2-neighbour-transitive codes with small blocks of imprimitivity (Q2294111)

Summary: A code \(C\) in the Hamming graph \(\varGamma=H(m,q)\) is a subset of the vertex set \(V\varGamma\) of the Hamming graph; the elements of \(C\) are called \textit{codewords}. Any such code \(C\) induces a partition \(\{C, C_1, \ldots, C_\rho\}\) of \(V\varGamma\), where \(\rho\) is the \textit{covering radius} of the code, based on the distance each vertex is to its nearest codeword. For \(s\in\{1, \ldots, \rho\}\) and \(X\le \mathrm{Aut}(C)\), if \(X\) is transitive on each of \(C,C_1,\ldots, C_s\), then \(C\) is said to be \((X,s)\)-neighbour-transitive. In particular, \(C\) is said to be \(X\)-completely transitive if \(C\) is \(X, \rho)\)-neighbour-transitive. It is known, that for any \((X,2)\)-neighbour-transitive code with minimum distance at least 5, either i) \(X\) is faithful on the set of coordinate entries, ii) \(C\) is \(X\)-alphabet-almost-simple or iii) \(C\) is \(X\)-alphabet-affine. Classifications of \((X,2)\)-neighbour-transitive codes in the first two categories having minimum distance at least 5 and 3, respectively, have been achieved in previous papers. Hence this paper considers case iii). Let \(q=p^{dm}\) and identify the vertex set of \(H(m,q)\) with \(\mathbb{F}^{dm}_p\). The main result of this paper classifies \((X,2)\)-neighbour-transitive codes with minimum distance at least 5 that contain, as a block of imprimitivity for the action of \(X\) on \(C\), an \(\mathbb{F}_p\)-subspace of \(\mathbb{F}^{dm}_p\) of dimension at most \(d\). When considering codes with minimum distance at least 5, \(X\)-completely transitive codes are a proper subclass of \((X,2)\)-neighbour-transitive codes. This leads, as a corollary of the main result, to a solution of a problem posed by \textit{M. Giudici} [Completely transitive codes in Hamming graphs. Perth: The University of Western Australia (MSc Thesis) (1998); see also Eur. J. Comb. 20, No. 7, 647--661 (1999; Zbl 0943.05042)] on completely transitive codes.