Codes and caps from orthogonal Grassmannians (Q2447806)

This article contributes to the intertwined research areas of finite geometry and coding theory. These are two research areas which continue to influence and inspire each other. In this article, the authors discuss linear codes and projective caps related to the Grassmann embedding of an orthogonal Grassmannian \(\Delta_k\). They investigate the parameters of the codes arising from the projective system defined by the Grassmann embedding of an orthogonal Grassmannian \(\Delta_k\). They also investigate special sets of points of \(\Delta_k\) which are intersected by every line of \(\Delta_k\) in at most 2 points, and show that their image under the Grassmann embedding is a projective cap. The authors apply both techniques from coding theory and from finite geometry. As a concrete example, for one of the linear codes they define, the lower bound on the minimum distance of this code is linked to the maximum size of a (partial) spread of the parabolic quadric in finite projective space of even dimension.