Generalized minimum distance functions (Q2011392)

The higher Hamming weights of a linear code, a natural generalization of the minimum distance of the code, introduced by \textit{V. K. Wei}, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 37, No. 5, 1412--1418 (1991; Zbl 0735.94008)], are important parameters of the code, in particular for their applications to cryptography. In [\textit{J. Martínez-Bernal} et al., J. Pure Appl. Algebra 221 No. 2, 251--275 (2017; Zbl 1352.13016)] the authors introduced the notion of \textit{minimum distance function} of a graded ideal as a generalization of the minimum distance of Reed-Muller codes. In the paper under review, the authors consider an extension of this notion introducing the concept of \textit{generalized minimum distance function} \(\delta_I(d,r)\) of a graded ideal \(I\) of a polynomial ring \(S=K[t_1,\ldots,t_s]\) over a field \(K\), with the usual grading. The motivating idea is that this concept would generalize the higher Hamming weights of a linear code and also recovers the minimum distance function of a graded ideal when \(r=1\). One of their firsts results (Theorem 4.5) shows that if \(X\subseteq {\mathbb P}^{s-1}\) is a subset of the projective space over a finite field \({\mathbb F}_q\) and if \(I(X)\) is its vanishing ideal, the generalized minimum distance function \(\delta_{I(X)}(d,r)\) of \(I(X)\) is the \(r\)-th higher weight of the corresponding Reed-Muller type code of degree \(d\). With the aim of finding lower bounds for the generalized minimum distance function \(\delta_I(d,r)\) the authors introduce a generalization of the footprint function of a graded ideal and prove in Theorem 4.9 that this generalized footprint function of \(I\) is a lower bound of the higher weight of the corresponding Reed-Muller type code of degree \(d\). As an application the authors consider projective nested codes [\textit{C. Carvalho} et al., Bull. Braz. Math. Soc. (NS) 48 No. 2, 283--302 (2017; Zbl 1386.14099)] and give a lower bound for the minimum distance of some of these codes in Theorem 5.5. Using \texttt{Macaulay2} in Sections 6 and 7 the authors compute some examples that illustrate how to use their methods giving the corresponding procedures for each example. Further applications include an explicit combinatorial formula for the second higher Hamming weight of an affine Cartesian code (Theorem 9.3).