On harmonic weight enumerators of binary codes (Q1591644)

In the study of Euclidean spherical codes and the classification of certain types of lattices, B.~B.~Venkov has successfully applied theta series whose coefficients are spherical harmonics. In the present paper the author develops the analogous idea of weight enumerators with harmonic coefficients for binary linear codes. After introducing this generalization of the ordinary weight enumerator, she proves a MacWilliams type theorem and, in the case of (formally) even self-dual codes, she determines appropriate spaces of relative invariants for the specific transformation groups of order 16 and 196. As a first application, the Assmus-Mattson theorem and its strengthenings by Calderbank, Delsarte and Sloane are recovered. Next, by specializing to discrete harmonics given by Hahn polynomials, the author gets information on so-called intersection numbers of a code, counting in general how many codewords of given weight intersect a given set of positions in a given number of elements. Finally this information is applied to the classification of extremal even formally self-dual codes of length 12 (which give rise to 12-dimensional isodual lattices having the same ordinary theta series as the unique indecomposable self-dual Kneser lattice).