On a duality for codes over non-abelian groups (Q2182055)

The paper under review gives a negative answer to the following question posed in [\textit{S. Dougherty} et al., Contemp. Math. 634, 79--99 (2015; Zbl 1345.94095), Question 4.3]: Is there a duality and a MacWilliams formula for codes over non-abelian groups? Is there a subclass of non-abelian groups for which a duality and a MacWilliams formula exists? The authors give a negative answer to the question by showing that such a duality cannot be induced by a duality of a group lattice. In other words, given a non-abelian group \(G\) if one wants to preserve the property that \(G^n\) is self-dual, then the answer is negative. The authors conclude the study stating that their results give strong hints that constructing a duality of codes over non-abelian groups, if at all possible, is very difficult. By relaxing the duality requirement and asking when \(G^n\) has a layer-symmetric lattice the authors study of a variation that reduces to a group theoretic investigation. This is the motivation of the question considered in the paper. The remaining of the paper is devoted to the investigation of groups that can have a layer-symmetric lattice. A finite group of order \(l\) is said to have a layer-symmetric lattice if for every divisor \(d\) of \(l\) there is a bijection between the subgroups of order \(d\) and the subgroups of order \(l/d\). The authors prove that every such group is nilpotent, and pursue an investigation of the class of finite $p$-groups with a layer-symmetric lattice. An open problem to characterise the groups \(G\) for which \(G^n\) has a layer-symmetric lattice is posed as a consequence.