On the dimension of the subfield subcodes of 1-point Hermitian codes (Q2025360)

Let \(\mathbb{F}= \mathrm{GF}(q^2)\) denote the finite field with \(q^2\) elements and let \(\overline{\mathbb{F}}\) denote an algebraic closure, where \(q\) is a fixed prime power. A \(1\)-point Hermitian code is an AG code associated to the non-singular curve \(H_q\) with equation \(y^qz+yz^q=x^{q+1}\) defined over \(\overline{\mathbb{F}}\). This is a curve of genus \(g=q(q-1)/\). It has exactly \(q^3+1\) \({\mathbb{F}}\)-rational points and exactly one of these is a ``point at infinity,'' denoted \(P_\infty\). For an \({\mathbb{F}}\)-rational divisor \(D\) on \(H_q\), the Riemann-Roch space \(L(D)\) is, roughly speaking, the vector space of rational functions on \(H_q\) whose poles are ``no worse than \(-D\).'' For the case of a \(1\)-point Hermitian code, the divisor is often taken to be a multiple \(sP_\infty\) of the point at infinity. Given a finite set of distinct ``affine'' \({\mathbb{F}}\)-rational points \(P_1,\dots,P_n\), the Hermitian code then takes the form \[ C(P_1,\dots,P_n,sP_\infty)= \{ (f(P_1),\dots, f(P_n))\ |\ f\in L(sP_\infty)\}\subset {\mathbb{F}}^n. \] If we take \(n=q^3\) and we take \(P_1,\dots,P_n\) to be all the ``affine'' \({\mathbb{F}}\)-rational points on \(H_q\) then this code is denoted for simplicity, \(H(q^2,s)=C(P_1,\dots,P_n,sP_\infty)\). In the paper under review, the authors show that: if \(2g-2<s<n\) then \[ \dim H(q^2,s)=s-g+1=\dim L(sP_\infty), \] and that the minimum distance is \(d=q^3-s\). If \(C\) is any linear code defined over \({\mathbb{F}}\) and \({\mathbb{E}}\subset {\mathbb{F}}\) is a subfield (that is, \({\mathbb{F}}/{\mathbb{E}}\) is a finite extension of finite fields) then the subfield subcode \(C|{\mathbb{E}}\) is defined by \[ C|{\mathbb{E}} = C\cap {\mathbb{E}}^n. \] This is a linear code defined over \({\mathbb{E}}\). Let \(q=r^m\) denote a prime power, let \(q^2=r^h\), where \(h=2m\). Let \({\mathbb{E}}=\mathrm{GF}(r)\) denote a subfield of \({\mathbb{F}}=\mathrm{GF}(q^2)\). Let \[ C_{q,r}(s) = H(q^2,s)|{\mathbb{E}} \] denote the associated subfield subcode. The authors prove that: if \(0\leq s<q^2/r\) then \(\dim_{\mathbb{E}} C_{q,r}(s) = 1\), but if \(s=q^2/r\) then \(\dim_{\mathbb{E}} C_{q,r}(s) = 2m+1\). At the end of the paper, the authors present a table with extensive computations of parameters in a range of examples.