Constructions of projective linear codes by the intersection and difference of sets

Projective linear codes are a special class of linear codes whose dual codes have minimum distance at least 3. Projective linear codes with only a few weights are useful in authentication codes, secret sharing schemes, data storage systems and so on. In this paper, two constructions of q-ary linear codes are presented with defining sets given by the intersection and difference of two sets. These constructions produce several families of new projective two-weight or three-weight linear codes. As applications, our projective codes can be used to construct secret sharing schemes with interesting access structures, strongly regular graphs and association schemes with three classes.     

Binary linear codes with few weights from Boolean functions

Boolean functions have very nice applications in coding theory and cryptography. In coding theory, Boolean functions have been used to construct linear codes in different ways. The objective of this paper is to construct binary linear codes with few weights using the defining-set approach. The defining sets of the codes presented in this paper are defined by some special Boolean functions and some additional restrictions. First, two families of binary linear codes with at most three or four weights from Boolean functions with at most three Walsh transform values are constructed and the parameters of their duals are also determined. Then several classes of binary linear codes with explicit weight enumerators are produced. Some of the binary linear codes are optimal or almost optimal according to the tables of best codes known maintained at http://www.codetables.de, and the duals of some of them are distance-optimal with respect to the sphere packing bound.

     

Several classes of linear codes with few weights from the closed butterfly structure

Linear codes with few weights have applications in data storage systems, secret sharing schemes and authentication codes. In this paper, inspired by the butterfly structure [6], [29] and the works of Li, Yue and Fu [21] and Jian, Lin and Feng [19], we introduce a new defining set with the form of the closed butterfly structure and consequently we obtain three classes of 3-weight binary linear codes and a class of 4-weight binary linear codes whose dual is optimal. The lengths and weight distributions of these four classes of linear codes are completely determined by some detailed calculations on certain exponential sums. Computer experiments show that many (almost) optimal codes can be obtained from our construction.     

Evaluation of the Hamming weights of a class of linear codes based on Gauss sums

Linear codes with a few weights have been widely investigated in recent years. In this paper, we mainly use Gauss sums to represent the Hamming weights of a class of q-ary linear codes under some certain conditions, where q is a power of a prime. The lower bound of its minimum Hamming distance is obtained. In some special cases, we evaluate the weight distributions of the linear codes by semi-primitive Gauss sums and obtain some one-weight, two-weight linear codes. It is quite interesting that we find new optimal codes achieving some bounds on linear codes. The linear codes in this paper can be used in secret sharing schemes, authentication codes and data storage systems.     

Constructing few-weight linear codes and strongly regular graphs

Linear codes with few weights have applications in data storage systems, secret sharing schemes, graph theory and so on. In this paper, we construct a class of few-weight linear codes by choosing defining sets from cyclotomic classes and we also establish few-weight linear codes by employing weakly regular bent functions. Notably, we get some codes that are minimal and we also obtain a class of two-weight optimal punctured codes with respect to the Griesmer bound. Finally, we get a class of strongly regular graphs with new parameters by using the obtained two-weight linear codes.     

Three-weight ternary linear codes from a family of cyclic difference sets

Linear codes with a few weights have applications in data storage systems, secret sharing schemes, and authentication codes. Recently, Ding (IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 61(6):3265–3275, 2015) proposed a class of ternary linear codes with three weights from a family of cyclic difference sets in \(({\mathbb {F}}_{3^m}^*/{\mathbb {F}}_{3}^*,\times )\), where \(m=3k\) and k is odd. One objective of this paper is to construct ternary linear codes with three weights from cyclic difference sets in \(({\mathbb {F}}_{3^m}^*/{\mathbb {F}}_{3}^*,\times )\) derived from the Helleseth–Gong functions. This construction works for any positive integer \(m=sk\) with an odd factor \(s\ge 3\), and thus leads to three-weight ternary linear codes with more flexible parameters than earlier ones mentioned above. Another objective of this paper is to determine the weight distribution of the proposed linear codes.     

Constructions of several classes of linear codes with a few weights

Recently, linear codes with a few weights have been constructed and extensively studied due to their applications in secret sharing, authentication codes, association schemes, and strongly regular graphs. In this paper, we construct several classes of linear codes with a few weights over ${\mathbb{F}}_p$, where $p$ is an odd prime. The weight distributions of these constructed codes are also settled by applications of the theory of quadratic forms and Gauss sums over finite fields. Some of the linear codes obtained are optimal or almost optimal. The parameters of these linear codes are new in most cases. Moreover, two classes of MDS codes are obtained.     

Linear codes with few weights from weakly regular plateaued functions

Linear codes with few nonzero weights have wide applications in secret sharing, authentication codes, association schemes and strongly regular graphs. Recently, Wu et al. (2020) obtained some few-weighted linear codes by employing bent functions. In this paper, inspired by Wu et al. and some pioneers' ideas, we use a kind of functions, namely, general weakly regular plateaued functions, to define the defining sets of linear codes. Then, by utilizing some cyclotomic techniques, we construct some linear codes with few weights and obtain their weight distributions. Notably, some of the obtained codes are almost optimal with respect to the Griesmer bound. Finally, we observe that our newly constructed codes are minimal for almost all cases.     

Generalized Hamming weights of three classes of linear codes

The generalized Hamming weights of a linear code have been extensively studied since Wei first use them to characterize the cryptography performance of a linear code over the wire-tap channel of type II. In this paper, we investigate the generalized Hamming weights of three classes of linear codes constructed through defining sets and determine them partly for some cases. Particularly, in the semiprimitive case we solve a problem left in Yang et al. (2015) [30].     

Two-weight and three-weight linear codes based on Weil sums

Linear codes with few weights have applications in secret sharing, authentication codes, association schemes and strongly regular graphs. In this paper, several classes of two-weight and three-weight linear codes are presented and their weight distributions are determined using Weil sums. Some of the linear codes obtained are optimal or almost optimal with respect to the Griesmer bound.     

Linear codes from vectorial Boolean power functions

In this paper, three classes of binary linear codes with few weights are proposed from vectorial Boolean power functions, and their weight distributions are completely determined by solving certain equations over finite fields. In particular, a class of simplex codes and a class of first-order Reed-Muller codes can be obtained from our construction by taking the identity map, whose dual codes are Hamming codes and extended Hamming codes, respectively.     

Higher support matroids

The purpose of this paper is to provide links between matroid theory and the theory of subcode weights and supports in linear codes. We describe such weights and supports in terms of certain matroids arising from the vector matroids associated to the linear codes. Our results generalize classical results by Whitney, Tutte, Crapo and Rota, Greene, and other authors. As an application of our results, we obtain a new and elegant dual correspondence between the bond union and cycle union cardinalities of a graph.     

Weight distributions and weight hierarchies of two classes of binary linear codes

Linear codes with a few weights can be applied to communication, consumer electronics and data storage system. In addition, the weight hierarchy of a linear code has many applications such as on the type II wire-tap channel, dealing with t-resilient functions and trellis or branch complexity of linear codes and so on. In this paper, we present a formula for computing the weight hierarchies of linear codes constructed by the generalized method of defining sets. Then, we construct two classes of binary linear codes with a few weights and determine their weight distributions and weight hierarchies completely. Some codes of them can be used in secret sharing schemes.     

Relative generalized Hamming weights of cyclic codes

Relative generalized Hamming weights (RGHWs) of a linear code with respect to a linear subcode determine the security of the linear ramp secret sharing scheme based on the linear codes. They can be used to express the information leakage of the secret when some keepers of shares are corrupted. Cyclic codes are an interesting type of linear codes and have wide applications in communication and storage systems. In this paper, we investigate the RGHWs of cyclic codes of two nonzeros with respect to its irreducible cyclic subcodes. We give two formulae for RGHWs of the cyclic codes. As applications of the formulae, explicit examples are computed. Moreover, RGHWs of cyclic codes in the examples are very large, comparing with the generalized Plotkin bound of RGHWs. So it guarantees very high security for the secret sharing scheme based on the dual codes.     

Complete weight enumerators of a class of linear codes with two or three weights

We construct a class of linear codes by choosing a proper defining set and determine their complete weight enumerators and weight enumerators. The results show that they have at most three weights and they are suitable for applications in secret sharing schemes. This is an extension of the results raised by Wang et al. (2017).     

一些不可约循环码的权重分布

令n 为q^m -1 的正因子. 本文主要借助特征标、分圆类及Gauss 周期的知识确定了GF(q) 上码长为n、维数为m 的不可约循环码在一些特殊情形下的权重分布, 这些不可约循环码为二权、三权或是四权码.     

Multi-orbit cyclic subspace codes and linear sets

Cyclic subspace codes gained a lot of attention especially because they may be used in random network coding for correction of errors and erasures. Roth, Raviv and Tamo in 2018 established a connection between cyclic subspace codes (with certain parameters) and Sidon spaces. These latter objects were introduced by Bachoc, Serra and Zémor in 2017 in relation with the linear analogue of Vosper's Theorem. This connection allowed Roth, Raviv and Tamo to construct large classes of cyclic subspace codes with one or more orbits. In this paper we will investigate cyclic subspace codes associated to a set of Sidon spaces, that is cyclic subspace codes with more than one orbit. Moreover, we will also use the geometry of linear sets to provide some bounds on the parameters of a cyclic subspace code. Conversely, cyclic subspace codes are used to construct families of linear sets which extend a class of linear sets recently introduced by Napolitano, Santonastaso, Polverino and the author. This yields large classes of linear sets with a special pattern of intersection with the hyperplanes, defining rank metric and Hamming metric codes with only three distinct weights.     

Linear transformations on codes

This paper studies and classifies linear transformations that connect Hamming distances of codes. These include irreducible linear transformations and their concatenations. Their effect on the Hamming weights of codewords is investigated. Both linear and non-linear codes over fields are considered. We construct optimal linear codes and a family of pure binary quantum codes using these transformations.     

Linear sets on the projective line with complementary weights

Linear sets on the projective line have attracted a lot of attention because of their link with blocking sets, KM-arcs and rank-metric codes. In this paper, we study linear sets having two points of complementary weight, that is, with two points for which the sum of their weights equals the rank of the linear set. As a special case, we study those linear sets having exactly two points of weight greater than one, by showing new examples and studying their equivalence issue. Also, we determine some linearized polynomials defining the linear sets recently introduced by Jena and Van de Voorde [30].     

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.