A Z4-Linear Code of High Minimum Lee Distance Derived from a Hyperoval
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Advances in Mathematics of Communications doi:10.3934/amc.2011.5.275 Volume 5, No. 2, 2011, 275{286 A Z4-LINEAR CODE OF HIGH MINIMUM LEE DISTANCE DERIVED FROM A HYPEROVAL Michael Kiermaier and Johannes Zwanzger Institut f¨urMathematik Universit¨atBayreuth 95440 Bayreuth, Germany (Communicated by Patrick Sol´e) Abstract. In this paper we present a new non-free Z4-linear code of length 29 and size 128 whose minimum Lee distance is 28. Its Gray image is a nonlinear binary code with parameters (58; 27; 28), having twice as many codewords as the biggest linear binary codes of equal length and minimum distance. The code also improves the known lower bound on the maximal size of binary block codes of length 58 and minimum distance 28. Originally the code was found by a heuristic computer search. We give a geometric construction based on a hyperoval in the projective Hjelmslev plane over Z4 which allows an easy computation of the symmetrized weight enumerator and the automorphism group. Furthermore, a generalization of this construction to all Galois rings of characteristic 4 is discussed. 1. Introduction A bit more than 40 years ago in papers of Nordstrom, Robinson, Preparata and Kerdock [16, 17, 12], some nonlinear binary codes with better minimum distance than any linear code of equal size and length were constructed. Later it was discov- ered [14,5] that they can be considered as images of linear codes over Z4 under the so-called Gray map. This led to an increased interest and a lot of investigation in linear codes over Z4, also a theory for linear codes over more general rings like finite chain rings and Frobenius rings was developed. However, apart from the Preparata series, not many examples are known where the Gray image of a Z4-linear code provably outperforms all linear binary codes of the same length and size. ^ Recently, a new example of such a Z4-linear code C was found by a heuristic ap- proach similar to [22]. A subsequent analysis of the code revealed a clear geometric structure. The Lee weight enumerator of C^ is 28 32 36 44 LeeC^ = 1 + 105X + 7X + 14X + X : So the Gray image of C^ has the parameters (58; 27; 28), while the optimal minimum distance for a linear binary [58; 7]-code is 27 [19]. Furthermore, C^ surpasses the hitherto largest known nonlinear binary block code of length 58 and minimum distance 28 [20, 13] by 4 codewords. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary: 94B05; Secondary: 51C05, 51E21. Key words and phrases: Coding theory, Gray image, minimum distance, Hjelmslev geometry, hyperoval. The first author is supported by DFG grant WA 1666/4-1. 275 c 2011 AIMS-SDU 276 Michael Kiermaier and Johannes Zwanzger This paper is organized as follows: In Section2, we give a brief introduction to the theory of Z4-linear codes. A more detailed overview can be found in [11, Chapter 12]. In Section3, the required basics about the projective Hjelmslev plane over Z4 are presented. For a deeper discussion of projective Hjelmslev geometries and the connection to linear codes over finite chain rings, the reader is referred to [7,9]. In Section4, a geometric construction of C^ based on a hyperoval in the projective Hjelmslev plane over Z4 is given, which allows an easy computation of the symmetrized weight enumerator and the automorphism group of C^. The question for a generalization of the construction is discussed in Section5. 2. Z4-linear codes n A submodule C of the Z4-module Z4 is called Z4-linear code of length n. There is a unique pair of non-negative integers (r1; r2) such that ∼ r1 r2 C = Z4 ⊕ 2Z4 r1 r2 as Z4-modules. The partition 2 1 ` 2r1 + r2 is called the shape of C. Let ∗ ∗ Z4 = f1; 3g be the unit group of Z4, Rad(Z4) = Z4 n Z4 = f0; 2g the radical of Z4 and S = f0; 1g ⊂ Z4, which is a set of representatives of the factor ring Z4=Rad(Z4). The code C is free as a Z4-module if and only if r2 = 0. In the case r1 = 0, C n n is contained in 2Z4 , which is isomorphic to F2 as F2-modules. This shows that Z4-linear codes with r1 = 0 are just binary linear codes, and for a proper Z4-linear code we may assume r1 > 0. (r1+r2)×n A matrix Γ 2 Z4 is called a generator matrix of C if its rows generate C as Z4-module, and exactly r1 rows contain at least one unit, while in the remaining r2 rows all entries are from Rad(Z4). Without loss of generality we may assume that this will be the case for the last r2 rows of Γ. Then t r1 r2 C = fv Γ: v 2 Z4 × S g r1 r2 and for every c 2 C there is a unique information vector v 2 Z4 × S such that c = vtΓ. 2.1. Weight and metric. The Lee weight 8 0 7! 0 <> wLee : Z4 ! R; 1; 3 7! 1 :>2 7! 2 n gives rise to a weight function on Z4 by summing up the weights of all the compo- nents; as there is no danger of confusion, it will also be denoted by wLee. It is easy to check that the function n n 0 0 dLee : Z4 × Z4 ! R; (c; c ) 7! wLee(c − c ) n 0 is a metric on Z4 , the Lee metric. dLee(c; c ) is also called the Lee distance between 0 0 0 c and c and the value dmin(C) := minfdLee(c; c ): c 6= c 2 Cg the minimum Lee distance of C. The Lee weight enumerator of C is given by X wLee(c) LeeC = X 2 Z[X]: c2C Like in classical coding theory over finite fields, one of the main goals is to find a Z4-linear code for given parameters n, r1 and r2 whose minimum Lee distance is as Advances in Mathematics of Communications Volume 5, No. 2 (2011), 275{286 A Z4-linear code of high minimum Lee distance 277 large as possible. As a special case of linear codes over finite chain rings, a table of Z4-linear codes of high minimum Lee distance can be found in [21]. Furthermore, for a codeword c = (c0; c1; : : : ; cn−1) we define the numbers a0 = ∗ jfi : ci = 0gj, a1 = jfi : ci = 2gj and a2 = jfi : ci 2 Z4gj. The monomial a0 a1 a2 wsym(c) = X0 X1 X2 2 Z[X0;X1;X2] will be called the symmetrized weight of c. Furthermore, the symmetrized weight P enumerator of C is given by symC = c2C wsym(c). The symmetrized weight carries more information than the Lee weight: Given the symmetrized weight s of a codeword c, the Lee weight of c can be computed by evaluating s at X0 = 0, X1 = 2 and X2 = 1. Similarly, the Lee weight enumerator can be derived from the symmetrized weight enumerator. We want to mention that the indexing of the polynomial variables of the sym- metrized weight differs from [11] as well as from [7], where yet another indexing is used. The reason for this is that on the one hand, we feel the index order should re- spect the linear order on the ideals of Z4, while the zero element should be counted by X0. 2.2. Transformation into a binary code. Obviously the function 8 >0 7! 00 > 2 <1 7! 01 γ : Z4 ! F2; >2 7! 11 > :3 7! 10 2 is an isometry between the metric spaces (Z4; dLee) and (F2; dHam), where dHam is 2 the Hamming metric on F2. γ is called the Gray map on Z4. Like above, it is canonically extendible to n 2n γ : Z4 ! F2 : n Hence, every block code C ⊂ Z4 can be transformed via γ into a binary code γ(C) of the same size and weight distribution and of twice the length. However, Z4-linearity of C usually does not result in F2-linearity of γ(C). n 2.3. Automorphisms. The linear isometries of the metric space (Z4 ; dLee) are ex- n n n actly the monomial transformations Z4 ! Z4 . Thus each linear isometry ι : Z4 ! n n Z4 can be written as (σ; v) 2 Sn × {±1g , where σ denotes the permutation of the coordinates and for all i 2 f0; : : : ; n − 1g, the ith component of all codewords is multiplied by vi. σ will be called the permutation part of ι, and for a subgroup G of the monomial group, the permutation group consisting of all permutation parts of the elements in G will be called permutation part of G, accordingly. Given a Z4- linear code C of length n, the stabilizer group of C in the group of linear isometries is called the automorphism group Aut(C) of C. The group of all linear isometries acts on the set of all Z4-linear codes of length n. Two Z4-linear codes of length n are called isomorphic if and only if they are contained in the same orbit. The kernel of this group action is cyclic of order 2 and generated by the linear isometry (id; (−1;:::; −1)t). To get a faithful group action, we look at the factor group I of the group of linear isometries modulo this kernel. The notion of the permutation part will be carried forward to elements and subgroups of I, since it does not depend on the choice of the representatives. Given a Z4-linear code C of length n, we call the stabilizer group of C with respect to the group action of I the projective automorphism group of C and denote it by PAut(C).