An empty interval in the spectrum of small weight codewords in the code from points and \(k\)-spaces of \(\mathrm{PG}(n,q)\) (Q1024354)

Let \(q=p^h\) be a power of a prime \(p\) and \(k\) an integer. Let \(C_k(n,q)\) denote the \(p\)-ary linear codes of points and \(k\)-spaces of \(PG(n,q)\) with \(2\leq n\leq k-1\). The authors discuss results concerning the existence of codewords in \(C_k(n,q)\) whose weights belong to certain interval. We just mention two of such results. (I) There are no codewords with weight in the open interval \(]\theta_k,2q^k[\) for \(q=p>5\) prime, where \(\theta_k=(q^{k+1}-1)/(q-1)\). This was already known for \(n=2\), \(p\geq 2\) [\textit{E. F. Assmus jun.} and \textit{J. D. Key}, Designs and their codes. Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics. 103. (Cambridge): Cambridge University Press. (1992; Zbl 0762.05001), \textit{K. L. Chouinard}, Ars Comb. 63, 3--13 (2002; Zbl 1075.94020)]. (II) There are no codewords with weight in the open interval \(]\theta_k, (12\theta_k+2)/7[\) (resp. \(]\theta_k, (12\theta_k+6)/7[\)) if \(p=7\) (resp. \(p>7\)).