a great practical importance in coding theory and cryptography. In particular, cyclic codes having three nonzero weights have been studied by several authors, however, most of these efforts focused on cyclic codes over a prime field. In this work we present a characterization of a class of optimal three-weight cyclic codes of dimension 3 over any finite field.     

Irreducibility and the distribution of some exponential sums

We relate the distribution of the absolute value of some generalized Gauss sums to the absolute irreducibility of some polynomials in two variables in characteristic 0 and p.     

A result on the weight distributions of binary quadratic residue codes

Truong et al. [7]proved that the weight distribution of a binary quadratic residue code C with length congruent to −1 modulo 8 can be determined by the weight distribution of a certain subcode of C containing only one-eighth of the codewords of C. In this paper, we prove that the same conclusion holds for any binary quadratic residue codes.     

Hyperplane sections of determinantal varieties over finite fields and linear codes

We determine the number of ${\mathbb{F}}_q$-rational points of hyperplane sections of classical determinantal varieties defined by the vanishing of minors of a fixed size of a generic matrix, and identify the hyperplane sections giving the maximum number of ${\mathbb{F}}_q$-rational points. Further we consider similar questions for sections by linear subvarieties of a fixed codimension in the ambient projective space. This is closely related to the study of linear codes associated to determinantal varieties, and the determination of their weight distribution, minimum distance, and generalized Hamming weights. The previously known results about these are generalized and expanded significantly. Connections to eigenvalues of certain association schemes, distance regular graphs, and rank metric codes are also indicated.     

A q-polynomial approach to constacyclic codes

As a generalization of cyclic codes, constacyclic codes is an important and interesting class of codes due to their nice algebraic structures and various applications in engineering. This paper is devoted to the study of the q-polynomial approach to constacyclic codes. Fundamental theory of this approach will be developed, and will be employed to construct some families of optimal and almost optimal codes in this paper.