Weierstrass semigroup and codes over the curve \(y^q + y = x^{q^r + 1}\) (Q2437961)

In the context of Goppa, or Algebraic Geometric (AG) codes [\textit{V. D. Goppa}, Geometry and codes. Transl. from the Russian by N. G. Shartse. Dordrecht etc.: Kluwer Academic Publishers (1988; Zbl 1097.14502)], a good selection for the degree of the space of sections that defines a one-point code (i.e. \(G\) supported by just one point) may imply on an improvement of the Goppa designed distance of the code. Fix a one-point AG code \(C=C_{X,D,G}\) constructed on a projective, non-singular, geometrically irreducible curve \(X\) defined over a finite field, being \(D\) and \(G\) appropriate rational divisors. Let \(\delta(C)=d(C)/n(C)\) be the relative distance of \(C\). The game is to construct in a ``natural'' way an AG code \(C_1\) with \(\delta(C_1)>\delta(C)\); e.g. we are done if one can construct such \(C_1\) with \(d(C_1)\geq d(C)\) but \(n(C_1)<n(C)\). This type of construction was observed e.g. by \textit{G. L. Matthews} [Des. Codes Cryptography 22, No. 2, 107--121 (2001; Zbl 0989.94032)] who used two-point codes with \(G=\alpha P+\beta Q\) being \((\alpha, \beta)\) chosen in a smart way in relation to the Weierstrass semigroup at the pair \((P,Q)\) whenever the base curve \(X\) is the well studied Hermitian curve. Moreover, her construction improves on the usual designed Goppa bound on the minimum distance of the code (see also [\textit{G. L. Matthews}, Des. Codes Cryptography 37, No. 3, 473--492 (2005; Zbl 1142.94393)]. In the paper under review, a similar problem is worked out by the authors; here they consider two-point codes on the curve \(X\) with plane model \(y^q+y=x^{q^r+1}\), \(r\geq 1\) odd. (Codes on this curve were already investigated by \textit{S. Kondo} et al. [IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 47, No. 6, 2573--2579 (2001; Zbl 0998.94034)]). As a matter of fact in this paper non-trivial computations of Weierstrass semigroups at certain two points of \(X\) were performed by following \textit{M. Homma} [Arch. Math. 67, No. 4, 337--348 (1996; Zbl 0869.14015)] and \textit{S. J. Kim} [Arch. Math. 62, No. 1, 73--82 (1994; Zbl 0815.14020)].