Minimal linear codes from weakly regular plateaued balanced functions (Q2222925)

For an \([n, k, d]_p\) linear code \(C\) and \(u, v\in C,\) if \(\operatorname{supp}(v)\subseteq \operatorname{supp}(u)\), then it is said that \(u\) covers \(v\). A nonzero codeword \(u\) is called a minimal codeword if it covers only the codewords \(iu\) for all \(i\in\mathbb{F}_p\). A linear code \(C\) is minimal if every nonzero codeword of \(C\) is minimal. The symbol \(\eta_0\) represents the quadratic character of \(\mathbb{F}_p\), and the Walsh transform of \(f\) is defined by \(W_f(\omega)=\sum\limits_{x\in\mathbb{F}_{p^m}}^{}{\zeta_p^{f(x)-\text{Tr}^m(\omega x)}}\) where \(\zeta_p\) is a complex primitive \(p\)-th root of unity. A \(p\)-ary function \(f\) is called \(s\)-plateaued if \(|W_f(\omega)|^2\in\{0, pm+s\}\) for every \(\omega\in\mathbb{F}_{p^m},\) \(0\leq s\leq m.\) In particular, a 0-plateaued function is a bent function. The author starts with some useful results on exponential sums of weakly regular plateaued balanced functions and then obtain several three-weight and four-weight linear codes from weakly regular plateaued balanced functions over \(\mathbb{F}_p\), in the second generic construction method. Several of these three-weight and four-weight minimal codes are with desirable parameters from these functions. The weight distributions of the obtained codes are completely determined with the help of the Walsh distributions for weakly regular plateaued balanced functions \(f\) and the size of the set \(((f^\ast)(a))^{-1}\) at each point \(a\in \mathbb{F}_p\) on the Walsh support \(S_f\). Also, the author derives projective three-weight punctured codes from some obtained codes, by deleting some coordinates of the defining sets. This construction is useful for obtaining codes that may include the (almost) optimal codes. As a final result the minimum Hamming distances of the dual codes of our minimal codes for secret sharing schemes and association schemes is studied.