Trace codes and families of algebraic curves (Q1188024)

Let \(p\) be a prime and let \(\mathbb F_ q\) be a field with \(q=p^ a\) elements. Consider the following codes over \(\mathbb F_ p\): \[ C_ R(q)=\left\{c(a,b)=\left(\text{Tr}\left(ax+{b\over R(x)}\right)\right)_{x\in\mathbb F_ q-Z}: a,b\in\mathbb F_ q\right\}. \] Here \(R(x)=\sum_ i a_ ix^{p^ i}\in\mathbb F_ q[x]\) and \(Z\) denotes the \(\mathbb F_ p\)-vector space of zeroes of \(R\) in \(\mathbb F_ q\). By Tr we denote the trace map from \(\mathbb F_ q\) to \(\mathbb F_ p\). The authors show that the subcodes \(\{c(a,b): a,b\in\mathbb F_ q\) for which \(\text{Tr}(ax)=0\) for all \(x\in Z\}\) have covering radius \(\left(1- {1\over p}\right)\bigl(q-p^{\dim(Z)}\bigr)\). In the special case \(p=2\) and \(R(x)=x^ 2+x\) the authors determine the weight distributions of the codes \(C_ R(q)\). Briefly, the weights are related to the number of \(\mathbb F_ q\)-rational points on the curves in the family. \(Y^ 2+Y=aX+b/X(X+1)\), \(a,b\in\mathbb F_ q\). For \(a,b\in\mathbb F_ q^*\), this curve has genus 2 and its Jacobian is isogenous to a product of two elliptic curves. The final answer involves the number of elliptic curves over \(\mathbb F_ q\) with a given number of rational points and is given in terms of certain products of class numbers of integral binary quadratic forms.