The number of solutions of the equation \(\operatorname{Tr}_{\mathbb F_t/\mathbb F_s}(f(x)+v.x)=b\) and some applications (Q1877765)

Let \(\mathbb{F}_t\) be the finite field with \(t\) elements and characteristic \(p\). Let \(\nu\in\mathbb{F}^{2N}_t\), \(b\in \mathbb{F}_s\), and \(\rho\) be a positive integer such that \(1\leq \rho\leq N\), \(f\) be a quadratic Hermitian form of rank \(2\rho\) on \(\mathbb{F}^{2N}_t\). The author has computed the number of solutions of the equation \(\text{Tr}_{\mathbb{F}_t/ \mathbb{F}_s}(f(x) +\nu.x) = b\) in \(\mathbb{F}^{2N}_t\) which is an improvement of the results of J. P. Cherdieu and D. J. Mercier. Also the number of Hermitian matrices of order \(N\) and rank \(\rho\) with entries in \(\mathbb{F}_{t^2}\) is provided. The author has introduced a linear code \(\Gamma(N,t,s)\) on \(\mathbb{F}_s\) and computed its weight distribution.