Higher weights for the Lagrangian-Grassmannian codes (Q2010857)

The paper provides bounds for the higher weights of the Lagrangian-Grassmannian cedes, a class of error-correcting codes studied by the authors [Designs, Codes and Cryptogr. 60, 291--298 (2011; Zbl 1225.94028)]y. We recall that the higher (generalized) Hamming weights \(d_r,\, r\ge 1\)\, of a code defined over a finite field \(\mathbb{F}_q\)\, are the elements of the weight hierarchy introduced by \textit{V.K. Wei} [IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 37, 1412--1418 (1991; Zbl 0735.94008)] and a Lagrangian-Grassmannian variety \(L(n,2n)\)\, is the subvariety of a Grassmann variety \(G(n,2n)\),\, corresponding to a symplectic vector space \(E\)\, of dimension \(2n\),\, of all the isotropic subspaces \(W\subset E\) of dimension \(n\). In the first place the paper gives a new interpretation of the Lagrangian-Grassmannian codes as codes from the \(\mathbb{F}_q\)-rational points of a projective variety \(X\subseteq \mathbb{P}^{k-1}(\overline{\mathbb{F}}_q)\)\, with the so-called FFN(1,q) property, following a previous paper of the authors [Adv. Math. Commun. 10, No. 2, 209--220 (2016; Zbl 1402.94116)]. Section 2 studies linear sections of projective varieties defined over \(\mathbb{F}_q\)\, and Section 3 particularizes the study to the Lagrangian-Grassmannian variety \(L(n,2n)\). The obtained results allow then to give lower and upper bounds for the higher weights of Lagrangian-Grassmannian codes \(C_{L(n,2n)}\)\, (Propositions 18 and 19).